THE COMPARTMENT
A compartment is anything depicted below the shield as a foothold or
resting-place for the supporters, or indeed for the shield itself.
Sometimes it is a fixed part of the blazon and a constituent part of the
heritable heraldic bearings. At other times it is a matter of mere artistic
fancy, and no fixed rules exist to regulate or control nor even to check
the imagination of the heraldic artist. The fact remains that supporters
must have something to stand upon, and if the blazon supplies nothing, the
discretion of the artist is allowed considerable laxity.
On the subject of compartments a great deal of diversity of opinion exists.
There is no doubt that in early days and early examples supporters were
placed to stand upon some secure footing, but with the decadence of
heraldic art in the seventeenth century came the introduction of the gilded
"freehand copy" scroll with which we are so painfully familiar, which one
writer has aptly termed the heraldic gas-bracket. Arising doubtless from
and following upon the earlier habit of balancing the supporters upon the
unstable footing afforded by the edge of the motto scroll, the
"gas-bracket" was probably accepted as less open to objection. It certainly
was not out of keeping with the heraldic art of the period to which it owed
its evolution, or with the style of armorial design of which it formed a
part. It still remains the accepted and "official" style and type in
England, but Scotland and Ireland have discarded it, and "compartments" in
those countries are now depicted of a nature requiring less gymnastic
ability on the part of the animals to which they afford a foothold. The
style of compartment is practically always a matter of artistic taste and
design. With a few exceptions it is always entirely disregarded in the
blazon of the patent, and the necessity of something for the supporters to
stand upon is as much an understood thing as is the existence of a shield
whereon the arms are to be displayed. But as the shape of the shield is
left to the fancy of the artist, so is the character of the compartment,
and the Lyon Register nowadays affords examples of achievements where the
supporters stand on rocks and flowery mounds {442} or issue from a watery
abiding-place. The example set by the Lyon Register has been eagerly
followed by most heraldic artists.
[Illustration: FIG. 672.]
It is a curious commentary upon the heraldic art of the close of the
eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth centuries that whilst the
gymnastic capabilities of animals were admitted to be equal to "tight-rope"
exhibitions of balancing upon the ordinary scroll, these feats were not
considered practicable in the case of human beings, for whom little square
platforms were always provided. Fig. 672, which represents the sinister
supporter of Lord Scarsdale (viz. the figure of Liberality represented by a
woman habited argent, mantled purpure, holding a cornucopia proper) shows
the method by which platform accommodation was provided for human figures
when acting as supporters.
At the same time this greater freedom of design may occasionally lead to
mistakes in relation to English supporters and their compartments.
Following upon the English practice already referred to of differentiating
the supporters of different families, it has apparently been found
necessary in some cases to place the supporters to stand upon a definite
object, which object is recited in the blazon and becomes an integral and
unchangeable portion of the supporter. Thus Lord Torrington's supporters
are each placed upon dismounted ships' guns ["Dexter, an heraldic antelope
ermine, horned, tusked, maned and hoofed or, standing on a ship gun proper;
sinister, a sea-horse proper, on a like gun"], Lord Hawke's[27] dexter
supporter rests his sinister foot upon a dolphin, and Lord Herschell's
supporters each stand upon a fasces ["Supporters: on either side a stag
proper, collared azure, standing on a fasces or"]. The supporters of Lord
Iveagh each rest a hind-foot upon an escutcheon ["Supporters: on either
side a stag gules, attired and collared gemel or, resting the inner hoof on
an escutcheon vert charged with a lion rampant of the second"], whilst the
inner hind-foot of each of Lord Burton's supporters {443} rests upon a
stag's head caboshed proper. Probably absurdity could go no further. But in
the case of the supporters granted to Cape Town (Fig. 673), the official
blazon runs as follows: "On the dexter {444} side, standing on a rock, a
female figure proper, vested argent, mantle and sandals azure, on her head
an estoile radiated or, and supporting with her exterior hand an anchor
also proper; and on the sinister side, standing on a like rock, a lion
rampant guardant gules." In this case it will be seen that the rocks form
an integral part of the supporters, and are not merely an artistic
rendering of the compartment. The illustration, which was made from an
official drawing supplied from the Heralds' College, shows the curious way
in which the motto scroll is made to answer the purpose of the compartment.
