admirable service, and at the same time will familiarize the student with excellent heraldic design. The achievements in that work are represented with great strength and directness, and have much affinity with the spirit of the mediaeval work, and are therefore worthy of careful study. At the same time any tendency to make a style (which may easily become an eccentricity) into an aim rather than an incident should be carefully avoided. Blazon is not intended to enable two persons to depict a coat exactly alike in petty detail, but rather that each in rendering the subject in his own fashion may be correct in essentials, so that there can be no question of what coat is intended. Similarly, when a Patent of Arms refers to those “in the margin” thereof “more plainly depicted” (i.e. more legibly than in the technically worded blazon), it is not meant that the treatment (it may be bad) or the exact quality of tincture (it may be discoloured) is to be copied, and this is by no means an unnecessary warning, as experience has shown. In naming the parts _of the field_ or general surface, it must be remembered that the shield of arms is regarded as being held in position in front of its bearer: the side towards the right shoulder being called _the dexter_, and that towards the left _the sinister_. Of these the former is “more worthy” than the latter; that is to say, a charge that is not centrally placed would be to the dexter rather than to the sinister side of the shield; this, it may be remembered, being the reverse of the manner of wearing medals and orders on the breast. The upper part of the shield is _the chief_ and the lower part _the base_, the former naturally taking precedence over the latter. This is important in relation to the blazon of parti-coloured fields. [Illustration: FIG. 34.] In order to facilitate the accurate placing of objects in their intended positions on the field its various parts were thus named (Fig. 34):-- A. Dexter } B. Middle } Chief. C. Sinister } D. The honour point, probably so named from its relative position to that of the heart in the human body. E. The fess point, named after the ordinary which passes through it horizontally, as hereafter described. F. The nombril or navel point, another fanciful allusion to the human body. G. Dexter } H. Middle } Base. I. Sinister } Most of these terms have now become obsolete, but it is still necessary to know them with regard to their application in old blazon. In modern blazon when it is necessary to specify the part of the field that is occupied, the terms _in chief_, or _in base_, _in dexter chief_, _in sinister chief_, _in dexter base_, or _in sinister base_, or, if in the sides of the shield, the dexter or sinister side simply, as the case may be. It will be rarely necessary, however, to use any other than the first two of these phrases, for the position of charges is in most instances understood from other circumstances.