Sable, three herrings hauriant argent, a chief or, were the arms of Sir Thomas Kytson, Sheriff of London in 1533, who held estates in the counties of Suffolk, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and Nottingham. His daughter, Katherine, married Sir John Spencer of Wormleighton, in Warwickshire, one of the ancestors of the Earl Spencer; and the arms of Kytson, typical of this descent, are quartered in the achievement of that noble family. Sir Thomas Gage, Baronet, of Hengrave, in Suffolk, is a representative, through the noble family of Darcy, of that of Kytson.⁕ John Gage Rokewode, Esq. F.R.S., the historian of Hengrave, and son of Sir Thomas Gage, the sixth Baronet, has taken the name and arms of Rokewode.

Vert, a herring hauriant argent, were the arms of Benjamin Harenc, Esq. of Foots Cray, Sheriff of Kent in 1777, and his crest, still playing upon the name, a heron, holding in the bill a herring.

Argent, on a chevron engrailed between three wolves' heads erased sable, a lozenge or, between two herrings of the first, are the arms of the family of Harries, of Loughton in Essex, and of Prickwell in Sussex. Azure, a cross flory between six herrings or, are the arms of the family of Heigham.

*The arms and many seals of the family of Kytson are engraved in the History of Hengrave, 1822.

Cob is a word of many meanings; among others, that of herring. A young fish is called a herring cob: that this was the case appears from a passage in Jonson's comedy of "Every Man in his Humour," in which Cob, the water-bearer, punning on his own name, calls himself " the descendant of a king," the herring being known as the king of fish. His ancestor, he says, was "the first red-herring broiled in Adam and Eve's kitchen, and his Cob (that is, his son) was my great, great, mighty great, grandfather."

The arms of the family of Cobb of Sandringham, on the coast of Norfolk, near Lynn, are sable, a chevron argent between three cob-fish naiant or, a chief of the last. A branch of this family was seated at Adderbury, in Oxfordshire, in the reign of Elizabeth, and in the chancel of that church is a monument to the memory of some of its members.

Thomas Cobb, Esq. of Adderbury was created Baronet by King Charles II. in 1662. Sir George Cobb, Bart., who died in 1762, was the last of the family of Adderbury. Another family of Cobb, of Sharnbrook, in Bedfordshire, bears gules, a chevron wavy between three cob-fish naiant argent, on a chief of the last two sea-cobs, or gulls, sable. The arms of the family of Cobb of Snettisham, in Norfolk, are party per chevron sable and argent, in chief two sea-cobs respecting each other, and in base a herring naiant or.⁕

FISHING-NETS.

The nets used in fishing and fowling very frequently formed part of the heraldic devices assumed as ensigns by the lords of manors in the early periods of history; instances are given by Palliot under the words Réseau, netting, and Bets, a net.

Azure, a bend argent charged with a net gules, were the arms of Fouet, Seigneur of Dornes and Raiz, the first President of the Chamber of Accounts at Dijon; and azure, a net or, with a chief argent, charged with three escallops gules, were the ancient arms of Vulcana of Naples.

The ornamental reticulations which are found in shields of arms are heraldically termed fretty; but, if the same is composed of separate pieces, frets; and strewed over the shield, mascles: these are referred by our own writers on heraldry, Guillim and Nisbet, to the nets used by the fishermen, which probably suggested the Rete of the gladiators. It is well known to the classical reader that in the contests of the Retiarii and Mirmillones, the first, with nets of cord, entangled their opponents, whose name of Mirmillones, derived from the Greek, arose from the fish crests by which they were originally distinguished.

The importance of the various nets used in river and sea fishing, by which the different kinds of fish are procured with facility, was not overlooked; the larger draught-nets were kept in the manor-house: a great sean and a less sean were deposited in one of the galleries at Skipton Castle. The serfs employed as fishermen, were, in early times, conveyed to a purchaser along with the fishery when it was sold; the most expert fishermen on our coasts were then unable to avail themselves of the riches by which they were surrounded.

Le Fleming, an ancient Cumberland family, bears gules, a fret argent; Vernon of Shipbrooke, in Cheshire, argent, a fret sable; and gules, a fret or, is the armorial ensign of the Lords Audley, who use the motto "Je le tiens."

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Azure, fretty argent, are the arms of the ancient family of Cave of Stanford, in Leicestershire, with the punning motto Cave," beware the net. These are now borne by the Baroness Braye, daughter of the late Sir Thomas Cave, Baronet, and lineal heiress of Lord Braye in the reign of Henry VIII.

"Science des Armoiries."

+ Whitaker's History of Craven.

Or, fretty azure, are the arms of the Lords Willoughby; and argent, fretty sable, on a canton gules a chaplet or, those of the Lords of Irby, in Lincolnshire, now borne by the Lord Boston. Or, fretty gules, a canton ermine, are the arms of the family of Noel, of which the Earl of Gainsborough and the Earl of Lovelace are representatives.

The mascles of heraldry are formed precisely like the meshes of the nets of the fisherman, and were borne in the arms of the most ancient and noblest families. Argent, seven mascles conjoined azure, are the arms of the Lords of Braybrook, in Northamptonshire, from whom, through the family of Latimer, the Lords Braybrooke are descended.

Gules, seven mascles conjoined or, are the arms of the families of Quincy and Ferrers: fishing with a golden net was one of the luxuries practised by the Emperor Nero.⁕

Sable, a fret argent, is the armorial distinction of the ancient Lords of Harrington, a manor and sea-port on the coast of Cumberland, where herrings are plentiful: the literal meaning of the name is herring enclosure.

In the reign of Edward II. Sir John de Harrington was summoned to Parliament as a peer. The baronies of Harrington and Bonvile became united in the reign of Henry VI. and subsequently passed to the family of the Lords Grey of Groby, whose representative, the Earl of Stamford, bears the arms of Harrington as one of his quarterings to show his lordship's title to the barony by descent.

Sable, a fret or, the arms of the Lords Maltravers of Lytchet, in Dorsetshire, seem to have been assumed in direct allusion to

* Suetonius.

the name, the net being hard to penetrate. These arms are quartered with those of Howard by the Duke of Norfolk, K.G., Lord Maltravers by descent.

The noble family of Netterville of Douth Castle, county of Meath in Ireland, bear, argent, a cross gules, fretty or, in allusion to the name. Nicholas Netterville was created Viscount Netterville of Douth by King James in 1622.

Azure, fretty or, a canton of the last, are the arms, and a salmon naiant the crest, of the family of Willeigh, or Willeley. The sizes of fishing-nets are little known, those used in the river Severn are limited in length to seventy-five yards: ⁕ the large and strong nets used in the herring fishery form a kind of hedge in the sea a mile in length, and those used for mackerel extend two miles.†

THE PILCHARD.

The Pilchard is a fish resembling the herring, but is smaller and thicker; its name is derived from Peltzer, a term by which it was known to the early naturalists.

Mount's Bay, on the Cornish coast, is one of the chief stations of the pilchard fishery; this beautiful bay receives its name from Saint Michael's Mount, a singular rock connected with the town of Marazion by a narrow causeway of pebbles. Job Militon, Esq. Governor of Saint Michael's Mount in the reign of Henry VIII, built Pengersick Castle, on the banks of Mount's Bay.

His arms were gules, a chevron or, between three pilchards

* Nash's History of Worcestershire.

+ Notes on Nets, or the Quincunx, by the Hon. and Rev. C. Bathurst, LL.D.

Saint Michael is represented on the old seal of Helston holding a shield charged with the arms of England.