This precious composition is further described in the grant as
betokening by the boke lerning: by the ij serpentes resting upon the square marble stone, wisdom with grace founded & stayed upon vertues stable stone: by sengrene & flower gentle, immortality y^t never shall fade, etc.
The way in which matters went from bad to worse is shown by the case of the Company of 'Barbours & Chirurgeons' of London, to whom had been granted in 1561
paly argent and vert, on a pale gules a lyon passant gardant golde betweene two Spatters argent on eche a double rose gules and argent crowned golde.
The united genius of Garter, Clarenceux, and Norroy 'improved' these arms in 1569 into:
Quarterly the first sables a Cheveron betweene three flewmes argent: the second quarter per pale argent and vert on a Spatter of the first, a double Rose gules and argent crowned golde: the third quarter as the seconde and the fourth as the first: Over all on a Crosse gules a lyon passant gardant golde.
Such compositions as these could not but fail to bring heraldry into contempt, and men soon ceased to revel in and play with it in the same delightful way as before. Here and there, as in Sir Thomas Tresham's market house at Rothwell, or in Sir Henry Stafford's great mansion of Kirby Hall, tradition has been held fast, and play is made upon the former with the Tresham trefoils, and in the latter with Stafford knots and with crests treated as badges in quite the old style. At Kirby Hall, despite its date (1572-5), and at Cadhay in Devon, sitting figures of beasts with shields of arms were set upon the gables, and at Kirby upon the pinnacles that surmounted the pilasters about the court. A good panel with the arms and badge apparently of Sir John Guldeford (_ob._ 1565) is to be seen in East Guldeford church, Sussex (fig. 191).
[Illustration: FIG. 191. Arms, with crested helm and badge (a blazing ragged-staff) of, apparently, Sir John Guldeford of Benenden (_ob._ 1565) in East Guldeford church, Sussex.]
A remarkably fine specimen of Elizabethan heraldic decoration is also to be seen in the great chamber of Gilling castle, Yorks, as finished by Sir William Fairfax about 1585. Here the beautiful inlaid wall-panelling is surmounted by a frieze nearly four feet deep, painted with hunting scenes and a series of large trees, upon which are hung according to wapentakes the shields of arms of Yorkshire gentlefolk. The chimney piece displays the armorial ensigns of the builder, with those of his Queen above, and four other shields, and between the frettings of the plaster ceiling are the Fairfax lions and goats, and the Stapleton talbot. The rich effect of the whole is completed by the contemporary heraldic glazing with which the windows happily are filled.