A shield of arms is said to be _charged_ with the figures upon it, but the term charge is usually understood to mean some object other than the ordinaries just described. Before proceeding further, however, it will be well to consider the various ways in which charges may be arranged with regard to the shield, to the ordinary and to each other. A single charge whose position is not otherwise fixed by the blazon naturally occupies the whole shield, but when charges are repeated the arrangement is, of course, more complex. The most usual number of repeated charges in a coat of arms is three, two in chief and one in base, an arrangement obviously suggested by the space available on a pointed shield, and in blazoning they are said to be _two and one_. As a rule, however, this distribution is assumed to exist unless another is specified. When the charges are more than three their disposition must always be mentioned, as: Gules six horse-shoes, three two a one, Arg. and so on for ten or more, counting always from the chief or top of the shield. An indefinite number of charges equally distributed over a surface, whether of field, ordinary or charge, is said to be Semée, as in the Arms of France that were assumed by Edward III and his successors, az. semée-de-lis or. As in this instance, a field semée of anything was depicted as though cut from a large surface similarly decorated, so that here and there at the edges a part only of the figures remained. This early method has been relinquished in favour of what was anciently called Geratting, by so arranging the powdering of charges that they do not touch the sides of the shield or any other object with which they are associated. Considerable management is required to so arrange them that they shall be equally distributed, and care must be taken that they do not appear to be _in orle_, as is explained below. [Illustration: FIG. 79.] Somewhat similar to semée is what is known as guttée or gouttee (Fig. 79), a means of covering a field or other object by means of a kind of semée of drops, which have different names according to their tinctures. Thus when they are gold they are gouttés d’or; when argent, gouttés d’eau; when gules, gouttés de sang; azure, gouttés de larmes; sable they are gouttés de poix; and gouttés d’olive are vert. It is quite permissible to blazon them by their tincture; thus “arg. gouttée de sang,” would be equally correctly written, arg. guttée gules. The direction of the ordinaries affords another excellent means of placing charges; thus, objects in a horizontal line across the middle of the shield are _in fess_, when at the top they are _in chief_, and so forth.