23 DECEMBER 1949, Page 18

The Blot in the Scutcheon

slit.-1 see in the Spectator of December 9th, in the correspondence columns, the heading " The Blot in the Scutcheon." I quite realise that

scutcheon " is a shortened form of the heraldic term escutcheon," Meaning a shield. I should be very interested to know what heraldic device the " blot " represents, and if it represents no heraldic device how it comes to be included in the saying.—Yours faithfully, CHARLES R. HUXTABLE.

104 Teddingion Park Road. Teddington, Middlesex.

[The heading is the title of a poem by Robert Browning, to whose literary executors the question might be addressed.—En., Spectator.]