Crest

“ The low sun, too, lends a weird and jagged shadow to gallop in before the crest of each advancing wave, and sometimes there is a second crest on the shoulders of the first, as if there were more than could be contained in a single curve. ”

“ The earliest appearance of a crest in England is on the second seal of Richard I. Fig. 207 illustrates the manner in which the crest is worn upon the royal crown of England. Crests are not worn by ladies, excepting by the Sovereign. (See Panache.)
Fig. 208. Crest-coronet.
Fig. 209. Crest-wreaths.
Crest-coronet, Crest-wreath, or Orle, Her. A coronet or wreath to support a crest. (Fig. 208 and 209.)
Crest-tiles. Tiles used for covering the ridge of a roof.
Creta Lævis. A crayon of permanent colour for chalk drawing. ”

“ As we stand on a mountain crest and cast our eyes over the wide extent of country, it is the more prominent features that impress themselves on our vision. The lesser details, the waving field, the blooming bush, the evergreen moss, the singing bird and fragrant rose, which attract the attention and admiration of the immediate bystander, are lost to our view by the distance. ”

“ One reaches the crest, hoping for a new view, searching for the clump of trees that means a farm and fresh water; and one sinks down again into the furrow, while the wave of disappointment runs backward along the seven miles of column as each man rises to the barren view. ”

“ Every evening she lingers on his summit, and when at last she leaves him, his lofty crest is bathed in soft purple light. In the evening the Matchless Mountain seems to rise higher and higher into the skies, until no mortal can tell the place of his rest. ”

“ The pines of the high crest stood like serried sentinels, aloof, motionlessly watchful of the noisy men in the little valley far below, that trampled about in anger and talked with wild words; and the hurrying river, with the chant of the wilderness in its rapids, flowed on with tumbling eagerness, fleeing to its great mother, the sea; hurrying through ripples and around bends as if to escape from these bearded creatures that dug into it with picks and shovels, plundering its treasure—treasure gathered grain by grain through the centuries. ”

“ Crests are not borne by ladies, a reigning Sovereign only excepted. (See Panache, Rebus, and Chapter XIV.)
Crest-Coronet. A coronet from which issues, or which supports, a crest. No. 232.
Crest-Wreath, or Torse. In the Middle Ages, of rich materials and costly workmanship; now represented as being formed of two rolls of silk of the principal metal and colour in the arms, which are twisted to show 114 the metal and colour alternately. The earliest examples are about A.D. 1375. No. 233 shows three varieties of representation. ”

“ A crest shows that you suspect your ancestors—nothing more than that. It isn't proof, so there's no reason why you shouldn't have it. You ought not to be going around without a crest, as if you were a common servant-girl. Why, every kitchen-maid will be thinking she's as good as you are. You want to be in style. ”

“ Just before the crest is reached the trail for fifty or more feet is simply a path along and up the base of a rocky precipice, its steps worn deep by the never-ending line of Indians passing to and fro. Once upon the summit we have an unobstructed view over the dry, arid, sun-parched valleys for many miles—a view which, in spite of its desolation, is extremely fascinating. ”

“ THE present official rules are that crests must be upon, or must issue from, a wreath (or torse) , a coronet, or a chapeau. It is not at the pleasure of the wearer to choose which he will, one or other being specified and included in the terms of the grant. If the crest have a lawful existence, one or other of them will unchangeably belong to the crest, of which it now is considered to be an integral part.
In Scotland and Ireland, Lyon King of Arms and Ulster King of Arms have always been considered to have, and still retain, the right to grant crests upon a chapeau or issuing from a crest. ”

“ Away we flew over the mountainous waves—skimming from crest to crest between them, our little bark sometimes wholly out of the water; now east, now west, north, south, in every quarter of the compass, changing our course each minute. ”

“ We ran winding along a crest of rising ground, passing rapidly, by way of farther comparison, two wretched Mormons, man and woman, who were driving, at a snail’s pace, a permanently lamed ox, and after a long ascent stood upon the summit of Quaking-Asp Hill. ”

