![Know Your [Lion] Rat](headers/header_lion.png "Know Your [Lion] Rat"){kind=small}
All content taken from The Handbook to English Heraldry by Charles Boutell, M.A. (11th edition, 1914).
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Rampant: erect, one hind paw on the ground, the other three paws elevated, the animal looking forward and having his tail elevated. |
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| No. 171. Rampant. | ||
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Rampant Guardant: as before, but looking out from the Shield. Rampant Reguardant: as before, but looking backwards. |
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| No. 172. Rampant Guardant. | ||
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Passant: walking, three paws on the ground, the dexter fore-paw being elevated, looking forward, the tail displayed over the back. |
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| No. 173. Passant. | ||
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Passant Guardant: as before, but looking out from the Shield. Passant Reguardant: as before, but looking backwards. |
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| No. 174. Passant Guardant. | ||
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Statant: standing, his four paws on the ground, and looking before him. |
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| No. 175. Statant. | ||
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Statant Guardant: as before, but looking out from the Shield. |
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| No. 176. Statant Guardant. | ||
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Couchant: is at rest, the fore legs stretched on the ground. |
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| No. 177. Couchant. | ||
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Sejant: sitting down with his head elevated. If he looks out from the Shield, the word Guardant is to be added. |
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| No. 178. Sejant. | ||
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Dormant: asleep, head resting on fore paws. |
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| No. 179. Dormant. | ||
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Salient: in the act of springing, the hind paws on the ground, both the fore paws elevated. |
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| No. 180. Salient. | ||
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Queue fourchée: having a forked tail. Double-queued: two tails, as No. 181, which is a lion rampant double-queued. |
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| No. 181. Double-queued. | ||
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Coward: passant reguardant, his tail between his legs. |
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| No. 182. Coward. | ||
Still with us? I can’t leave Boutell without quoting one of my favorite passages. The final chapter discusses Peerage Dignities, including this invaluable detail:
The daughter of a peer if married to another peer takes the precedence of her husband and relinquishes her own, but she retains it if she marries a commoner; and one of the anomalies of the English scale of precedence is to be found in the following circumstances. If the two elder daughters of a Duke were to marry an Earl and a Baron respectively, whilst the youngest daughter were to run away with the footman, she would, nevertheless, rank as the daughter of a Duke above her sisters ranking as wives of an Earl and a Baron.
And similarly if the daughter of an Earl runs away with the chauffeur. Now you know.