forwards to fearch after the Increafe of Valour and Re-putation. At this Crefcent was fatten’d as many fmallPieces of Gold, fafhion’d like Columns, and enamell’dwith Red, as the Knights had been engag’d in Battelsand Sieges; for none could be adopted into this Order,unlefs he had well trod the Paths of Honour. TheKnights were Thirty Six, others fay Fifty, in Number.For their Habit they wore Mantles of Red or CrimfonVelvet, and a Mantlet of White, with the Lining andjSurcoat of the fame.

37. The Order of the Ermin in Britanny,

Was erefted by Francis I. Duke of Bretagne, to per-petuate the Memory of his Grand-father John theConqueror, or elfe in Imitation of other Orders inFrance ; and thereupon he new built his Cattle of Er-min. The Number of thefe Knights were Twenty Five.Their Habits were Mantles of White Damask lin’dwith Carnation, and the Mantlet of the fame. Thegreat Collar was of Gold, compos’d of Ears of Cornin Saltire , bound above and beneath with Two Circlesof Gold, imitating the Crown of Ce,es, denoting theCare of Husbandry, and was fometimes called The Or-der of the Ears ofCo-m. At the End of this Collar hungthe Mm Ponticus, or Ermin, patting over a Turf ofGrafs diaper’d with Flowers, at the Edge whereof wasimbofs’d this Epigraph in French, Amaire , the Deviceof his faid Grand-father, by which he made known hisCourage 5 and rather than fail in the leaft Punctilio ofhis Word, he would undergo any Misfortune. ThisOrder ended when the Dukedom of Bretagne becameannex’d to the Crown of France, by the Marriage ofAnne, Dutchefs of Bretagne, to Charles VIII. and Leviis,XII. both French Kings.

3 8. The Order of the Ermin in Naples

Owes its Inftitution to Ferdinand I. King of Naples,at the Expiration of the War which he was engag’d inwith ^ahn of Lorain, Duke of Calabria, 1463. being in-duc’d thereto by the Treafon and Confederacy of his

F 3 Brother-