DIFFERENCING, using the term here as distinct from, or perhaps as not identical with, the subject of CADENCY, includes not only the treatment of Coats of Arms and other armorial insignia, that denote and are based upon _Feudal Alliance_ or _Dependency_, but without blood-relationship; but also implies a comprehensive system of distinguishing similar Arms, when they are borne by individuals or families between whom no kind of alliance is known to have existed. It is evident, on the one hand, that a feudal influence would naturally lead to some degree of assimilation to the Coat-Armour of the feudal Chief, in the Arms of all allies and dependants: and, on the other hand, it will readily be understood that, even in the early days of its career, Heraldry would see the necessity for providing for the constantly increasing demands upon its resources; and, consequently, that it would organise a system which would enable the same Ordinaries and the same principal Charges to appear in distinct Shields, without either confusion or misapprehension. It is highly probable, and indeed it may be assumed to be certain, that what I have called a “feudal influence,” in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in no slight degree affected the general composition of Coats of Arms. In very many instances the working of this influence is still palpable; and it is always interesting to the student of Heraldry, as it must always be eminently useful to the student of History, to detect its presence and to explore its method of action. Like Cadency, feudal Differencing is expressed by various means, all of them indicating, in a greater or a less degree, the motive which suggested their adoption. I proceed at once to examples, which illustrate and explain the system so clearly and so fully, that prolonged introductory remarks are altogether superfluous. Upon his Seal, RANULPH DE BLONDEVILLE, Earl of CHESTER (died in 1232) bears three garbs or wheat-sheaves; and Rolls of Arms of the time of HENRY III. blazon the Shield of the Earl of CHESTER as--_Az., three garbs or_, No. 366. This Shield has been assigned to the Earls of CHESTER to this day: and, in token of feudal alliance, from the middle of the thirteenth century, “one or more garbs,” in the words of Mr. PLANCHÉ, “are seen in the majority of Coats belonging to the nobility and gentry of the County Palatine of Chester.” Thus, since the year 1390, the arms of GROSVENOR have been--_Az., a garb or_. [Illustration: No. 366.--Earl of Chester.]