[Illustration: FIG. 673.--Arms of Cape Town: Or, an anchor erect sable,
stock proper, from the ring a riband flowing azure, and suspended therefrom
an escocheon gules charged with three annulets of the field; and for the
crest, on a wreath of the colours, upon the battlements of a tower proper,
a trident in bend dexter or, surmounted by an anchor and cable in bend
sinister sable.]
Occasionally the compartment itself--as a thing apart from the
supporters--receives attention in the blazon, _e.g._ in the case of the
arms of Baron de Worms, which are of foreign origin, recorded in this
country by Royal Warrant. His supporters are: "On a bronze compartment, on
either side a lion gold, collared and chained or, and pendent from the
compartment a golden scroll, thereon in letters gules the motto, 'Vinctus
non victus.'"
In the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom the motto "Dieu et mon Droit" is
required to be on the compartment below the shield, and thereon the Union
Badge of the Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock engrafted on the same stem.
The city of Norwich is not officially recognised as having the right to
supporters, and doubtless those in use have originated in the old artistic
custom, previously referred to, of putting escutcheons of arms under the
guardianship of angels. They may be so deciphered upon an old stone carving
upon one of the municipal buildings in that city. The result has been that
two angels have been regularly adopted as the heraldic supporters of the
city arms. The point that renders them worthy of notice is that they are
invariably represented each standing upon its own little pile of clouds.
The arms of the Royal Burgh of Montrose (Forfarshire) afford an official
instance of another variety in the way of a compartment, which is a fixed
matter of blazon and not depending upon artistic fancy. The entry in Lyon
Register is as follows:--
"The Royal Burgh of Montrose gives for Ensignes Armoriall, Argent, a rose
gules. The shield adorned with helmet, mantling, and wreath suteable
thereto. And for a crest, a hand issuing from a cloud and reaching down a
garland of roses proper, supported by two mermaids aryseing from the sea
proper. The motto, 'Mare ditat Rosa decorat.' And for a revers, Gules, St.
Peter on the cross proper, with the keyes hanging at his girdle or. Which
Arms, &c., Ext. December 16, 1694."
An English example may be found in the case of the arms of {445}
Boston,[28] which are depicted with the supporters (again two mermaids)
rising from the sea, though to what extent the sea is a fixed and
unchangeable part of the achievement in this case is less a matter of
certainty.
Probably of all the curious "supporters" to be found in British armory,
those of the city of Southampton (Plate VII.) must be admitted to be the
most unusual. As far as the actual usage of the arms by the corporation is
concerned, one seldom if ever sees more than the simple shield employed.
This bears the arms: "Per fess gules and argent, three roses
counterchanged." But in the official record of the arms in one of the
Visitation books a crest is added, namely: "Upon a mount vert, a double
tower or, and issuing from the upper battlements thereof a demi-female
affronté proper, vested purpure, crined and crowned with an Eastern coronet
also or, holding in her dexter hand a sword erect point upwards argent,
pommel and hilt of the second, and in her sinister hand a balance sable,
the pans gold. The shield in the Visitation book rests upon a mount vert,
issuing from waves of the sea, and thereupon placed on either side of the
escutcheon a ship of two masts at anchor, the sails furled all proper, the
round top or, and from each masthead flying a banner of St. George, and
upon the stern of each vessel a lion rampant or, supporting the
escutcheon."
