446

ENGLAND'S HERALDIC PRECEDENCE.

Great Seal is more than Scotland was legally entitled to, and that it ought to have been absolutely abolished. Like the Scottish crown and sceptre, however, let it be carefully preserved as a token of her ancient independence; and, while we justly cherish the recollections of our bygone nationality, let us be thankful for our thorough incorporation with the mightiest empire in the world--honestly acknowledging that, even on this side of the Tweed, heraldic precedence ought to be granted to England, in accordance with the sentiment of certain well-known classical lines :

"The Lion and the Unicorn

Were fighting for the crown;
The Lion beat the Unicorn
All round the town!"

1 See a curious dialogue between Lord Redesdale and Mr. (afterwards Lord) Brougham relative to the crown of Scotland, at the discussion, before the Privy Council, of the rival claims of the Duke of Hamilton and Lord Douglas to bear the said crown at royal processions. — Balfour's Antiquarian and Heraldic Tracts, Appendix, p. xxxii.

Such acknowledgement, however, is not intended to imply the slightest approval of the Cockney fashion of describing the whole of the United

Kingdom by the word England, which is at once an incorrect and unconstitutional application of terms. If our northern countrymen object to calling themselves Britons on the continent of Europe, at any rate let them substitute Scotchmen for Englishmen, and in most places, particularly in France, their reception will not be the less cordial. The poet may, if he thinks proper, speak of the "meteor flag of England;" but, in point of fact, it is Britannia, and not Albion, that "rules the waves."

CHAPTER XI.

ODDS AND ENDS.

IN the preceding chapters, we have incidentally touched upon several of what may be termed the minor peculiarities of Scottish heraldry, and we now propose to refer to a few other distinctive points, of a somewhat miscellaneous character, which have escaped our notice.

In the course of our observations on the royal arms, we alluded to the Double Tressure, "flowered and counterflowered," which surrounds the rampant lion of Scotland, and which has been termed the "bordure of Scotland," in consequence of its frequent occurrence in the heraldry of that portion of the kingdom. "The word," says Sir George Mackenzie, is "Trescheur in the French, which comes from Tressouer or Tressoir, a Tressing; and I conceive that these tresses were introduced in heraldry upon coat-armours to represent the silver and gold laces with which coats are usually adorned." The Tressure constitutes one of the subordinaries, and is generally regarded as a diminutive of the Orle. It may be single, double, or even triple, but it is almost invariably borne double, and usually "flory counterflory." As exhibiting instances of the single

1 Science of Heraldry, chap. xxxiv.

448

THE DOUBLE TRESSURE.

tressure (flory), we may mention the seals of William Livingstone of Balcastell (1469), David, William, and John Charteris (1474-1584), and Sir James Hamilton of Finnart (1532). The earliest examples of the double tressure in Mr. Laing's Catalogue are furnished by the seals of Alexander Dunbar, third son of Patrick, seventh Earl of March (c. 1260), John, Earl of Caithness (1292), and Henry Fernindrauch (1292). The design on the last-mentioned seal is not on a shield, and consists of a lion coiled within a double tressure flowered: while in the two other instances the tressure is both flowered and counterflowered. The seals of the following century furnish several examples of the double tressure, invariably both flowered and counterflowered, of which we may specify those of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray (1314), Thomas Fleming (1366), and William (first Lord ?) Seton (1384).3 When the tressure is impaled, it ought always to be omitted, like the bordure, on the side next the line of impalement; but occasional examples of a complete tressure in impaled shields occur as late as the middle of the fifteenth century, as on the seal of Mary of Gueldres, Queen of James II. (1459.)*

In several instances, the double tressure has been granted, as an honourable augmentation, to the Scottish noblesse, and more especially to those descended from daughters of the royal house. "By our ancient and

1 Laing's Catalogue, Nos. 535, 172-4, and 403.

2 Ibid. Nos. 288, 149, and 330.

3 Ibid. Nos, 690, 337 and 738; also Plate XI. fig. 8.

4 Ibid. No. 48.

MATERNAL DESCENT AND MERIT.

449

modern practice," says Nisbet, "the double tressure is not allowed to be carried by any subject, without a special warrant from the sovereign, and that in these two cases: first, to those who were descended of daughters of the royal family, and so to them it is a tessera of a noble maternal descent, as the orle is to the Spaniards. And, secondly, to those who have merited well of their king and country, as a special additament of honour." Again, according to Sir George Mackenzie, "it is a rule in the heraldry of all nations, and in use with us, that no part of the royal bearing can be bestowed by the Lyon, without a special order from the Prince (Colomb. cap. des brisurs, p. 74). And this may reprehend the error of some of our heralds, who have given the tressure-flori counterflori to private persons without a warrant."

As examples of families bearing the double tressure in virtue of their royal maternal descent, Nisbet mentions the Randolphs, Earls of Moray, the Lyons, Earls of Strathmore, the Kennedys, Earls of Cassilis, the Grahams of Fintry, and the Murrays, "especially those of Tullibardine and Athol." He also mentions the Erskines, Earls of Kellie, the Ramsays, Earls of Holderness, and the Scots of Thirlstane, as carrying the same honourable charge, on account of "special services to their king and country;" and refers to its presence in the achievement of the Setons, Earls of Winton, on the double ground of "maternal descent and merit."

1 System of Heraldry, i. 180. 2 Science of Heraldry, chap. ii. See also chap. xxi.

3 In addition to the tressure in his

The special concession

paternal arms. on account of royal descent, a special coat of augmentation (already referred to) was granted to Sir Alexander Seton, Governor of

450

SCOTTS OF THIRLSTANE.

of James v. to John Scott of Thirlstane, in the year 1542, refers to his loyalty and ready services "at Sautra edge, with three score and ten launcieres on horsback, and directs the Lyon Herald and his deputies for the time being "to give and to graunt to the said John Scott ane border of fleure-de-lises, about his coatte of armor, sie as is on our royal banner, and alsua ane bundell of launces above his helmet, with thir words, Readdy, ay Readdy.”1 "From far St. Mary's silver wave,

From dreary Gamescleuch's dusky height,
His ready lances Thirlstane brave

Arrayed beneath a banner bright.

The tressured fleur-de-luce he claims
To wreathe his shield, since royal James,
Encamped by Fala's mossy wave,
The proud distinction grateful gave,
For faith, 'mid feudal jars;
What time, save Thirlstane alone,
Of Scotland's stubborn barons none
Would march to southern wars;
And hence, in fair remembrance worn,
Yon sheaf of spears his crest has borne ;
Hence his high motto shines revealed-

Berwick, c. 1320, viz., a sword supporting an imperial crown, within the royal tressure, "to perpetuate to posterity the memory of his own and his progenitors' worthy actions for their king and country."-System of Heraldry, i. 233. According to Sir George Mackenzie, the sword supporting the crown was carried by the Setons of Barns, because these lands were at first granted with that coat of augmentation.

1 Plate XIV. fig. 5.

For the rival strictures on this grant, see Napier's History of the Partition of the Lennox, p. 217, and Riddell's Answer, p. 79.

Nisbet mentions two special instances of grants of the royal tressure to foreigners, the one, by James v., to Nicolas Combet of Dieppe, in the year 1529, and the other, by James VI., to Jacob Van-Eiden, a Dutchman, on the occasion of his knighthood.—System of Heraldry, i. 180.

2 Lay of the Last Minstrel, iv. 8.