MOTTOES
To the uninitiated, the subject of the motto of a family has a far greater
importance than is conceded to it by those who have spent any time in the
study of armory. Perhaps it may clear the ground if the rules presently in
force are first recited. It should be carefully observed that the status of
the motto is vastly different in England and in other countries. Except in
the cases of impersonal arms (and not always then), the motto is never
mentioned or alluded to in the terms of the patent in a grant of arms in
England; consequently they are not a part of the "estate" created by the
Letters Patent, though if it be desired a motto will always be painted
below the emblazonment in the margin of the patent. Briefly speaking, the
position in England with regard to personal armorial bearings is that
mottoes are _not hereditary_. No one is compelled to bear one, nor is any
authority needed for the adoption of a motto, the matter is left purely to
the personal pleasure of every individual; but if that person elects to use
a motto, the officers of arms are perfectly willing to paint any motto he
may choose upon his grant, and to add it to the record of his arms in their
books. There is no necessity expressed or implied to use a motto at all,
nor is the slightest control exercised over the selection or change of
mottoes, though, as would naturally be expected, the officers of arms would
decline to record to any private person any motto which might have been
appropriated to the sovereign or to any of the orders of knighthood. In the
same way no control is exercised over the position in which the motto is to
be carried or the manner in which it is to be displayed.
In Scotland, however, the matter is on an entirely different footing. The
motto is included within the terms of the patent, and is consequently made
the subject of grant. It therefore becomes inalienable and unchangeable
without a rematriculation, and a Scottish patent moreover always specifies
the position in which the motto is to be carried. This is usually "in an
escroll over the same" (_i.e._ over the crest), though occasionally it is
stated to be borne on "a compartment below the arms." The matter in Ireland
is not quite the same as in {449} either Scotland or England. Sometimes the
motto is expressed in the patent--in fact this is now the more usual
alternative--but the rule is not universal, and to a certain extent the
English permissiveness is recognised. Possibly the subject can be summed up
in the remark that if any motto has been granted or is recorded with a
particular coat of arms in Ireland, it is expected that that shall be the
motto to be made use of therewith.
As a general practice the use of mottoes in England did not become general
until the eighteenth century--in fact there are very few, if any, grants of
an earlier date on which a motto appears. The majority, well on towards the
latter part of the eighteenth century, had no motto added, and many patents
are still issued without such an addition. With rare exceptions, no mottoes
are to be met with in the Visitation books, and it does not appear that at
the time of the Visitations the motto was considered to be essentially a
part of the armorial bearings. The one or two exceptions which I have met
with where mottoes are to be found on Visitation pedigrees are in every
case the arms of a peer. There are at least two such in the Yorkshire
Visitation of 1587, and probably it may be taken for granted that the
majority of peers at that period had begun to make use of these additions
to their arms. Unfortunately we have no exact means of deciding the point,
because peers were not compelled to attend a Visitation, and there are but
few cases in which the arms or pedigree of a peer figure in the Visitation
books. In isolated cases the use of a motto can, however, be traced back to
an even earlier period. There are several instances to be met with upon the
early Garter plates.
Many writers have traced the origin of mottoes to the "slogan" or war-cry
of battle, and there is no doubt whatever that instances can be found in
which an ancient war-cry has become a family motto. For example, one can
refer to the Fitzgerald "Crom-a-boo": other instances can be found amongst
some of the Highland families, but the fact that many well-known war-cries
of ancient days never became perpetuated as mottoes, and also the fact that
by far the greater number of mottoes, even at a much earlier period than
the present day, cannot by any possibility have ever been used for or have
originated with the purposes of battle-cries, inclines me to believe that
such a suggested origin for the motto in general is without adequate
foundation. There can be little if any connection between the war-cry as
such and the motto as such. The real origin would appear to be more
correctly traced back to the badge. As will be found explained elsewhere,
the badge was some simple device used for personal and household purposes
and seldom for war, except by persons who used the badge of the leader they
followed. No man wore his own badge {450} in battle. It generally partook
of the nature of what ancient writers would term "a quaint conceit," and
much ingenuity seems to have been expended in devising badges and mottoes
which should at the same time be distinctive and should equally be or
convey an index or suggestion of the name and family of the owner. Many of
these badges are found in conjunction with words, mottoes, and phrases, and
as the distinction between the badge in general and the crest in general
slowly became less apparent, they eventually in practice became
interchangeable devices, if the same device did not happen to be used for
both purposes. Consequently the motto from the badge became attached to the
crest, and was thence transferred to its present connection with the coat
of arms. Just as at the present time a man may and often does adopt a maxim
upon which he will model his life, some pithy proverb, or some trite
observation, without any question or reference to armorial bearings--so, in
the old days, when learning was less diffuse and when proverbs and sayings
had a wider acceptance and vogue than at present, did many families and
many men adopt for their use some form of words. We find these words carved
on furniture, set up on a cornice, cut in stone, and embroidered upon
standards and banners, and it is to this custom that we should look for the
beginning of the use of mottoes. But because such words were afterwards in
later generations given an armorial status, it is not justifiable to
presume such status for them from their beginnings. The fact that a man put
his badges on the standard that he carried into battle, and with his badges
placed the mottoes that thereto belonged, has led many people mistakenly to
believe that these mottoes were _designed_ for war-cries and for use in
battle. That was not the case. In fact it seems more likely that the bulk
of the standards recorded in the books of the heralds which show a motto
were never carried in battle.