“ When a mountain crest is thus formed, and the concave curve of its front is carried into its flanks, each edge of bed assuming this concave curve, and radiating, 203 like the rows of tiles, in perspective at the same time, the whole crest is thrown into the form Fig. 52, which is that of the radiating plume required.
§ 10. It often happens, however, that Nature does not choose to keep the ridge broad at the lower extremity, so as to diminish its steepness. ”

“ This Crest is—Out of a crest-coronet a plume of five ostrich feathers per pale arg. and az., the Plantagenet colours—the device (as Mr. Lower observes) being evidently derived from the Prince’s own Badge, and also forming a variety of the “panache,” the Crest then held in such high estimation. The heart charged upon the shield of Douglas (see Nos. 156, 157, p. 74) is another remarkable Augmentation. ”

“ John the Baptist in a charger figures in the crest of the Tallow Chandlers' Livery Company and in the arms of Ayr, whilst the head of St. Denis is the charge upon the arms of a family of that name.
Angels, though very frequently met with as supporters, are far from being usual, either as a charge upon a shield or as a crest. The crest of Leslie, however, is an angel.
The crest of Lord Kintore is an angel in a praying posture or, within an orle of laurel proper. ”

“ We have always particularly admired its ample and curious crest, which is possessed by both male and female, and, though admitting of being flattened so as to lie close on the head, is usually to be seen erect, and gives it an air unusually spirited and striking. ”

“ The crest is also sometimes borne on a chapeau, or cap of maintenance, which may be of any tincture, but is usually represented as of crimson velvet, lined and guarded with ermine. Fig. 188. Unless specified to the contrary in the blazon, crests are always supposed to be supported on a wreath.
Two or more crests are sometimes seen ensigning a coat of arms; but if we consider what purpose crests were intended to serve, this practice is obviously incorrect. If a gentleman, on his marriage with an heiress, adopts her paternal crest, he ought to relinquish his own. ”

“ The next fact is that we find infinitely more variation in the crests used by given families than in the arms, and that whilst the variations in the arms are as a rule trivial, and not affecting the general design of the shield, the changes in the crest are frequently radical, the crest borne by a family at one period having no earthly relation to that borne by the same family at another. ”

“ The greater the chief the higher the pole. The Indians are very jealous in regard to this distinction.
Every Indian family has a distinguishing crest, or "totem," as it is called in some places. This crest is usually some bird, or fish, or animal; particularly the eagle, the raven, the finback whale, the grisly bear, the wolf, and the frog. Among the Tsimsheans and their neighbours, the Hydahs, great importance is attached to this heraldry, and their crests are often elaborately engraved on large copper plates from three to five feet in length, and about two in breadth. ”

“ So, also, in the next example, Fig. 64, the crest in the middle distance is exceedingly fine in its expression of mountain force; the two ridges of it being thrown up like the two edges of a return wave that has just been beaten back from a rock. It is still, however, somewhat wanting in the expression of straightness, and therefore slightly unnatural. It was not people's way in the Middle Ages to look at mountains carefully enough to discover the most subtle elements of their structure. ”

“ In heraldry (q.v.) a crest is a device, originally borne as a cognizance on a knight’s helmet, placed on a wreath above helmet and shield in armorial bearings, and used separately on a seal or on articles of property.
Cresting, in architecture, is an ornamental finish in the wall or ridge of a building, which is common on the continent of Europe. An example occurs at Exeter cathedral, the ridge of which is ornamented with a range of small fleurs-de-lis in lead.
CRESTON, a city and the county-seat of Union county, Iowa, U.S.A., about 60 m. ”

“ The difficulty of dealing with modern crests usually arises from their having been designed with regard only to their representation on flat surfaces, but the problem may be solved to some extent—it is frequently impossible to do so completely—by carefully adjusting the crest and helm to each other and by placing them in the aspect that produces the best effect and at the same time expresses their character most fully ”