From the fact that in England the compartment is so much a matter of
course, it is scarcely ever alluded to, and the _term_ "Compartment" is
practically one peculiar to Scottish heraldry. It does not appear to be a
very ancient heraldic appendage, and was probably found to be a convenient
arrangement when shields were depicted erect instead of couché, so as to
supply a resting-place (or standpoint) for the supporters. In a few
instances the compartment appears on seals with couché shields, on which,
however, the supporters are usually represented as resting _on the sides of
the escutcheon_, and bearing up the helmet and crest, as already mentioned.
Sir George Mackenzie conjectures that the compartment "represents the
bearer's land and territories, though sometimes (he adds) it is bestowed in
recompense of some honourable action." Thus the Earls of Douglas are said
to have obtained the privilege of placing their supporters with a pale of
wood wreathed, because the doughty lord, in the reign of King Robert the
Bruce, defeated the English in Jedburgh Forest, and "caused wreathe and
impale," during the night, that part of the wood by which he conjectured
they might make their escape. Such a fenced compartment appears on the seal
of James Douglas, second Earl of Angus, "Dominus de Abernethie et Jedworth
Forest" (1434), on {446} that of George Douglas, fourth Earl (1459), and
also on those of several of his successors in the earldom (1511-1617). A
still earlier example, however, of a compartment "representing a park with
trees, &c., enclosed by a wattled fence," occurs on the seal of Walter
Stewart, Earl of Atholl (_c._ 1430), where the escutcheon is placed in the
entrance to the park between two trees. Nisbet refers to a seal of William,
first Earl of Douglas (1377), exhibiting a single supporter (a lion)
"sitting on a compartment like to a rising ground, with a tree growing out
of it, and semé of hearts, mullets, and cross crosslets," these being the
charges of Douglas and Mar in the escutcheon.
According to Sir George Mackenzie, these compartments were usually allowed
only to sovereign princes; and he further informs us that, besides the
Douglases, he knows of no other subject in Britain, except the Earl of
Perth, whose arms stand upon a compartment. In the case of the Perth
family, the compartment consists of a green hill or mount, semé of
caltraps[29] (or cheval-traps), with the relative motto, "Gang warily,"
above the achievement. "Albeit of late," says Mackenzie, "compartments are
become more common, and some families in Scotland have some creatures upon
which their achievement stands, as the Laird of Dundas, whose achievement
has for many hundreds of years stood upon a salamander in flames proper (a
device of the kings of France), and Robertson of Struan has a monstrous man
lying under the escutcheon chained, which was given him for his taking the
murderer of James I...." Such figures, however, as Nisbet remarks, cannot
properly be called compartments, having rather the character of devices;
while, in the case of the Struan achievement, the chained man would be more
accurately described as "an honourable supporter." Sir George Mackenzie
engraves "the coat of Denham of ould," viz. a stag's head "caboshed," below
a shield couché charged with three lozenges, or fusils, conjoined in bend.
In like manner, Nisbet represents the crest and motto of the Scotts of
Thirlstane, "by way of compartment," below the escutcheon of Lord Napier,
and a blazing star, with the legend "Luceo boreale," under that of Captain
Robert Seton, of the family of Meldrum; while in the case of the
illumination which accompanies the latest entry in the first volume of the
Lyon Register (1804), relative to the arms of John Hepburn Belshes of
Invermay, the trunk of an oak-tree sprouting forth anew is placed on a
compartment under the shield, with the motto, "Revirescit."
Two other instances of regular compartments are mentioned by Nisbet, viz.
those carried by the Macfarlanes of that Ilk and the Ogilvies of
Innerquharity. The former consists of a wavy {447} representation of Loch
Sloy, the gathering-place of the clan, which word is also inscribed on the
compartment as their _cri-de-guerre_ or slogan; while the latter is a
"green hill or rising terrace," on which are placed two serpents, "nowed,"
spouting fire, and the motto, "Terrena pericula sperno." For some of the
foregoing instances I am indebted to Seton's well-known "Law and Practice
of Heraldry in Scotland." {448}