al line running in the direction of the fess, and occupying
the same place. The arms of the first wife are placed in the upper
compartment of the shield, called the chief; the arms of the second
wife in the lower compartment, called the base.

[Illustration: Parted per pale, baron and femme, three coats]

Parted per pale, baron and femme, three coats;--first, gules, on a
bend azure, three trefoils vert: second, parted per fess, in chief
azure, a mascle or, with a label argent for difference. In base
ermine, a fess, dancette gules. The same rule would apply if the
husband had three or more wives; they would all be placed in the
sinister division of the shield.

Where the baron marries an heiress, he does not impale his arms with
hers, as in the preceding examples, but bears them in an escutcheon of
pretence in the centre of the shield, showing his pretension to her
lands in consequence of his marriage with the lady who is legally
entitled to them. The escutcheon of pretence is not used by the
children of such marriage; they bear the arms of their father and
mother quarterly, and so transmit them to posterity. Annexed is an
example of the arms of the femme on escutcheon of pretence.

[Illustration: Baron and femme, two coats]

Baron and femme, two coats; first, gules, a saltier argent; second, on
an escutcheon of pretence, azure, a chevron, or.

If a peeress in her own right, or the daughter of a peer, marries a
private gentleman, their coats of arms are not conjoined paleways, as
baron and femme, but are placed upon separate shields by the side of
each other; they are usually inclosed in a mantel, the shield of the
baron occupying the dexter side of the mantel, that of the femme the
sinister; each party has a right to all the ornaments incidental to
their rank. The femme claiming the arms of her father, has a right to
his supporters and coronet. The baron, who only ranks as an esquire,
has no right to supporters or coronet, but exhibits the proper helmet,
wreath, and crest.

The peeress, by marrying one beneath her in rank, confers no dignity
on her husband, but loses none of her own. She is still addressed as
"your ladyship," though her husband only ranks as a gentleman; and it
is for this reason that the arms cannot be conjoined in one shield as
baron and femme.

Ex. Baron and femme, two atchievements. First, azure, a pile or, crest
a star of six points, argent; second, gules, a cross flory argent,
surmounted