Chester.
_Heraldic Notes_ (Vol. viii., p. 265.).--The bearing of the arms of Clare
Hall by Dr. Blythe is not strictly correct, because, with the exception of
the three principal Kings of Arms, the Earl Marshal, the Master of
Ordnance, and a few others especially, arms of office do not exist in
England. The general mode of bearing them is by impalement, giving the
preference (dexter) to the arms of dignity. In the example under notice,
the arms of dignity or office are borne upon a _pile_, which has somewhat
the appearance of an inverted chevron. It is not at all a common mode of
bearing additions; but I remember one case, viz. the grant by King Henry
VIII. to the Seymours, after his marriage to Lady Jane, of the lions of
England on a pile.