cadency

The latest shield under it was Lionel’s—argent, a bend gules distinguished with some sort of label of cadency.

Each of them wore a silk jupon blazoned with the chevron and the three thistles, distinguished in the case of the younger brothers with various labels of cadency, so that they looked like a hand of playing cards spread out They were the Gawaine family, and, as usual, they were quarrelling.

In the third generation the mark of cadency is again superimposed upon the two preceding differences, producing, at length, unutterable confusion.

In 1702 he published ‘An Essay on Additional Figures and Marks of Cadency;’ in 1718, ‘An Essay on the Ancient and Modern Use of Armories;’ and in 1722, ‘A System of Heraldry,’ which are all characterized by great intelligence and research.

It is not a little remarkable that the arms of neither shield nor surcoat bear any label or mark of cadency, but are simply royal arms.