and though it should not be so obscure as to
require a sibyl to explain it, yet the motto ought to be in a foreign
or dead language, so that it may not be comprehended by the
vulgar--'such dainties not being intended for vulgar appetites.' The
human figure, also, should never be introduced into the emblem, and
the motto ought not to contain more than three or four words. These
rules, however, were not strictly adhered to, even by Jovius himself.
The treatise is written in the form of a dialogue between the bishop
and his secretary; its gossipping manner, quaint style, and the great
importance attributed to the subject-matter, remind us exceedingly of
the _Complete Angler_ of our old English friend Izaak Walton. As an
example of a perfect device, Jovius mentions one worn in the Italian
wars by Antonio Colonna, the friend of Michael Angelo. It represented
a branch of palm laid across a branch of cypress, with the motto,
_Erit altera merces_ (There will be another reward.) Another, highly
praised by the old device-writers 'for being of subtle invention, and
singular in outward view,' was assumed by a Spanish knight, Don Diego
Mendoza, to signify the slight encouragement he received from the fair
lady who was mistress of his affections. It represented a well, with a
circular machine for raising water, full buckets ascending and empty
ones going down, the motto, _Los llenos de dolor, y los vazios de
esperanza_ (The full one is grief; the empty, hope.) By the way, we
find a similar figure in _Richard II._, where the unfortunate monarch
says:

'Now is this golden crown like a deep well,
That owns two buckets, filling one another--
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen, and full of water:
That bucket down and full of tears am I,
Drinking my grief while you mount up on high.'

Jovius also warmly commends a device worn by Edward Stuart, Lord of
Albany, a famous captain of tried valour in the French army, during
their Italian campaigns. Of the blood-royal of Scotland, being cousin
to James IV., he wore, as his arms, a lion rampant in a field argent;
and as his device, a buckle, with the motto, _Distantia jungit_;
'thereby implying that he was the bond which held united the kings of
France and Scotland, to countervail the forces of their natural enemy,
the king of England.'

A quaint bit of romance, in connection with a lady's device, is
perhaps worthy of notice. Hippolita Fioramo