This handsome work is illustrated by thirty-seven etchings, mostly coloured, and seven headpieces to the histories of the several branches of the Royal family, which commence with the arrival of William I.; but the authorities for the Armorial bearings during the period of English history previous to the reign of Richard I. are weak, although the best to be procured. From the time of Richard the First, the collection of Royal achievements are presented in a satisfactory form to the Antiquary and the Herald; the drawings being made from works executed in, or near, the several reigns to which they refer, and are serviceable as examples of the changes in the Arms of our successive Monarchs, and interesting from the display of the different styles of drawing: coloured examples have been judiciously selected where it was possible to obtain them, but the correct blazon of all are given.

A

LIST

OF THE

VISITATIONS

MADE BY THE KINGS OF ARMS

Elazencieur & Moroy,

INTO THEIR PROVINCES NORTH AND SOUTH OF TRENT,

BY THEMSELVES, OR BY THEIR DEPUTIES

The Heralds;

AND OF VARIOUS MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS OF

PEDIGREES AND ARMS,

ARRANGED UNDER THE SEVERAL

COUNTIES OF ENGLAND,

NORTH & SOUTH WALES,

SCOTLAND, AND

IRELAND.

VISITATION-BOOKS (as they are called) of the Counties of England, &c. contain the Pedigrees and Arms of the Nobility and Gentry, signed by the heads of the respective families, and attested by a Herald. These documents were compiled by virtue of a commission under the privy seal, granted to the Kings of Arms for the purpose, the earliest of which is dated in 1528, the 20th of Henry VIII. These warrants were continued, but at no settled periods, about every twenty-five years until 1686, the 2nd of James II. The more ancient of the Visitations are very defective in dates, and in the christian names, but those of later period are infinitely more full and satisfactory of this description are the visitations made by Dugdale in person. King, Glover, and Vincent, who acted as deputies, are also deemed accurate, and the descents contained in their books are arranged with great skill.

In the British Museum are about 200 Visitations deposited in the Harleian library, (in the alphabetical order of their respective counties) which appear to be the originals compiled by the Provincial Kings of Arms during their progresses in their several districts, from which entries were afterwards made in the books kept at the College of Arms. In the Lansdowne Collection, the Heraldical and Genealogical MSS. are numerous: see also the Catalogue

of MSS. in the British Museum, by Ascough, vol. i.

and Hargrave's MSS.

p. 482 to 488;

In the library of Queen's College, Oxford, are above 40 Visitations of various counties: vide Collectanea Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 212. In the same college are also four volumes of Grants of Arms, and a book of Ancient Pedigrees, chiefly of western families.

In the library of Caius College, Cambridge, are 54 Visitations of counties, given by Dr. Knight, serjeant-surgeon to King Charles the Second.

The original Visitations taken by or under the authority of the St. Georges, with many of Camden's books, and others very numerous and valuable, were sold to the Earl of Egmont, and are now in the library at Enmore: vide NOBLE'S "History of the College of Arms," p. 353.

Many private collections are also enriched by authentic copies of these valuable documents.

In the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, are the Genealogical Collections of Ashmole, Dugdale, and Anth. Wood: of the latter, full information may be obtained from " Catalogus Librorum MSStorum viri clarissimi Antonii à Wood," being a minute catalogue of each particular contained in the MS. collections of Anthony à Wood deposited in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, by William Huddesford, M. A. Keeper of the said Museum, Oxford, 1761, 8vo. There is also a general Catalogue of MSS. very useful to refer to, viz. "Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti, Oxoniæ, 1697," folio.

Bedfozdthize.

1566. 9 Eliz. WILLIAM HARVEY, Clarencieux.

1582. 25 Eliz. ROBERT COOKE, Clarencieux.

Arms and Descents of Bedfordshire Families in 1582 and 1583, with additions by John Sanders, Harl. MS. 1390. 1586. 29 Eliz. ROBERT COOKE, Clarencieux, by his deputy Robert Glover, Somerset Herald.

A copy is in the library of All Souls' College, Oxford, Jekyll's MSS. N° 46, also in Queen's College, Oxford.

1634. 10 Char. I. SIR RIChard St. GeoRGE, Clarencieux, and SIR JOHN BURROUGHS, Norroy, by joint-commission. GEORGE OWEN, York-Herald, was their deputy.