"_The guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet._"
"Macbeth."
[Illustration]
The Martlet (_Merlette_ or _Merlot_, French; _Merula_, Latin). The
house-marten or swallow is a favourite device in heraldry all over Europe,
and has assumed a somewhat unreal character from the circumstance that it
catches its food on the wing and never appears to alight on the ground as
other birds do. It builds its nest frequently under the eaves of houses,
from whence it can take flight readily, rarely alighting, as it gains its
food while on the wing; the length of its wings and the shortness of its
legs preventing it from rising should it rest on the ground.
"No jutty friese,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed, and procreant cradle."
_Macbeth_, Act i. sc. 6.
It is depicted in armory with wings close, and in profile, with thighs,
but with no visible legs or feet.
The martlet is the appropriate "difference" or mark of cadency for the
fourth son. Sylvanus Morgan says: "It modernly used to signify, as that
bird seldom lights on land, so younger brothers have little land to rest
on but the wings of their own endeavours, who, like the swallows, become
the travellers in their seasons."
The swallow (_hirondelle_) is the punning cognisance for Arundell. The
seal of the town of Arundel is a swallow, Baron Arundell of Wardour bears
six swallows for his arms. The great Arundells have as motto, "De
Hirundine" ("Concerning the swallow"), and "Nulli præda" ("A prey to
none"). A Latin poem of the twelfth century is thus rendered:
"Swift as the swallow, whence his arms' device
And his own arms are took, enraged he flies
Thro' gazing troops, the wonder of the field,
And strikes his lance in William's glittering shield."
"We find it in Glovers' roll," says Planché, "borne by Roger de Merley,
clearly as 'armes parlantes,' although in a border." Roger de Merley:
"_barée d'argent et de goulz à la bordure d'azur, et merlots d'or en le
bordure_"; showing it was some difference of a family coat.