Chapter Shepherd Lord to Shield of Gold of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

They went each to his hill. Bards marked the sounds of the shields. Loudest rang thy boss, Duth-maruno. Thou must lead in war.—Ossian: Cath-Loda, ii.

When a man was doomed to death, the chief used to strike his shield with the blunt end of his spear, as a notice to the royal bard to begin the death-song.

Cairbar rises in his arms. The clang of shields is heard.—Ossian: Temora, i.

Shield. The Gold and Silver Shield. This story is from Beaumont’s Moralities. It was repeated in a collection of Useful and Entertaining Passages in Prose (1826). The substance of the tale is as follows: Two knights, approaching each other from opposite directions, came in sight of a trophy shield, one side of which was gold and the other silver. Like the disputants about the chameleon, they could not agree. “What a wonderful gold trophy is that yonder!” said one of the knights. “Gold!” exclaimed the other. “Why, do you think I’ve lost my sight? It is not gold but silver.’ “ ’Tis gold, I maintain;” “ ’Tis silver, I insist on.” From words they almost came to blows, when luckily came by a stranger, to whom they referred the dispute, and were told that both were wrong and both were right, seeing one side of it was gold and the other side silver.

Shield of Cathmor (The). This shield had seven bosses, and the ring of each boss (when struck with a spear) conveyed a distinct telegraphic message to the tribes. The sound of one boss, for example, was for muster, of another for retreat, of a third distress, and so on, On each boss was a star, the names of which were Can’-mathon (on the first boss), Col-derna (on the second), Uloicho (on the third), Cathlin (on the fourth), Rel-durath (on the fifth), Berthin (on the sixth), and Ton-the’na (on the seventh).

In his arms strode the chief of Atha to where his shield hung, high, at night; high on a mossy bough over Lubar’s streamy roar. Seven bosses rose on the shield, the seven voices of the king which his warriors received from the wind.—Ossian: Temora, vii.

Shield of Gold or GOLDEN SHIELD, the shield of Mars, which fell from heaven, and was guarded in Rome by twelve priests called Salii.

Charge for the hearth of Vesta!
Charge for the Golden Shield!
   —Macaulay: Regillus, zzxv.

Hail to the fire that burns for aye [of Vesta]
And the shield that fell from heaven!
   —Macaulay: Lays of Ancient Rome (“Battle of the Lake Regillus,” xxxviii., 1842).