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"Mr. Punch's" Book of Arms cover

"Mr. Punch's" Book of Arms

Chapter 25: George Nathaniel, first Earl Curzon of the Pamirs 'specially granted'.
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About This Book

A sequence of humorous mock coats of arms presents parody blazons, crests, supporters, and mottos that lampoon prominent public figures, institutions, and current events of the author's day. Each entry mimics heraldic language while twisting symbols into absurd, ironic descriptions that expose political foibles, journalistic excesses, and imperial pretensions. The work alternates detailed visual description with sharp, often bawdy wordplay, arranging entries like an illustrated armorial interspersed with brief epigrams. Through exaggerated symbolism and mock-formality, it satirizes power, public personalities, and civic ceremonial, inviting readers to view familiar characters and controversies through a comic, barbed heraldic lens.

George Nathaniel, first Earl Curzon of the Pamirs 'specially granted'.

Arms / quarterly / i under a chief wavery ermine charged with a marquess's coronet for hauteur, a popinjay rising on a ground of undoubted ability / ij a Cretan lyre employed during the European concert charged with 'wires' strained improper 'probably wholly inaccurate' / iij a sun +of a peer+ in his meridian glory who declines to set upon the British dominions / iiij a lion erased, muzzled and depressed, regarding on a bastion the flags of the powers flowing in futility / over all, on an escutcheon of pretence 'as a minister of the crown' a slip verdant. Crest / a peacock in pride ruffled and displayed proper rising from a ministerial bench. Supporters / on either side an heraldic superior purzon erect omniscient pluming himself on a garb highly proper lined silk throughout. Second Motto / 'D.V. I shall go higher.'