f their heraldic arrangements they recall those of the
previous age; but their physiognomy is totally different. In the first
place, they invariably display the tincture lines and dots, after the
method originally devised in the middle of the century by Petra Sancta,
the author of _Tesserae Gentilitiae_, which by this time had become
adopted throughout Europe. In the second, the mantling assumes a much
more elaborate appearance--one that irresistibly recalls that of the
periwig of the period--surrounding the face of the shield. This style
was undoubtedly imported from France, but it assumed a character of its
own in England. As a matter of fact, thenceforth until the dawn of the
French Revolution, English modes of decoration in book-plates, as in
most other chattels, follow at some years' distance the ruling French
taste. The main characteristics of the style which prevailed during the
Queen Anne and early Georgian periods are:--ornamental frames suggestive
of carved oak, a frequent use of fish-scales, trellis or diapered
patterns, for the decoration of plain surfaces; and, in the armorial
display, a marked reduction in the importance of the mantling. The
introduction of the scallop-shell as an almost constant element of
ornamentation gives already a foretaste of the _Rocaille-Coquille_, the
so-called Chippendale fashions of the next reign. As a matter of fact,
during the middle third of the century this rococo style (of which the
Convers plate [fig. 4] gives a tolerably typical sample) affects the
book-plate as universally as all other decorative objects. Its chief
element is a fanciful arrangement of scroll and shell work with
curveting acanthus-like sprays--an arrangement which in the examples of
the best period is generally made asymmetrical in order to give freer
scope for a variety of countercurves. Straight or concentric lines and
all appearances of flat surface are studiously avoided; the helmet and
its symmetrical mantling tends to disappear, and is replaced by the
plain crest on a fillet. The earlier examples of this manner are
tolerably ponderous and simple. Later, however, the composition becomes
exceedingly light and complicated; every conceivable and often
incongruous element of decoration is introduced, from cupids to dragons,
from flowerets to Chinese pagodas. During the early part of George
III.'s reign there is a return to greater sobriety of ornamentation, and
a style more truly national, which may be c