“ He imagines, and very naturally too, judging from appearances, that when he ascends to the crest he can overlook all the surrounding country. After a weary walk or ride of perhaps several miles, which appeared at starting not more than one or two, he finds himself at the desired point, but discovers that directly beyond, in the direction he desires to go, rises a second wave, but slightly higher than the first, and7 from the crest of which he must certainly be able to scan the country as far as the eye can reach. ”

“ The fact that we find comparatively few changes considering the number of crests in existence is by no means a refutation of this theory, because a man had but one helmet, and was forced therefore to make a selection. Unless, therefore, he had a very strong inclination it would be more likely that he would select the crest he was used to than a fresh one. ”

“ Before venturing upon the cornice, I left my place in the middle of the rope and had an end made fast to me to enable the guides to anchor as far back as possible, while upon hands and knees to guard against breaking through the crust, I made my way to the actual crest of the mountain, 10,825 feet. ”

“ Though more crests are blazoned nowadays than there are minutes in which the heralds may count them, yet old families still live, with roots deep down in rural England's soil, and nourish in quiet legends which, when they come to notice, are the fairest flowers in the garden of English folk-lore. ”

“ The temporal crests and the sagittal crest, which is only the result of the elevation and lying back of the former on the median line, are developed on either hand with age, especially in the male, and are in relation with the strength of the muscles that are inserted upon them. ”

“ No Indian would think of killing the animal which had been taken for his crest. While two members of the same tribe are allowed to intermarry, those of the same crest are prohibited from doing so under any circumstances. The child always takes the mother's crest: if she belonged to a family whose crest was the eagle, thru all her children take the eagle for their crest. ”

“ This fillet is the commonest crest support, and the others, chapeau or coronet, are themselves sometimes set upon a torse. It should be stated in the grant.
Crests carry the same cadency marks as occur on the coat-of-arms.
Crests are of very ancient use; marks of dignity worn upon the head are among the earliest signs of chieftainship used by mankind. A savage chief would readily wear a rare bird's feather in his head as a mark of dignity, [Pg 27] or even his own hair matted into particular forms, as the Zulus still do. As for feathers, we still wear them on our heads as indications of rank ”

“ In its bosom the crests stand forth like promontories; the mountain tops that it bathes rise like an archipelago of rocks; it buries itself in the jagged gulfs, and waves slowly around the peaks that it gains. The harshness of the bald crests heightens the grace of its ravishing whiteness. But it evaporates as it rises; already the landscapes of the depths appear under a transparent twilight; the middle of the valley discovers itself. There remains of the floating sea only a white girdle, which trails along the declivities ”

“ The “lamb and flag” is an heraldic emblem, the dexter fore-leg of the lamb supporting a staff bearing a banner charged with the St George’s cross. This was one of the crests of the Knights Templars, used on seals as early as 1241; it was adopted as a badge or crest by the Middle Temple, the Inner Temple using another crest of the Templars, the winged horse or Pegasus. ”

“ A network to confine the hair of ladies; the calantica of the ancients. It is found in mediæval monuments in a variety of forms.
Cressets. A small pan or portable fireplace, filled with combustibles, used for illuminating purposes; 16th century. Her., a beacon. (See Fig. 54.)
Crest, Arch, (crista) . A running ornament, more or less incised and perforated, which is placed on the ridge of roofs. Many monuments of antiquity have been adorned with terra-cotta crests ”

“ Along the central heights the mountains lift themselves towards the sky like the storm-swept crests of vast earth-billows. The whole aspect of the ground suggests intense commotion, and the impression thus given is often much intensified by the twisted and crumpled strata, visible from a long distance, on the crags and crests. ”

“ That coast, to begin with, stretching toward the sunset, was itself almost as fantastic as a sunset cloud. It was cut out against the emerald or indigo of the sea in graven horns and crescents that might have been the cast or mold of some such crested serpents, and, beneath, was pierced and fretted by caves and crevices, as if by the boring of such titanic worms. Over and above this draconian architecture of the earth, a veil of gray woods hung thinner like a vapor—woods which the witchcraft of the sea had, as usual, both blighted and blown out of shape. ”