ESCUTCHEON OF PRETENSE, or INESCUTCHEON, is a small shield placed in the center of the larger one, and covering a portion of the charges on the latter, in which a man carries the arms of his wife when she is the heiress of her family. It is said to be carried eurtout, or over-all. Sometimes also a shield over-all is given as a reward of honor; thus, the earl of Stirling did bear two coats quarterly, and over all an inescutcheon of Nova Scotia, because he was the first planter of it.—.Jfackenzie, Heraldry, p. 82.
ESDRAt'LON, a great plain in Palestine, separating the mountain ranges of Galilee from those of Samaria. It forms a triangle between Nazareth in the n., a pass opening toward Akka in the w., and Jenin, the ancient Euganium, in the south. The water shed extending from Nazareth to Jenin, about 15 m., may be considered the base of the triangle, and divides the lands drained by the Jordan from those watered by the Kishon.
The Galilean hills, forming the n. boundary of the plain, extend from Nazareth w. 12 m., and there draw near the Carmel range, forming a narrow pass by which the Kishon finds egress toward the sea. The Carmel, or Samaria, range extends from this pass s.e. 18 m. to Jenin. The e. boundary rises at times into high hills, the most important of which is Mt. Gilboa. The plain is sometimes called the valley of Jezreel. This plain of E. Basin all history been a battle-field. It was the scene of important battles between the Israelites and their enemies, among them the triumph of Barak and the defeat of Saul and Josiah. Here the Egyptians and the Assyrian hosts met in repeated struggles, and in later times it appears in the wars of Napoleon. In the sublime imagery of the book of the Revelation, this plain appears as the scene of the last great struggle between the powers of good and evil.