184 OFFICIAL REMONSTRANCES. equipages, and others whereon such Arms are engraved or depicted, in terms of the different Acts of Parliament, investing the LORD LYON with the powers of regulating the wearing and bearing of all Armorial Bearings in Scotland. By order of the Right Hon. the LORD LYON, King-of-Arms, A. MACDONALD, Lyon-Clerk Depute." "LYON OFFICE, EDINBURGH, 28th April 1832." Similar notices have been published, from time to time, since the year 1832, the latest anouncements having been pretty frequently repeated in the columns of the newspapers only two or three years ago. It does not appear, however, that any formal proceedings have ever taken place in consequence of these intimations, although it is understood, that an occasional "remonstrance" has been most considerately resorted to, and in several instances with the desired effect. How long such forbearance may be practised must, of course, depend on the feelings and ideas of the authorities themselves; but if they have any real desire to fulfil the duties of their office, there appears to be no good reason why they should not exercise with firmness and consistency the powers with which they have been invested. In all such cases, the greater the forbearance, the greater the abuse; and the longer the irregularities in question are overlooked, the inclination to check them will probably become the less powerful. Let the officials select a few good subjects in the first instance, and after a beginning has been fairly made, let them not rest satisfied until the pages of the Lyon Register DELETION AND CONFISCATION. 185 exhibit the armorial bearings of all the "well-deserving persons" in the community. Among these we should, of course, expect to find our principal modern landowners, along with the merchant princes of the West, and the leading professional men of the metropolis. As the penal provisions of the Statutes have so long been disregarded, a reasonable warning ought assuredly to be given before "deletion" or "confiscation" is carried into effect; and if approached in the proper spirit, we cannot suppose that many of the usurpers in question would long hesitate between the matriculation of their Arms on the one hand, and the surrender of their plate, equipages, etc., to the tender mercies of the Lord Lyon, on the other. In a very large number of cases, the pretension to the assumed ensigns cannot be vindicated even on the ground of long usage; and, moreover, as Dallaway truly observes, "assumption of ever so long standing cannot establish right, so long as an institution subsists, to the official decisions of which these claims are at all times amenable, and which still retains power to annul or confirm them." The extraordinary laxity of our practice in matters of Arms and Pedigree has long formed a subject of wellfounded complaint, and presents a striking contrast to the rigorous ordinances of some of the continental nations relative to such distinctions. In the Appendix to the "Saltfoot Controversy," Mr. Riddell quotes the following passages from the Meditationes ad Pandectas of the celebrated Leyserus, with reference to the unlaw1 Pp. 121-123. 186 WHEEL AND SWORD. ful assumption of Arms and the fabrication of false Pedigrees: "FALSARII SUNT qui insignia sibi, nobilitatem, vel antiquitatem generis, arrogant. Nihil frequentius est, quam insignia sibi propria auctoritate sumere, cognomini suo istam nobilitatis notam von' præponere, vel si quis recenter nobilis creatur, antiquitatem generis fingere, et in priscam familiam sese asserere. Atque tamen, qui hoc faciunt FALSARII MANIFESTI SUNT.” "FALSUM COMMITTUNT viri docti, qui hominibus de plebe nobilitatem, insignia et antiquitatem generis adfingunt. Poena eorum ad ULTIMUM SUPPLICIUM extendi potest Declamavi contra eos, qui insignia sibi, nobilitatem vel antiquitatem generis arrogant. Quod falsi genus asperte damnatur in L. 13 pr. et L. 27, § ult. de L. Cornelia de falsis. Parum tamen isti falsarii proficerent, ni adjutores haberent, doctos magnæque in republica literaria auctoritatis viros. Hos scilicet mercede conducunt, ut sibi stemma, nomen, genus, familiam, majores ex penitissima antiquitate eruant et adfingant. Oportebat igitur hos alienorum falsorum fabricatores gravius etiam, quam qui eos conducunt, puniri. Interest inter utrosque, quod inter assasinos et assasinatores, quorum illi secundum Carpzovium in Quæst. crim. 19 n. 15 et 19, ROTA, hi GLADIO, puni untur." The proverbial inaccuracy, or rather untruthfulness, of numerous pedigrees contained in modern genealogical works appears to be commonly regarded as a very venial breach of morals-one of the many laudable FICTITIOUS ANCESTRY. 187 characteristics of these days of progress and refinement! Ancestors, as well as arms, are readily found by the "professional genealogist," and no great difficulty is experienced by the "novus homo" of the nineteenth century in procuring a very respectable gallery of family portraits, in order to give an appearance of reality to the miserable sham. Every wealthy tradesman bearing the name of Campbell is, of course, a countable kinsman of his Grace of Argyll, while the obscurest Bruce or Stewart, who contrives to emerge from the masses, forthwith becomes a complacent scion of Royalty!1 "Omnis enim res, Virtus, fama, decus, divina humanaque pulchris Divitiis parent; quas qui construxerit, ille Clarus erit, fortis, justus. Sapiensne? Etiam ; et Rex, Even tombstones, which so frequently speak falsely enough of individuals, are made the record of fictitious ancestry, and the sacred walls of the Church are profaned by the falsehoods which are sometimes inscribed upon them. 1 Such pretensions are in utter disregard of the well-known proverb :- "A'Stewarts are no' sib to the king." 2 Hor. Sat. II. 3. 94. CHAPTER V. ANCIENT SCOTTISH SEALS AND OTHER SOURCES OF HERALDIC INFORMATION. NEXT in order to the Lyon Register, in point of authority, Nisbet places the Seals of ancient Scottish Charters and other documents, of which a highly interesting Catalogue was published a few years ago by Mr. Henry Laing, under the auspices of the Bannatyne Club.' Re 1 Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Scottish Seals, Edinburgh, 1850. The contents of this very useful volume throw considerable light on the subject of armorial bearings, and correct numerous errors and mis-statements of modern heralds, of which the author gives one or two curious examples in his modestly-written Preface. The Catalogue contains an accurate description of no fewer than 1248 seals embracing the period from the end of the eleventh century to the Commonwealth-and is illustrated by numerous plates and woodcuts. Its contents may be classified as follows: Some of the finest seals in the Catalogue pertain to the illustrious Houses of Stewart, Douglas, and Lindsay. In the case of the Stewarts, we have an unbroken succession for nearly five centuries, with the single exception of the seal of Walter, father of Robert II. It appears, however, that this seal was appended to the letter of the Scottish Barons to the Pope, in the year 1320, but it has, unfortunately, for a long time been lost. The seals of the Douglases and the Lindsays upwards of seventy in number-independently of their valuable illustration of heraldic practice, afford very interesting evidence of the advanced state of mediæval art. Since the publication of the Catalogue, Mr. Laing has added largely to his collection of seals, and there |