Comments in refutation of pretensions advanced for the first time, and statements in a recent work "The Stirlings of Keir and their family papers"

138
COMMENTS ON KEIR PERFORMANCE,
1 See p. 11.
Fine old
chivalrous
Gadder
crest in
1492.
^ Mathew
Westm.,
p. 454.
■' Aspilogio,
p. 132.
■■ History
of the
Garter,
cap. 5,
sec. 2, p.
185.
^ Annals
of Soot-
land, edit.
1797, vol.
ii. pp. 4, 5.
Diiimpel-
lier family
naturally
desirous to
retain it.
On referring, in the Keir Performance, to the notice of the procuratory of
1492, we there find, upon the margin of the page, an engrnYed facsimile of
a beautiful seal, appended by the granter, William Stirling of Cadder, disclosing
the arms which that family then bore.^ One feature of these arms is new to
us, and very remarkable — viz. the crest ; it is a white swan's head and neck,
with expanded wings, issuing out of a coronet placed upon a helmet, with the
lateral heraldic ornaments above the shield of arms. This crest, besides being
quite in keeping with the rank and dignity of the Stirlings of Cadder, was a
high and peculiarly chivalrous armorial imprese or device. The swan, of
old, by its formal intervention, sanctioned and consecrated the most solemn
observances and vows.^ It was before " duo cygni vel olores* allati — in pom-
patica gloria ante regem, phalerati retibus aureis veljihidis de auratisf de-
siderabile spectaculum intuentibus," that Edward I., in 1306, at a royal feast,
took a solemn vow of vengeance and retribution against Robert Bruce for his
murder of Comyn, and insult offered thereby to God and the Church.
Spelman maintains^ that glorice studium ex eodem hoc symholo\ indicari
multi assemnt," while Ashmole observes* that " Edward III. had these
words wrought upon his surcoat and shield, provided to be used at a tourna-
ment," viz. : —
" Hay, Hay, the v;ijflie swan ; §
By God's soul, I am thy man." '
According to Lord Hailes''' — from whose Annals the above is taken, and to
whom we are indebted for this information, as also in sundry other antiqua-
rian matters — this shows " that a ichite swan was the imprese \\ of Edward
III., and perhaps," he adds, "it was also used by his grandfather, Edward I."
It being thus in every view a high, kingly, and even a sacred emblem, no
wonder the Drumpellier, as Cadder heirs, should be anxious to vindicate their
right to the white swan and its accompanying coronet, with the due blazonry,
as their crest ; and they have just cause of complaint when the representa-
tive of another family, if he has done them a service by discovering to them
what their original crest really was — a service which only consisted in his
letting them have a peep into what may be considered the depositaries of
* Both classically denoting swans.
t i.e. Golden buckles, thus enhancing the
heraldic pre-eminence of the Stirling buckles,
and making this a more suitable illustra-
tion ; and, no doubt, their swan would occi-
sionally be most appropriately so decked and
adorned.
X A swan.
§ white swan.
II An " emblem or device," in Italian.