242

HISTORY OF THE

[KING OF ARMS.

degraded Knights ; and he is, moreover, diligently to perform whatever the Sove-reign or Great Master shall command. It is remarkable that Knighthood shouldnot, in any one instance, have been conferred upon Bath King of Arms.

The Mantle, Cordon, and Surcoat of the King of Arms are similar to those

Badge . 2 Both sides are surrounded with the Motto of the Order. The Kingof Arms also carries the White Rod, or Sceptre, of the Order, which is of silver,twenty-four inches long, having at the top a shield one inch and a half deep,with four sides. The two larger sides contain the Arms of the Order, impaledwith those of the Sovereign, and on the two smaller sides are the Arms of theOrder only: this Shield is surmounted by an Imperial Crown 3 three quartersof an inch high. The handhold of the Rod is gilt, and it has a Ball at the end.

At Coronations, Bath wears his Crown, as the other Kings of Arms areobliged to do; and it is specially provided, that his Chain, Escutcheon orBadge, Rod, and Crown, shall be of the like materials, value, and weight, asthose borne and used by Garter . 3

2 Statute, 14th January 1726. Vide p. 75, antea. This and the other deviations in the Officers’Badges from the Statutes, seem to have occurred before the Installation in 1725, as they are repre-sented as now worn, in the Plates in Pine’s work.

3 Statutes, Art. XVIII. p. 61, antea.

of the Genealogist. His Badge,which is of gold enamelled, andis suspended to a gold Chain fromthe neck, has on one side a Shieldcharged with the Arms of theOrder, Azure, three ImperialCrowns, Or, impaling those of theSovereign, crowned with an Im-perial Crown ; 3 and on the re-verse, as the Badge of Gloucester,the Arms of Lunenburg, viz. Or,semee of Hearts proper, a Lionrampant, Azure, but the Statutestates that he shall bear the Armsof Hanover on one side of his