HEPTANGULAR, adj. in geometry, having 7

angles.

(1.) * HEPTARCHY. n. f. [heptarchie, French; 1x and agx.] A fevenfold government. In the Saxon heptarchy I find little noted of arms, albeit the Germans, of whom they defcended, used fhields. Camden.-England began not to be a people, when Alfred reduced it into a monarchy; for the materials thereof were extant before, namely, under the heptarchy. Hale's Origin of Mankind.—

The next returning planetary hour Of Mars, who fhar'd the heptarchy of pow'r, His steps bold Arcite to the temple bent. Dryd. (2.) HEPTARCHY fignifies a government compofed of 7 perfons, or a country governed by 7 perfons, or divided into 7 kingdoms.

(3.) HEPTARCHY, THE SAXON, included all England, which was cantoned out into 7 independent kingdoms, peopled and governed by different clans and colonies; viz. thofe of Kent, the South Saxons, Weft Saxons, Eaft Saxons, Northumberland, the Eaft Angles, and Mercia. The heptarchy was formed gradually from A. D. 455, when first the kingdom of Kent was erected, and Hengift affumed the title of king of Kent immediately after the battle of Eglesford; and it terminated in 827 or 828, when Egbert reunited them into one, turned the heptarchy into a monarchy, and affumed the title of king of England. It must be obferved, however, that though Egbert became monarch of England, he was not abfolute. The kingdom which he actually poffeffed confifted of the ancient kingdoms of Weffex, Suffex, Kent, and Effex, that had been peopled by Saxons and Jutes. Over the other 3 kingdoms, whofe inhabitants were Angles, he contented himself with preferving the fovereignty, permitting them to be governed by kings who were his vaffals and tributaries. The government of the heptarchy, reckon ing from the founding of the kingdom of Mercia, the laft of the 7 Anglo Saxon kingdoms, lafted 243 years; but if the time spent by the Saxons in their conquefts from the arrival of Hengift in 449 be added, the heptarchy will be found to have lafted 378 years from its commencement to its diffolution. The caufes of the diffolution of the heptarchy were the great inequality among the 7 kingdoms, 3 of which greatly furpaffed the others in extent and power; the default of male heirs in the royal families of all the kingdoms, that of Weffex excepted; and the concurrence of various circumftances which combined in the time of Egbert. See ENGLAND, § 13, 14.

(1.) HER. pronoun. [hera, ber, in Saxon, stood for their, or of them, which at length became the female poffeffive.] 1. Belonging to a female; of a the; of a woman.

2.

That the to govern were unfit,

And fo Sufanna took her place. The oblique cafe of She.

England is fo idly king'd, Her fceptre fo fantastically borne, That fear attends her not.

Cowley.

Shak.

She cannot feem deform'd to me, And I would have her seem to others fo. Cowley. The moon arose clad o'er in light, With thousand stars attending on her train; With her they rife, with her they fet again. Cowley.

Should I be left, and thou be loft, the fea, That bury'd ber I lov'd, fhould bury me. Dryd. (2.) * HERS. pron. This is used when it refers to a fubftantive going before: as, fuch are her charms, fuch charms are hers.

This pride of hers,

Upon advice, hath drawn my love from her. Sbak.

Thine own unworthiness

Will ftill that thou art mine, not hers, confefs. Cosuley.

Some fecret charm did all her acts attend, And what his fortune wanted, hers could mend. Dryden.

"I bred you up to arms, rais'd you to power, Indeed to fave a crown, not hers, but your. Dryden.

(1.) HERACLEA, an ancient city of European Turkey in Romania, with a Greek archbishop's fee, and a fea-port. It was a very famous place in former times, and has ftill fome remains of its ancient fplendor. It was built by the emperor Severus. Theodore Lafcaris took it from David Comnenus, emperor of Trebifond; when it fell into the hands of the Genoefe, but Mahomet II. took it from them; fince which it has been in the poffeffion of the Turks. It is feated on the N. coaft of the fea of Marmora, 45 miles WSW. of Conftantinop'e. Lon. 27.58. E. Lat. 40. 39. N.

(2.) HERACLEA. See HERKLA.

HERACLEONAS. See HERACLIUS, N° 2. HERACLEONITES, a sect of heretics, the followers of Heracleon, who refined upon the Gnoftic system, and maintained that the world was not the immediate production of the fon of God, but that he was only the occafional cause of its being created by the Demiurgus. The Heracleonites denied the authority of the Old Testament, maintaining that they were mere random founds in the air; and that St John the Baptift was the only true voice that directed to the Messiah.

HERACLEUM, MADNESS: A genus of the digynia order, belonging to the pentandria clafs of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 45th order, Umbellata. The fruit is elliptical, emarginated, compreffed, and ftriated, with a thin border. The corolla is difform, inflexed, and emarginated; the involucrum dropping off. There are five species, of which the most remarkable is

HERACLEUM SPONDYLIUM, the cow par/nip. It is common in many parts of Britain, and other northern parts of Europe and Afia. Gmelin, in his Flora Siberica, p. 214. tells us, that the inhabitants of Kamtfchatka, about the beginning of July, collect the foot-ftalks of the radical leaves of this plant, and, after peeling off the rhind, dry Dd them.

