Page:The Grammar of Heraldry, Cussans, 1866.djvu/70

56 commoner, she still retains her rank, as I have before stated, and actually takes precedence of her sister, though the wife of a peer.

It was anciently the custom to combine the arms of the wife with those of her husband by dimidiation, or cutting off the sinister half of one coat, and the dexter half of the other. This was found to be extremely inconvenient, and in some cases to totally transform some of the charges. For example, if we wished to marshal by dimidiation, ‘Gu.; a bend sinister or,’ with ‘Party per pale, ermine and gu,; a bend or,’ we would produce ‘Gu.; a chevron or,’ and the ermine would be totally lost.

  Are the crowns of princes and peers, and serve by their particular form to indicate to what rank the possessor is entitled. Within the golden circle, or rim, is a crimson velvet cap, guarded with ermine, and on the top a tassel of gold bullion.

On the circle of a Duke’s coronet are eight strawberry leaves of equal height, five of which are shown in representations. A ducal coronet serving as a crest coronet (Fig. 186) is not furnished with a cap.

A Marquis’s has four strawberry leaves, and as many pearls set on pyramidical points, which alternate with the leaves, all being of equal height. Two of the pearls and three of the leaves are to be seen in drawings.

An Earl’s coronet has eight pearls set on as many 