William Morris intended that the lower range of tapes- tries at Stanmore Hall should be "filled with decora- tive figures and scrolls with writing having relation to the pictures above; this will add very much to the general richness of effect without fatiguing the eye." 1 Burne-Jones went further in designing a series of verdures — echoing Morris's boyhood memories of "a room hung with greenery" — with deer and for- est trees from which would hang shields bearing the arms of the Knights of the Round Table. These were not genuine coats of arms but were culled by Morris from two sixteenth-century French publications, which he was able to consult in the British Museum. 2 Writing to Lady Leighton in the winter of 1890-91, Burne-Jones expressed his debt to Morris — "who I think knows everything in the world" — but had to admit some dis- appointment at the result of his researches: apart from King Arthur's shield, with crowns of gold on an azure background, "mostly the noble knights have rather commonplace arms, and the unknown ones have beautiful ones, which is like the way of this worrying world. Galahad, for whom I should have liked to violate heraldry, giving him a cup of gold on a silver ground, has to bear a red cross only and it is so dull for him." 3 Designs for the coats of arms, including those for Tristram, Gawaine, and Launcelot, appear in the "Secret" Book of Designs (cat. no. 140), together with a long list of "Arms of the Round Table"; there follows the first idea of shields hung on stunted trees. 4 The fate of the Stanmore verdures remains unknown. The present version, made in 1900, is an adaptation by John Henry Dearie of the first verdure, which fitted beneath The Summons. As identified by Emmeline Leary, the arms are "two unidenti- fied shields on the lower branches of the tree to the left, the first shield immediately below the inscription is also unidenti- fied; then Sir Gawaine, Sir Arain Dupin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Brollain, Sir Perceval, Sir Jarribourg du Chastel, next unidenti- fied, Sir Bors, next unidentified, Sir Galahad, Sir Tristram de Lyonesse, Sir Lyonnet de Gannes, next unidentified, and below this Sir Wolf Ganesmor le noir, and on the ground Sir Uwaine and Le roy Lyon." 5 Certain differences between Morris's sources and their appearance in the tapestry were perhaps an attempt to avoid problematic colors and juxta- positions. 1. A. B. Bence-Jones, "The Holy Grail Tapestries," 1895, manuscript, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; quoted in Leary 1985, 2. Gyron le Courtois, avec la devise des armes des Chevaliers de la table ronde (Paris, 1520) and an undated pamphlet, La Devise des armes des Chevaliers de la table ronde qui estoient du temps du tres renome et vertueuxArtus roy de la Grant Bretanique avec la description de leurs armoiries see Parry 1983, p. 117. 3. Memorials^ vol. 2, p. 211. 4. British Museum, London (1899-7- 13-483-495). 5. Leary 1985.