The very idea of an heraldic Abatement implies, if not a complete ignorance, certainly a thorough misconception of the character and the office of Heraldry. Even if Heraldry were to attempt to stigmatise what is, and what ought to be esteemed, dishonourable, who would voluntarily accept insignia of disgrace, and charge and display them upon his Shield, and transmit them to his descendants? And the believers in Abatement must hold that Heraldry can exert a compulsory legislative power, which might command a man to blazon his own disgrace, and force him to exhibit and to retain, and also to bequeath, any such blazonry. A belief in heraldic Abatement, however, is by no means singular or rare. A curious example of its existence was recently brought under my notice, in connection with one of the most renowned of the historical devices of English Heraldry. The _bear_, the badge of the BEAUCHAMPS, Earls of WARWICK, which appears at the feet of the effigy of Earl RICHARD in the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick, in accordance with a special provision to that effect, is “_muzzled_”; and, wearing a muzzle has this bear been borne, as their Badge, by the successors of the BEAUCHAMPS in the Warwick Earldom, the Earls of the houses of NEVILLE, DUDLEY, RICH, and GREVILLE. But, it would seem that a legend has found credence at Warwick Castle itself, which would associate the muzzle of the bear with some dishonourable action of an Earl of the olden time; and, consequently, it was proposed that at length this Abatement should be removed from the bears still at Warwick! Earl RICHARD DE BEAUCHAMP was not exactly the man to have displayed upon _his_ bear any ensign of dishonour; nor were his son-in-law, the “King-maker,” and Queen ELIZABETH’S ROBERT DUDLEY, at all more probable subjects for any similar display; still, it is quite certain that they bore the muzzled bear, as he appears on the seal of the great Earl, No. 448.[7] That muzzle, doubtless, has its becoming heraldic significance, without in the slightest degree partaking in the assumed character of an Abatement. I hope eventually to be able to trace out conclusively what the muzzle may really imply, and I commend the research to other inquirers: meanwhile, neither at Warwick nor elsewhere is there any such thing as “Abatement” in English Heraldry. [Footnote 7: See Frontispiece.] CHAPTER XIV CRESTS “On high their glittering crests they toss.” --LORD OF THE ISLES. “Then he bound Her token on his helmet.” --ELAINE.