which, they assert, were formerly added to coats of arms as marks of
degradation for slander, cowardice, murder, and other crimes, and to
them they give the name of abatements of honour; others have called
them blots in the escutcheon: but as no instance can be produced of
such dishonourable marks having been borne in a coat of arms, they
may justly be considered as chimerical, or at any rate obsolete,
and unworthy of consideration at the present time. Porney pithily
observes, "that arms being marks of honour, they cannot admit of any
note of infamy, nor would any one bear them if they were so branded.
It is true, a man may be degraded for divers crimes, particularly high
treason; but in such cases the escutcheon is reversed, trod upon, and
torn in pieces, to denote a total extinction and suppression of the
honour and dignity of the person to whom it belonged."

The only abatement used in heraldry is the baton: this denotes
illegitimacy. It is borne in the escutcheons of the dukes that assume
the royal arms as the illegitimate descendants of King Charles the
Second.

[Illustration: Baton]




CHAP. IV.

HONOURABLE ORDINARIES.


Honourable ordinaries are the original marks of distinction bestowed