| No. 57. | No. 59. | No. 60. |
| No. 58. |
| 5. | Vair,—alternate divisions of blue and white, | No. 61. No. 62. |
| 6. | Counter Vair (note difference of arrangement) | No. 63. |
| 7. | Potent (note different shape of divisions) | No. 64. |
| 8. | Counter Potent | No. 65. |
| No. 61. | No. 62. | No. 63. |
| No. 64. | No. 65. |
No. 57A.
Two other Colours, or tints of Colour, are sometimes heard of—Tenne, a tawny or orange colour, indicated by vertical lines crossing those of Purpure: and Murrey or Sanguine, a dark crimson red, indicated by diagonal lines from both dexter and sinister, crossing each other. These two are sometimes termed stains, but their real usage was in liveries. The Furs, Nos. 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, and 65, are of comparatively rare occurrence, and do not appear in the best ages of Heraldry. Vair and Ermine are common. A good early form of Vair is shown in No. 62: and in No. 57A, I give a fine example of the treatment of Ermine, from the monument of Edward III.
In order to avoid repeating or referring to the word “Or,” the word “Gold” is sometimes used. The Furs, Nos. 61, 62, 63, 64, and 65, are always argent and azure, unless some other metal and colour be named in the blazoning. Animated beings and all objects, that in Heraldry are represented in their natural aspect and colouring, are blazoned “proper” abbreviated ppr. Heraldic charges and compositions, when sketched in outline with pen and ink or with pencil, and with the colours written thereon, are said to be “tricked,” or “in trick.”
Varied Fields.—It is not necessary that the Field of a Shield, or of any Bearing, should be of any one uniform tincture: but varied surfaces are usually tinctured of some one metal and some one colour alternating; and the patterns or devices thus produced are generally derived (the Furs, Nos. 61-65, which are good examples of varied surfaces, being the exceptions) from the forms of the original simple charges that are distinguished as Ordinaries and Subordinaries. And these varied surfaces or fields are always flat; the whole of their devices or patterns are level, their metal and colour lying in the same plane. It is evident that, in representing any examples of this class, no shading is to be introduced to denote relief.