144

ESCUTCHEONS OF CIVILIANS.

substitution of Triginta for "Tria," as more strictly descriptive of the contents of the escutcheon, besides questioning the consistency of the motto which surmounts the crest, viz., "Nil tibi"! The grant of arms, in the year 1836, to the son of Sir William Fairfax, Flag Captain to Admiral Duncan at the battle of Camperdown, affords another characteristic example of pictorial Heraldry. Azure, a chevron between two fleurs-de-lis, in

chief, and a Camperdown medal, in base, or, the medal being pendent by a striped ribbon, argent, azure, and argent, with the word "Camperdown" underneath; and on a chief a representation of His Majesty's ship "Venerable" engaging the Dutch Admiral's ship "Vryheid."

Some of the bearings devised for civilians are equally open to criticism. Thus, the escutcheon granted to Mr. Maitland of Dundrennan, in 1806, exhibits, in its second and third quarters, "the ruins of an old abbey on a piece of ground, all proper"--the patentee being proprietor of the barony of Dundrennan-while the crest consists of a demi-monk, holding a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other. A few years later, in one of the quarters of a shield assigned to an Argyllshire

gentleman, we find "a galley moored in front of Fingal's Cave, off the cliff of the Isle of Staffa issuing from the dexter side, proper, and in the sea undy, vert, in base, a salmon naiant, argent." Again, the bearings con

ferred, in 1841, upon Mr. Raeburn of St. Bernard's, son of the eminent portrait painter, are thus blazoned :Argent, on a piece of ground in base, vert, a roebuck statant, proper, drinking out of a burn or brook running bendways, azure, and on a canton, ermine, a knight's helmet, proper ; "the last being commemorative of the honour of knighthood conferred on the patentee's father by His Majesty King George IV."! Several other examples of what may be termed allusive arms occur about the same period. Thus, James Inverarity of Rosemount, formerly of the H.E.I.C. Medical Service, carries gules, on a chevron, or, between six arrows in chief, three and three, the points upward, two saltirewise and one in pale, plumed and banded, argent, and in base a hunting-horn stringed, of the third, an elephant's head couped, sable. Crest-A rosebush, proper. Motto-Semper floreat. The arrows are intended to symbolize the latter part of the bearer's surname (!), while the hunting-horn refers to his

K

146

COMMERCIAL COATS.

maternal descent-his mother being a Duncan; the elephant's head to his connexion with India, and the crest to his place of abode. In more than one instance, the

triumphs of Commerce are elaborately displayed, as in the escutcheon of Michael M'Chlery, a London merchant of Scottish extraction, "connected by trade and actively engaged in traffic with various colonies in the West Indies and other countries:"-Azure, on a chevron, argent, between a ship in full sail, or, placed betwixt a cross-crosslet, fitched, and a palm-tree eradicated fessway's in chief, of the second, and in base the figure of Commerce, of the third, three roses, gules. Crest-A thistle, proper. Motto-Labore et Honore. Commerce is here associated with Religion (cross-crosslet) and Peace (palmtree), while the roses bear reference to the English residence of the patentee, and the crest to the land of his fathers. Again, in the shield of a Glasgow sugar-refiner and ship-owner, maternally descended from the Campbells of Craignish, we find a most imposing array of miscellaneous charges, surrounded by a bordure gyronny of eight." A fess, a lion rampant, a garb, a ship in full sail "on the sea," a thistle, and a stalk of

APPROPRIATE ESCUTCHEONS.

147

sugar-cane--the last-mentioned figure being in allusion to the professional pursuits of the bearer.

On the other hand, however, the Register supplies numerous illustrations of appropriate and tasteful blazonry, of which the following Coats, all granted during the last fifteen years, may be given as examples :

Sir Frederick Pollock, Lord Chief Baron of Her Majesty's Court of Exchequer in England, son of the late Mr. David Pollock of Kelso, in the County of Roxburgh :--Azure, three fleur-de-lis within a bordure engrailed, or, and as an honourable augmentation commemorative of his Lordship's official rank, in the dexter chief point, on a canton, ermine, a portcullis of the second.

James Lorimer of Kellyfield (father of the present Lyon-Clerk)-Parted per chevron gules and or, two spurs paleways, rowels downwards, buckled and strapped, in chief, of the second, and in base a horse courant at liberty, sable the charges being relative to the name.'

1 Mr. Lorimer's crest consists of two eagles' wings surmounted by a cross-crosslet with the motto "Upward," while the word "Onward forms a second motto, under the

escutcheon-the two mottos bearing appropriate reference to the spiritual and mundane elements symbolized by the crest and the shield respectively.

148

ARMORIAL BEARINGS

James Henry Lawrence-Archer, Esquire, Captain in the Army-Parted per fess azure and argent, in chief, three broad arrows in pale with the points downwards, or, and in base a cross raguly, gules, charged in the centre with a saltire, of the third.1

Sir George Brown, Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, General and Commander in Chief of Her Majesty's forces in Ireland, etc.-Gules, on a chevron betwixt three fleur-de-lis, or, a mural crown of the first, all within a bordure embattled, of the second.

The "composition" of a coat-armorial has sometimes been pretty successfully accomplished without the aid or intervention of the duly constituted authorities. An interesting illustration of this occurs in the correspondence of Robert Burns, who thus expresses himself in a letter to Mr. Cunningham, in the year 1793-“ I lately lost a valuable seal, a present from a departed friend, which vexes me much. I have gotten one of your Highland pebbles, which I fancy would make a very decent one, and I want to cut my armorial bearing on it will you be so obliging as inquire what will be the expense of such a business? I do not know that my name is matriculated, as the Heralds call it, at all, but I have invented arms for myself; so, you know, I shall be chief of the name, and, by courtesy of Scotland, will likewise be entitled to supporters. These, however, I do not intend having on my seal. I am a bit of a herald, and shall give you, secundum artem, my arms. On a field, azure, a holly bush seeded, proper, in base ;

1 See Plate iii. fig. 2.