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A
Few Questions of Heraldry - CHAPTER IX,
pp 113-115
Some
Family Mottoes
In
the "General Armory" Burke gives as a Merrill
coat of arms--Or, a pale engrailed gules,
voided of the field, between two fleurs-de-lis azure;
crest--A peacock's head, erased, proper. These
arms have, I think, received little attention in this
country.
I
have an impression in wax of a beautifully cut seal showing
these arms, the seal having been made thirty-five or forty
years ago for Dr. Frederick-Augustus8 Merrill
(See page 542) of Boston. Under the shield is shown a
ribbon with the motto, "Vincit qui patitur."
This phrase (meaning "He conquers who endures")
appears to be the motto of fourteen English families,
(among which Merrill is not included,) according to Elvin's
"Handbook of Mottoes" (London, 1860).
The
same arms were described in the Historical Bulletin of
Washington, 1 Sept. 1904, as belonging to Merrills of
America, but with the motto, "Vivons à
la vérité" ("Live for the
truth.") And a correspondent sent me a tracing of
the same arms, but with the motto "Forti et fideli
nihil dificile" ("To the brave and faithful
nothing is difficult.") He said that the arms were
sent him from Canada, and were copied from a book brought
from England. It should be borne in mind that a motto
and a coat of arms are in a measure independent of each
other. One is quite free to discard the motto of his family,
and adopt a motto of his own choice, without discarding
the arms themselves.
 A
poet of the family, inspired by the motto "Vincit
qui patitur," and the heraldic representation
accompanying it, has given us some clever verses, of which
this is the first stanza:
"He
conquers who endures:"
Stern
words on my proud crest--
Crest set with fleurs-de-lis,
With
peacock's head and breast;
Crest borne long years
ago
By
fearless kin of mine,
Where oleanders flame
On
hills of Palestine. (*)
With
the freedom which is granted to those who write in verse,
the poet was of course privileged to fancy her ancestors
as crusaders, fighting against the infidel with shield
and crest as here depicted. Those of us, however, to whom
no form of expression has been vouchsafed save practical
commonplaoe prose, must seek tangible evidence that the
claim to the arms is warranted by the rules of heraldry,
and that the family line back to the time of the crusades
can be properly traced. Such evidence is lacking.
In
a newspaper article some years ago the use of the peacock's
head in the Merrill arms was explained. The writer of
the article credited the arms having the two fleurs-de-lis,
with the peacock's-head crest, to the de Merles of Auvergne.
He related how, a few centuries ago, a number of lawless
men planned to pillage the de Merle estate one night,
and murder the members of the family. A number of peacocks
were kept on the premises, however, and these birds, frightened
by the unwonted presence of nocturnal visitors, and emulating
the immortal flock of poultry which saved the city on
the Tiber, set up a strident clamor. As a result the family
and servants were aroused, and the wicked design of the
outlaws was frustrated. The service performed by the faithful
peacocks was ill-requited by wringing their necks and
using their heads, thus erased, as heraldic emblems.
The
writer of the article did not cite any authority for this
story, and it may without impropriety be given a place
in the family mythology. A careful search in French works
on heraldry fails to show that either the peacock or his
head has been used in coat-armor by any French family
bearing the name of Merle.
NEXT
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(*) From "Where
Bugles Blow," (Boston, 1914), by the late Elizabeth
Powers Merrill. Mrs. Merrill was the widow of J. -Palmer8
Merrill of Skowhegan, Maine. J. -Palmer8
Merrill was son of Richard Hussey7 Merrill
(John6, Levi5, James4,
Thomas3, Abel2). See p.598.
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