THE ARMS OP DORCHESTER AND DORSET. 10? 



boroughs used the same Arms, and that Corporations long years ago 

 were estopped by the Heralds from using the National Arms and 

 required to adopt Arms of their own. England and the Channel 

 Islands, the latter as part of the old Duchy of Normandy, are alone 

 entitled to the blazon of the three lions passant. Lancashire, as 

 the Duchy of the Sovereign, by courtesy, uses the National Arms 

 of England, but with a distinctive "label of three points" to 

 distinguish the Duchy Arms from the National Arms. The 

 only right course for Dorset to adopt is to apply in the usual 

 manner for a grant of Arms. If the expense is too great the 

 cost is 76 10s. for the county to bear, then, at any rate, we had 

 better expunge the three lions passant from the county seal and 

 adopt a plain one. The exhibition of bogus Arms by a county is 

 bad enough. But the exhibition of the National Arms, to which 

 it has no shadow of title, only makes it a butt for the ridicule of 

 those who have the most elementary knowledge of these matters. 



