Note 1 — ROMAN DE ROU

A shield of pure sable is appended to the principal figure, with full notice of our liability, on that account, to the charge of heraldic anachronism. Waving any defence on the scientific point, we merely observe that when Wace tells us of 'escuz painz de plusors guises,' it may safely be presumed that there was at least one of sable hue; and that our fancy may not be considered as running very wild, if it presumes that the lord of the Marches was wont so to distinguish himself; and if it connects the subsequent use of so simple an heraldic bearing by the norman Gornais, with its previous use as a mere badge, a cognoissance or entre-sain; see p. 22, 172, 302.