Clan Fraser in Canada

THE ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 45
" I believe that the Frasers are Scotch ab origine and
repeat that I consider the name to be Gaelic and older than
the arms, which were canting arms, such as we have a royal
example of as early as the time of Louis VII. (of 1 1S0), who
covered the shield of France with blue, the tincture of his
royal robes, and then charged the same with lilies, derived
originally from Isis, formerly worshipped in France.
" The / "raises are quartered with three antique crowns,
and here again authors differ, most writers saying they are for
Bisset. Even Nisbet makes this error, although on another
page he gives the arms of Bisset of Beaufort as ' Azure a
bend argent ! ' Others say they were granted to Sir Simon
Fraser, the ' Flower of Chivalrie,' the friend of Wallace and
Bruce, for having three times re-horsed his king at the Battle
of Methven, in 1306. This may be their origin, but if so they
were probably granted to or adopted by his grand nephew
and heir, Sir Andrew Fraser, for Sir Simon Fraser was
taken prisoner at this very battle, conveyed to London and
beheaded. It is worthy of note, however, that the Grants,
near neighbors and often allied to the Frasers, bear three
antique crowns, though of a different tincture. Hugh, fifth
Lord Lovat, married a daughter of the Laird of Grant, by
whom, however, he had no issue. He died 1544."
In another note Mr. Dixon says : " The court language
of Scotland, at the time this family took their arms, which are
totally different from those of the French house of Frezeau or
Frezel, was a medley of Teutonic and French."
In the Lowlands of Scotland. — But whether the
derivation be from the Romance fraysse, ' an ash tree,'
or the Gaelic frith, ' a forest,' we find the chief of the name