'Tis 'gainst the manners of an epigram,
And I a poet here, no herald am. Ben Jonfon.
When time fhall ferve, let but the herald cry,
And I'll appear again.
Shak.
Embaffador of peace, if peace you choose;
Or berald of a war, if you refufe. Dryden.
- Please thy pride and search the herald's roll,
Where thou shalt find thy famous pedigree.
Dryden.

2. A precurfor; a forerunner; a harbinger.-
It is the part of men to fear and tremble,
When the most mighty gods, by tokens, fend
Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. Shak.
It was the lark, the herald of the morn.
Shakespeare.

3. A proclaimer; a publisher.

After my death I wish no other herald, No other fpeaker of my living actions, But fuch an honeft chronicler as Griffith. Shak. (2.) HERALD, fays Verftegan, is derived from the Saxon word Herehault, and by abbreviation Heralt, which in that language fignifies the champion of an army; and growing to be a name of office, it was given to him who, in the army, had the Special charge to denounce war, to challenge to battle and combat, to proclaim peace, and to execute martial meffages. But the bufinefs of heralds, now, is as follows, viz. To marshal, order, and conduct all royal cavalcades, ceremonies at coronations, royal marriages, inftallations, creations of dukes, marquifes, earls, vifcounts, barons, baronets, and dubbing of knights; embaffies, funeral proceffions, declarations of war, proclamations of peace, &c.: To record and blazon the arms of the nobility and gentry; and to regulate any abuses therein through the British dominions, under the authority of the Earl Marshal, to whom they are fubfervient. The office of Windsor, Chefter, Richmond, Somerset, York, and Lan cafter heralds, is to be affiftants to the kings at arms, in the different branches of their office; and they are fuperior to each other, according to creation, in the above order. Heralds were an ciently held in much greater eßeem than they are

at prefent; and were created and chriftened by the king, who, pouring a gold cup of wine on their head, gave them the herald name: but this is now done by the earl maríhál. They could not arrive at the dignity of herald without being 7 years purfuivant; nor quit the office of herald, but to be made king at arms. Richard III. was the firft who formed them, in this kingdom, into a college; and afterwards great privileges were granted them by Edward VI. and Philip and Mary. The origin of heralds is very ancient. Stentor is reprefented by Homer as herald of the Greeks, who had a voice louder than 50 men tcgether. The Greeks called them ungures, and tignyquaxes; and the Romans, feciales. The Romans had a college of heralds, appointed to decide whɛther a war were unjust; and to prevent its coming to open hoftilities, till all means had been attempted for deciding the difference in a pacific way.

(3.) HERALDS, COLLEGE OF, or HERALDS OF FICE, a corporation founded by a charter of king Richard III. who granted them feveral privileges, as to be free from fubfidies, tolls, offices, &c. They had a fecond charter from king Henry VI.; and a house built near Doctors Commons, by the E. of Derby, in the reign of K. Henry VII. was given them by the D. of Norfolk, in the reign of Queen Mary I. which houfe is now rebuilt. This college is fubordinate to the earl marshal of England. They are affiftants to him in the court of chivalry, ufually held in the common-hall of the college, where they fit in their rich coats of his majesty's arms.

(4.) HERALDS, COLLEGE OF, IN SCOTLAND, confifts of Lyon king at arms, fix heralds, and fix purfuivants, and a number of meffengers. Ste LYON.

*To HERALD. v. a. [from the noun.] To introduce as by an herald. A word not used.— We are fent from our royal master, Only to herald thee into his fight, Not pay thee. HERALDIC, adj. Belonging to heraldry.

Shak.

Hfon:
ERALDRY is thus defined by Dr John-

Η

HERALDRY. «, f. [berauldrie, Fr. from berald.] 1. The art or office of a herald.--I am writing of heraldry. Peacham.

Grant her, befides of noble blood that ran In ancient veins, ere heraldry began. Dryden. 2. Regiftry of genealogies.

'Twas no falfe heraldry when madness drew Her pedigree from those who too much knew. Denham. 3. Blazonry.Metals may blazon common beauties; she Makes pearls and planets humble heraldry. Cleaveland.

