"The Restoration of Ancient Churches,' 'The Influence of Mountains on Men,' 'Goethe and Culture.' Altogether the volume contains a large amount of healthy and thoughtful reading. Bound up with Igdrasil is the first volume of the magazine World Literature.

THE

SCOTTISH REVIEW.

ОСТОВЕR, 1892.

ART. I.-SCOTTISH HERALDRY.

1. Alexander Nisbet's Heraldic Plates originally intended for his System of Heraldry' lately found in the library of William Eliott Lockhart of Cleghorn, Esq., now reproduced with introduction and notes genealogical and heraldic. By ANDREW Ross, Marchmont Herald, and FRANCIS J. GRANT, Carrick Pursuivant. Edinburgh: George Waterston & Sons, 1892. 2. The Catalogue of the Heraldic Exhibition. Edinburgh: 1891. Compiled by F. J. GRANT, Carrick Pursuivant. Illustrated edition, 4to. Privately printed: 1892.

IT

T is beyond doubt that there is a remarkable revival at the present time of interest in Heraldry and the studies pertaining thereto. This is shown by the numerous works on the subject which issue from the press at very short intervals and which evidently all find an appreciative circle of readers. It is good that this should be so, for since Planché published his Pursuivant at Arms, which was the first book of the kind which really treated the subject in a scientific spirit and did not merely copy the statements of previous writers, many authors of ability have taken it up and shown clearly that Heraldry, freed from the pedantries and conceits of the early writers, is an important factor in historical research, and does much to illumine the investigations of the student of family

history. But not only is it of importance to the historian and biographer, it appeals almost as strongly to the tastes of the artist and architect. It is not therefore surprising to find that the treatment of matters heraldic is improving in the same ratio as the interest in them is quickening. It is only recently that a work was reviewed in these pages which will probably be the standard authority on Heraldry for some time to come. Now we have to notice two books both, like the last, the work of Scottish writers. It is indeed singular to see how Scotland seems to be taking the lead in Heraldry at present, considering that with the single exception of Mr. George Seton's book on Scottish Heraldry no work of any importance on the subject has been published in that country from the days of Nisbet till the recent work above mentioned of Woodward and Burnett. Not only so but Messrs. Ross and Grant may claim to be the very first Scottish Heralds under the rank of Lyon himself who have ever contributed anything to Heraldic literature. We trust therefore that the publication of their work is of good omen for the future.

The Heraldic Plates of Alexander Nisbet, which form the foundation of the volume whose full title is prefixed to this article, were discovered a few years ago in the library of Mr. Eliott Lockhart of Cleghorn. A careful investigation of the available evidence goes far to show that the plates were originally intended to illustrate Nisbet's System of Heraldry, but that that work had ultimately, as we shall see, to be issued on a much less magnificent scale than at first proposed by the author. Nisbet tells us in his preface to the Cadency, which was published in 1702 as a kind of preliminary specimen of the author's ability to complete his larger treatise, for which at the time he was soliciting aid from Parliament, that it was his intention to insert a considerable number of Plates of the Most Ancient Nobility and Gentry who have cut their armorial bearings with all the exterior Ornaments of the shield. The nobility are ev'ry one of them on a Plate by themselves at 40 Shillings Sterlin Price, many of the Gentry by Two's on one Plate at 20 Shillings each." Mr. Ross has come to the conclusion, and there is no reason to doubt its soundness, that the plates now

published were those here referred to. It is certainly to be regretted that they did not at last make their appearance in the volume for which they were originally destined. They would have made it so handsome, that to use Nisbet's own expression, every man would confess 'that Britain ne'er produced before this time anything on this science so splendid and so glorious.' Though it is probable that it was from lack of funds that they did not appear, it is difficult to understand why they were not utilised, at all events to some extent, as the author speaks of them as actually engraved in 1702 long before the System appeared: and the only expense which would afterwards have been incurred would have been the cost of paper and printing.

On examining the plates themselves, numbering seventy-six exclusive of the series of small plates prepared for, and some of which were issued with, the Cadency, it will be found that they do no discredit to the state of Scottish Art at the period. Perhaps Mr. Ross, with a pardonable enthusiasm for his subject, is inclined to glorify them overmuch; but it cannot be denied that they display an amount of spirit and character which lifts them out of the ordinary rut of eighteenth century heraldic art. The mantlings especially, though often somewhat heavy and wanting in detail, are very rich and give importance and distinction to the achievement. Owing to the author having employed several engravers on the work there is a variety of treatment which is very marked. The drawing of the animals which figure as charges on the shields and as supporters is, as might be supposed, of various degrees of excellence. Some are stiff and wooden, but many are spirited and life-like. The ermine-lined mantle which forms a background, so to speak, to the arms of the peers is always effective, and the repetition of the arms on the overlapping portions, though of common occurrence in heraldic designs of this period, gives character to the achievement. A fine example of a cordelière may be noted in the arms of the Countess of Winton (reproduced from a plate in the Advocates' library) and attention may also be directed to an elegant renaissance design containing the arms of the Earl of Perth it is the work of an en