ESC 
tenant dies without any relations on the 
part of any of his ancestors, or where he 
dies without any relations of those ances- 
tors, paternal or maternal, from whom his 
estate descended ; or where he dies with- 
out any relations of the whole blood. Bas- 
tards are also incapable of inheritance ; and 
therefore if there be no other claimant than 
snch illegitimate children, the land shall es- 
cheat to the lord ; and, as bastards cannot 
be heirs to themselves, so neither can they 
have any heirs, hut those of their own bo- 
dies; and therefore, if a bastard purchase 
lands, and die seized, without issue and in- 
testate, the land shall escheat to the lord of 
the fee. Aliens also, that is, persons born 
out of the King’s allegiance, are incapable 
of taking by descent; and unless natu- 
ralized, are also incapable of taking by pur- 
chase; and therefore, if there be no natural 
born subjects to claim, such lands shall in 
like manlier escheat. By attainder for trea- 
son or other felony, the blood of the person 
attainted is corrupted and stained, and the 
original donation of the feud is thereby de- 
termined, it being always granted to the 
vassal on the implied condition of his well 
demeaning himself. In consequence of 
v/liich corruption and extinction of heredi- 
tary blood, the land of all felons would im- 
mediately revert in the land, but that the 
superior law of forfeiture intervenes, and 
intercepts it in its passage; in case of tred- 
son, for ever ; in case of other felony, for 
only a year and a day ; after which time it 
goes to the lord in a regular course of es- 
cheat. 2 Black, c. 15. 
ESCHEATQR was an ancient officer, 
so called because his office was properly to 
look to escheats, wardships, and other ca- 
sualties belonging to the crown. This of- 
fice having its chief dependance on the 
courts of wards, is now out of dale. 
ESCUAGE signifies a kind of knights’ 
service, called service of the shield, where- 
by the tenant is bound to follow his lord in- 
to the Scotch or Welsh wars, at his own ex- 
pence. He 'who held a whole knights’ fee, 
was bound to serve with horse and arms 
40 days at his own charge, and he who held 
half a knights’ fee was to serve 20 days. 
ESCUTCHEON, in heraldry, is derived 
from the French escussion, and that from the 
Latin scutum, and signifies the shield where- 
on coats of arms are represented. Most 
nations, of the remotest antiquity, were 
wont to have their shields distinguished by 
certain marks painted on them ; and to 
have such on their shields was a token ofho- 
ES0 
nour, none being permitted to have them 
till they had performed some honourable 
action. The escutcheon, as used at pre- 
sent, is square, only rounded off at the bot- 
tom. As to the bearings on shields, they 
might at first be arbitrary, according to the 
fancy of the bearer ; but, in process of 
time, they came to be the gift of kings and 
generals, as the reward of honourable 
actions. 
Escutcheon of pretence, that on which a 
man carries his wife's coat of arms, being 
an heiress, and having issue by her. It is 
placed over the coat of the husband, who 
thereby shews forth his pretensions to her 
lands. 
ESOX, the pike, in natural history, a ge- 
nus of fishes of the order Abdominales. Ge- 
neric character : head flatfish above, mouth 
and throat large ; teeth sharp, in the jaws, 
palate, and tongue ; nostrils double, near 
the eyes ; gill-membrane with from seven 
to twelve rays ; body elongated ; dorsal fin 
near the tail. Gmelin enumerates fifteen 
species, and Shaw twenty- two : we shall 
notice the following, as the most important. 
E. lucius or the common pike. In Lap- 
land this fish, we are informed, is found not 
unfrequently of the length of eight feet. It 
is to be met with in most lakes and small/ 
rivers throughout Europe. Its common co- 
lour is a pale olive, but in Holland it lias 
been seen of an orange colour with black 
spots. When in its perfect state its colours 
are uniformly found to be most vivid. The 
largest pike ever caught in Great Britain is 
supposed to have been one which weighed 
thirty-five pounds. It is a fish of particu- 
larly rapid growth, and also of great longe- 
vity, having heen ascertained, according to 
one of the natural historians of Poland, to 
live to the age of ninety years. The stomach 
of the pike is particularly strong, muscular, 
and extended. Its teeth, without including 
those nearest the throat, are no fewer than 
seven hundred, and those which are placed 
on the jaws are alternately moveable and 
fixed. It is one of the most voracious of 1 
fishes, and is often found to swallow water- 
rats and young ducks ; it has even attacked 
the swan, and swallowed the head and great 
part of the neck of that bird ; hut being 
unable to separate these from the body, it 
became, in this instance, the victim of its 
voracity. It will engage with the otter in 
the most ferocious and persevering contests 
for any article of food, and after long absti- 
nence has been known to seize on the lips of 
a mule, and to be drawn tip by the affrighted 