INTRODUCTION. HERALDRY is a science, which teaches how to blazon, or explain in proper terms, all that be

art, and fubjected to rules, must be afcribed to Charlemagne and Frederick Barbaroffa, for it did begin and grow with the feudal law.” Sir John Ferne is of opinion, that we borrowed arms from the Egyptians; meaning from their hieroglyphicks. Sir William Dugdale mentions, that arms, as marks of honours, were firft ufed by great commanders in war, neceffity requiring that their perfons fhould be notified to their friends and followers. The learned Alexander Nifbet, in his excellent System of Heraldry, fays, that arms owe their rife and beginning to the light of nature, and that figns and marks of honour were made ufe of in the firft ages of the world, and by all nations, however fimple and illiterate, to diftinguish the noble from the ignoble. We find in Homer, Virgil, and Ovid, that their heroes had divers figures on their fhields, whereby their perfons were distinctly known. Alexander the Great, defirous to honour thofe of his captains and foldiers who had done any glorious action, and also to excite an emulation among the reft, granted them certain badges to be borne on their armour, pennons, and banners; ordering, at the fame time, that no perfon or potentate, through his empire, fhould attempt or prefume to give or tolerate the bearing of thofe figns upon the armour of any man, but it fhould be a power referved to himfelf; which preroga-. tive has been claimed ever fince by all other kings and fovereign princes within their dominions.

On this fubject, all that can be faid with any certainty is, that in all ages, men have made ufe of figures of living creatures, or fymbolical figns, to denote the bravery and courage either of their chief or nation, to render themselves more terrible to their enemies, and even to diftinguish themselves or families, as names do individuals. The famous C. Agrippa, in his treatise of the vanity of fciences, cap. 81. has collected many inftances of thefe marks of distinction, anciently borne by kingdoms and ftates that were any way civilized, viz. The Egyptians bore an ox; the Athenians an owl; the Goths a bear; the Romans an eagle; the Franks a lion; and the Saxons a horfe. As to hereditary arms of families, William Cambden, Sir Henry Spelman, and other judicious heralds, agree, that they did not begin till towards the end of the 11th century. According to F. Meneftrier, a French writer, whofe authority is great in this matter, Henry l'Oifeleur (or the Falconer), who was raifed to the imperial throne of the Weft in 920, by regulating tournaments in Germany, gave occafion to the establishment of family arms, or hereditary marks of honour, which undeniably are more ancient and better obferved among the Germans than in any other nation. This laft author alfo afferts, that with tournaments firft came up coats of arms; which were a fort of livery, made up of feveral lifts, fillets, or narrow pieces of ftuff of divers colours, from whence came the fefs, the bend, the pale, &c. which were the original charges of family arms; for they who never had been at tournaments, had not fuch marks of distinction. They who inlifted in the Croifades, took up alfo feveral new figures formerly known in armorial enfigns; fuch as allerions, bezants, escalop-fheils, martlets, &c. but more particularly croffes of dif

ferent colours, for diftinction's fake. From this it may be concluded, that heraldry, like most human inventions, was gradually introduced and eftablifhed; and that, after having been rude and unfettled for many ages, it was at laft methodised, perfected, and fixed by the Croisades and tournaments.

Thefe marks of honour are called ARMS, from their being principally and first worn by military men at war and tournaments, who bad them engraved, emboffed, or depicted on shields, targets, banners, or other martial inftruments. They are alfo called Coats of Arms, from the cuftom of the ancients embroidering them on the coats they wore over their arms, as heralds do to this day.

Arms are diftinguished by different names, to denote the caufes of their bearing: fuch as, arms of Dominion, of Pretenfion, of Conceffion, of Community, of Patronage, of Family, of Alliance, of Succeffion.

ARMS of DOMINION, or fovereignty, are thofe which emperors, kings, and fovereign ftates, conftantly bear; being, as it were, annexed to the territories, kingdoms, and provinces they poffefs. Thus the three lions are the arms of England, the fleur de-lis thofe of the late monarchy of France, &c.

Arms of PRETENSION are thofe of fuch kingdoms, provinces, or territories, to which a prince or lord has fome claim, and which he adds to his own, although the said kingdoms or territories be poffeffed by a foreign prince or other lord. Thus the kings of England have quartered the arms of France with their own, ever fince Edward III. laid claim to the kingdom of France, which happened in 1330, on account of his being fon to Ifabella, fifter to Charles IV. or the Fair, who died without iffue; till the first day of the prefent century, when HIS MAJESTY'S ARMS were altered on account of the UNION with IRELAND, and the French arms were thrown out.

Arms of CONCESSION, or augmentation of honour, are either entire arms, or elfe one or more figures, given by princes as a reward for some great fervice. We read in hiftory, that Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, allowed the earl of Wintoun's ancestor to bear, in his coat armour, a crown fupported by a fword, to show that he, and the clan Seaton, of which he was the head, fupported his tottering crown. The late Q. Anne granted to Sir Cloudefly Shovel, rear-admiral of Great Britain, a cheveron between two fleur-de-lis in chief, and a crefcent in bafe, to denote three great victories he had gained: two over the French, and one over the Turks.

Arms of COMMUNITY are thofe of bishoprics, cities, univerfities, academies, focieties, companies, and other bodies corporate.

Arms of PATRONAGE are fuch as governors of provinces, lords of manors, patrons of benefices, &c. add to their family arms, as a token of their fuperiority, rights, and jurifdiction. These arms have introduced into heraldry, caftles, gates, wheels, ploughs, rakes, harrows, &c.

Arms of FAMILY, or PATERNAL ARMS, are thofe that belong to one particular family, that diftinguish it from others, and which no perfon