Page:Buke of the Howlat.djvu/95

 6 APPENDIX. As worme or thing, of which I tell no tale But water foule, sate lowest in the dale; And foules that liueth by sede, sat on the grene, And that so many, that wonder was to sene." St. XXVII.-The armorial bearings described in this and some of the follow- ing stanzas, might receive some illustration from the Register of Armes, by Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, lately published from the original manu- script. The description of the arms of the "Empriour of Almane," by our author, corresponds to those of the “ Empriour of Rome," by the Lord Lyon King at Arms, who has in the same manner blazoned the armorial bearings of the Earl of Douglas; of Douglas, Earl of Murray; and of Douglas, Earl of Ormond; but with some differens, which it is unnecessary in this place to be at the trouble of pointing out. St. xxix.-As descriptive of the Royal Arms of Scotland, I may copy a passage from a small tractat of the Scots Original, preserved in Asloan's ma- nuscript, which the reader may compare with the corresponding passage in Fordun.-Scotichronicon, Vol. I. p. 47. “ Then the Kingis son, callit to name Fergus Ferherd, gadderit gret power of Scottis men, and come out our Scotland maior, or Ireland, in less Scotland, and tuke the crowne of it, and was our first king, and brocht the armes of Scotland. The quhilkis remaynis zit--ane Red rampand Lyoun, in a scheld of gold; viz. Albion in terris rex primus germine Scotis Illorum turmis rubri tulit arma leonis, Fergusius fulvo Ferherd rugientis in aruo. Liliger ille leo rosidus nunc pingiter auro Christum tercentis terdenes prefuit annis."-Fol. 95. The following extract presents the subject in a more ludicrous point of view, being indeed taken from one of those exaggerated satirical accounts of our country, in which the English people, even to a later period than the times of Swift or of Churchill, seem to have delighted themselves, as affording them a vent to their national antipathy. “The arms of the kingdom was ancient- ly a Red Lyon Rampant in a field of gold; but An. Dom. 787, they had the augmentation of the double tressure, assisting French King; but his Majesties arms in Scotland is a mere Hysteron Proteron—the pride of the people being such, as to place the Scots arms in the dexter quarter of the escut- cheon, and make the unicorn the dexter supporter, with the thistle at his heel, with a suitable motto-Nemo me impune lacessel,' true enough; whoever deals with them, shall be sure to smart fort: The thistle was wisely placed there, partly to shew the fertility of the country-Nature alone producing plenty of these gay flowers and partly as an emblem of the people; the top thereof having some colour of a flower, but the bulk and substance of it is only sharp and poysonous pricks."- A Modern Account of Scotland, 1679, 4to, p. 3.