With regard to the mottoes in use at the moment, some of course can be
traced to a remote period, and many of the later ones have interesting
legends connected therewith. Of mottoes of this character may be instanced
the "Jour de ma vie" of West, which was formerly the motto of the La Warr
family, adopted to commemorate the capture of the King of France at the
battle of Poictiers. There are many other mottoes of this character,
amongst which may be mentioned the "Grip fast" of the Leslies, the origin
of which is well known. But though many mottoes relate to incidents in the
remote past, true or mythical, the motto and the incident are seldom
contemporary. Nothing would be gained by a recital of a long list of
mottoes, but I cannot forbear from quoting certain curious examples which
by their very weirdness must excite curiosity as to their origin. A family
of Martin used the singular words, "He who looks at Martin's {451} ape,
Martin's ape shall look at him," whilst the Curzons use, "Let Curzon hold
what Curzon helde." The Cranston motto is still more grasping, being, "Thou
shalt want ere I want;" but probably the motto of the Dakyns is the most
mysterious of all, "Strike Dakyns, the devil's in the hempe." The motto of
Corbet, "Deus pascit corvos," evidently alludes to the raven or ravens
(corby crows) upon the shield. The mottoes of Trafford, "Now thus," and
"Gripe griffin, hold fast;" the curious Pilkington motto, "Pilkington
Pailedown, the master mows the meadows;" and the "Serva jugum" of Hay have
been the foundation of many legends. The "Fuimus" of the Bruce family is a
pathetic allusion to the fact that they were once kings, but the majority
of ancient mottoes partake rather of the nature of a pun upon the name,
which fact is but an additional argument towards the supposition that the
motto has more relation to the badge than to any other part of the armorial
bearings. Of mottoes which have a punning character may be mentioned "Mon
Dieu est ma roche," which is the motto of Roche, Lord Fermoy; "Cavendo
tutus," which is the motto of Cavendish; "Forte scutum salus ducum," which
is the motto of Fortescue; "Set on," which is the motto of Seton; "Da fydd"
of Davies, and "Ver non semper viret," the well-known pun of the Vernons.
Another is the apocryphal "Quid rides" which Theodore Hook suggested for
the wealthy and retired tobacconist. This punning character has of late
obtained much favour, and wherever a name lends itself to a pun the effort
seems nowadays to be made that the motto shall be of this nature. Perhaps
the best pun which exists is to be found in the motto of the Barnard
family, who, with arms "Argent, a bear rampant sable, muzzled or," and
crest "A demi-bear as in the arms," use for the motto, "Bear and Forbear,"
or in Latin, as it is sometimes used, "Fer et perfer." Others that may be
alluded to are the "What I win I keep" of Winlaw; the "Libertas" of
Liberty; the "Ubi crux ibi lux" of Sir William Crookes; the "Bear thee
well" of Bardwell; the "Gare le pied fort" of Bedford; the "Gare la bête"
of Garbett; and the "Cave Deus videt" of Cave. Other mottoes--and they are
a large proportion--are of some saintly and religious tendency. However
desirable and acceptable they may be, and however accurately they may apply
to the first possessor, they sometimes are sadly inappropriate to later and
more degenerate successors.
In Germany, a distinction appears to be drawn between their "Wahlsprüche"
(_i.e._ those which are merely dictated by personal choice) and the
"armorial mottoes" which remained constantly and heritably attached to the
armorial bearings, such as the "Gott mit uns" ("God with us") of Prussia
and the "Nihil sine Deus" of Hohenzollern. {452}
The Initial or Riddle Mottoes appear to be peculiar to Germany. Well-known
examples of these curiosities are the "W. G. W." (_i.e._ "Wie Gott
will"--"As God wills"), or "W. D. W." (_i.e._ "Wie du willst"--"As thou
wilt"), which are both frequently to be met with. The strange but
well-known alphabet or vowel-motto "A. E. I. O. V." of the Emperor
Frederick III. has been variously translated, "Aquila Electa Juste Omnia
Vincit" ("The chosen eagle vanquishes all by right"), "Aller Ehren Ist
Oesterrich Voll" ("Austria is full of every honour"), or perhaps with more
likelihood, "Austria Est Imperare Orbe Universo" ("All the earth is subject
to Austria").
The _cri-de-guerre_, both as a heraldic fact and as an armorial term, is
peculiar, and exclusively so, to British and French heraldry. The national
_cri-de-guerre_ of France, "Montjoye Saint Denis," appeared above the
pavilion in the old Royal Arms of France, and probably the English Royal
motto, "Dieu et mon Droit," is correctly traced to a similar origin. A
distinction is still made in modern heraldry between the _cri-de-guerre_
and the motto, inasmuch as it is considered that the former should always
of necessity surmount the crest. This is very generally adhered to in
Scotland in the cases where both a motto and a _cri-de-guerre_ (or, as it
is frequently termed in that country, a "slogan") exist, the motto,
contrary to the usual Scottish practice, being then placed below the
shield. It is to be hoped that a general knowledge of this fact will not,
however, result in the description of every motto found above a crest as a
_cri-de-guerre_, and certainly the concentrated piety now so much in favour
in England for the purposes of a motto can be quite fitly left below the
shield.
Artists do not look kindly on the motto for decorative purposes. It has
been usually depicted in heraldic emblazonment in black letters upon a
white scroll, tinted and shaded with pink, but with the present revival of
heraldic art, it has become more general to paint the motto ribbon in
conformity with the colour of the field, the letters being often shown
thereon in gold. The colour and shape of the motto ribbon, however, are
governed by no heraldic laws, and except in Scottish examples should be
left, as they are purely unimportant accessories of the achievement, wholly
at the discretion of the artist. {453}