A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

P. R E F A C K.. v
all the other parts of if, but the great collections 1 have made of armorial
bearings in Sroiland, and the memorials of particular families, in this
book, are so useful a part of it, that i am apt to think most of my
readers will be better pleased with the method I have taken, than if L had
given them only a dry system of the parts and rules of heraldry,
Though 1 have not been able to overtake somethings in the System of
Heraldry, as 1 at first intended, yet I have explained the True Art of
Klaxon, in a more ample, regular, and distinct manner, than any thing
that I have ever seen on that I
subject. have treated of the Rise and
Nature of Arms, the principal Ensigns of Honour on which they haubeen
usually placed, their different Tinctures and Furrs, the Partition
and Repartition Lines, with their Accidental Forms: As also, the different
Figures used in Arms, whether Proper, Natural, or Artificial, with the
different terms of those figures, from their position, situation, and dis-
position in the shield ; together with their various blazons and significations,
according to the sentiments of those who have written in Latin,
Italian, German, French, and English.
As I have treated of all those particular heads very fully and distinctly,
so I have illustrated them, and the several rules relative thereto, by
suitable examples of armorial bearings ; principally taken from those of
our own nation, and failing them, from those of other nations over all
Europe; so that I may justly call it an Universal System,
not calculated
for Scotland only, or any particular country, but answering to the re-
gular practice of heraldry through the world. Notwithstanding of which,
I may presume to say, that my reader will here find such a collection of
armorial bearings of surnames and families in Scotland, both ancient and
modern, that the like was never attempted ; and which will serve as a
general register, or at least a directory of arms to posterity: A work
hitherto much wanted, and earnestly wished for by the curious.
In order to render my collection more complete, I have not only had
recourse to my Lord Lyon's Register, in the Herald-Office, whose civili-
ties to me on that occasion I most thankfully acknowledge, but also to
old books of blazons, ancient records, seals of arms, and other monuments
of antiquity: All which I mention as my proper vouchers on that
subject, and refer to them by proper marks, of which I shall give here a
short account.
The Lyon Register, though, by the foresaid act of Parliament, anno
1672, ordained to be respected as the true and unrepealable
rule of all
arms and bearings in Scotland, and instituted to prevent irregularities in
heraldry, yet, at this day, is not so complete as is to be wished. Many
of our most ancient and considerable families have neglected to register
their arms, notwithstanding the act of Parliament, partly through in-
dolence, and partly through an extravagant opinion of their own great-
ness,
as if the same could never be obscured : So that were it not for an-
cient records, books of blazons, charters with seals appended thereto, or
other monuments of antiquity, to which I have had recourse with great
labour, and some of which I have purchased with great charges, the armorial
bearings of sundry considerable families and surnames in Scotland
had been entirely lost. However, as the Lyon Office is of late
much improven, and better regulated than formerly, it is like to be very
useful in time coming ; and I have collected the greatest part of my
blazons therefrom, and refer thereto sometimes by the letters (L. R.)
b