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existing wrongs both of Church and State, and thought of rectifying these without revolutionary measures.
l. 135. The cap of the Lion King 'was of scarlet velvet turned up with ermine.'
ll. 141-4. The double tressure was an ornamental tracing round the shield, at a fixed distance from the border. As to the fleur-de-lis (flower of the lily, emblem of France) Scott quotes Boethius and Buchanan as saying that it was 'first assumed by Achaius, king of Scotland, contemporary of Charlemagne, and founder of, the celebrated League with France.' Historical evidence, however, would seem to show that 'the lion is first seen on the seal of Alexander II, and the tressure on that of Alexander III.' This is the heraldic description of the arms of Scotland: 'Or, a lion rampant gules, armed and langued azure, within a double tressure flory counterflory of fleur-de-lis of the second.' The supporters are 'two unicorns argent maned and unguled, or gorged with open crowns.' The crest is 'a lion sejant affronté gules crowned or,' &c. The adoption of the thistle as the national Scottish emblem is wrapt in obscurity, although an early poet attributes it to a suggestion of Venus.
l. 153. Scott mentions Chalmers's edition of Lyndsay's works, published in 1806. More recent and very satisfactory editions are those of Dr. David Laing, (1) a library edition in three volumes, and (2) a popular edition in two. Lyndsay was born about 1490 and died about 1555. The Mount was his estate, near Cupar-Fife. 'I am uncertain,' says Scott, 'if I abuse poetic license, by introducing Sir David Lindesay in the character of Lion-Herald, sixteen years before he obtained that office. At any rate, I am not the first who has been guilty of that anachronism; for the author of "Flodden Field" despatches Dallamount, which can mean nobody but Sir David de la Mont, to France on the message of defiance from James IV to Henry VIII. It was often an office imposed on the Lion King-at-arms, to receive foreign ambassadors; and Lindesay himself did this honour to Sir Ralph Sadler, in 1539-40. Indeed, the oath of the Lion, in its first article, bears reference to his frequent employment upon royal messages and embassies. The office of heralds, in feudal times, being held of the utmost importance, the inauguration of the Kings-at-arms, who presided over their colleges, was proportionally solemn. In fact, it was the mimicry of a royal coronation, except that the unction was made with wine instead of oil. In Scotland, a namesake and kinsman of Sir David Lindesay, inaugurated in 1592, "was crowned by King James with the ancient