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hemp or woollen cloth, held upon the knees, and with a ham-mer having a bevil edge, they may be broken into almost anyform or size by those accustomed to the practice.
The great variety of the material from whence they arecomposed, allows for any waste which accident may produce.In Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Kent, Wiltshire , and all chalkdistricts in England, they are so plentiful, that they are thecommon material employed for mending the public roads.But we are informed that this not the case in France ; wherein time of war the people are prohibited from exportingthem. The Dutch are commonly large dealers in thatarticle.
Flint is a large component, indeed the staple, in the ma-nufacture of glass.
Savory relates that the largest quantity and best stonesproduced in France , come from Berry. Many are alsoproduced from Stevensklint, in Zealand, as we are informedby Professor Beckmann. 3
We propose to include in whatever we have to say onthis head, as well the art of armoury, and emblazoning coatsof arms, as the office of an herald. And first of armorialbearings. It has been adduced, we know, to an Egyptianorigin: being traced by a contemporary 1 to the expeditionof Osiris, where Diodorus Siculus says, the sons of thatprince Annubis and Macedo accompanied their father,dressed, or armed in coats of mail, having resemblance tosuch animals as those young princes themselves were saidto assimilate to in the disposition of their minds. Annubiswas covered with a dog’s skin, whilst Macedo wore that ofa wolf.
But we think we can carry it to about a couple of agesbefore the period of that expedition, and submit that wesuggest, perhaps, a more satisfactory and probable occasion.The circumstance to which we allude, is detailed in the49th chapter of Genesis, when Jacob, immediately previousto his death, recounts the chief actions which had distin-guished his children. Reuben was remarkable for unsta-bleness, therefore water was thought a proper type topersonate that character. Simeon and Levi were cruel,represented by instruments of cruelty. Judah ’s type was a
* Vol. iv. p, 613.
1 Dr. Rees.