A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

Oi< i UK SUB-ORDINARIES.
caio, a faggot or log of wood, whose office it was to provide fuel for the Ror.
camp: And when arms came in use, these of that name took such figures.
Otlu-i
again say, with some more certainty, that these billets in the ;!lcndci
represent sheets or scrolls of paper, upon the account that several of the !i
the family of Callender of that Ilk, were comptrollers or clerks to our Kin;.;
old but ; unluckily they joined with Baliol and the English against the Bruce,
which they were forfeited. King David the Bruce, in the ijth year of his reign,
made a grant of the barony of Callendar, in the county of Stirling, then in rn
crown by forfeiture of Patrick de Callendar, to Sir William Livingston ; who, tinbetter
to fortify his title thereto, took to wife, Christian de Callendar, only daughter
and heir to the said Patrick de Callendar, and had with her his son and successor
Sir William Livingston, father of Sir John Livingston of Callendar, who was slain
in the service of his country, at the battle of Hamilton. From whom were descended
the Earls of Linhthgow and Callendar, who have been in use to quartet
the arms of Callendar, as above blazoned, with their own.
JOHN CALLENDER of Mayners, sable, a bend betwixt six billets or,
'
Font's Manu-
script. After the extinction of Callender of that Ilk, this became the principal
family of the name.
JOHN CALLENDER in Kincardine, descended of the family of Mayners, sable, a.
bend cheque, argent and gules, between six billets of the second ; crest, a hand
holding a billet, proper : motto, / mean well. Lyon Register.
ALEXANDER CHAPLIN, writer to the signet, gules, on a fesse nebul/ argent, be
rwixt six billets or, a rose of the first, as in, the Lyon Register.
Billets are more frequently to be seen in the English arms than in ours.
DORMER Earl of CARNARVON, Viscount Ascot, Baron Dormer of Wenge, azure,
ten billets, four, three, two, and one, or, on a chief of the last, a lion naissant,
sable. Sir Robert Dormer, in the reign of Henry VIII. obtained a grant of the
manor of Wenge in Buckinghamshire. His grandchild, Robert, was honoured
with the title of Lord Dormer of Wenge, by King James I. of Great Britain; and
his son Robert, Earl of Carnarvon, by King Charles I. who was killed fighting
valiantly for his king at the battle of Newberry ; a man of singular parts, as appears
by the character the Lord Clarendon gives of him. He left no issue behind
him and ; the title of Lord Dormer went to a branch of that family, with thearms
above blazoned, but not the title of Earl of Carnarvon.
With us and the English, if the number of billets in the field exceed ten, and
be irregularly placed, then the number of them is not expressed in the blazon, and
we only say billette, as in the arms of NASSAU, Earl of ROCHFORD ; but the French
mention their number till they exceed fifteen.
The proper posture of the billet is to be erect in pale when in fesse or ; fesse -
ways, they are said to be couche ; and when they be diagonally placed, they are
said to be bend-ways.
Seme of billets, or billette, which is all one, is said when the field is charged with
more than ten billets irregularly situate, as in the arms of EW, a territory in
Normandy, azure, billette or, (or seme of billets) a lion rampant
of the last ; thus
by Uredus, " Scutum coeruleum plinthidibus aureis, incerto numero spai
11 & leone ejusdem metalli impressum." Plate VIII. fig. 27.
OF THE PAIRLE.
I r is an honourable ordinary with some of the French heralds ; and has a parti-
tion in heraldry, after its form and name, as Tierce in pairle, of which before ;
Plate II. fig. 24. It likewise gives a denomination to figures situate after its posi-
tion ; of winch immediately.
The Pairle may be said to be composed of half a saltier and half a pale, issuing
from the base point of the shield to the centre, and then dividing into two equal
parts, tending to the dexter and sinister chief angles, as Plate VIII. fig. 28. a~.urf t
a pairle or.
The armorial bearing of the family of PEPIN in France, given us by Monsieur
Baron in his LArt Heraldique, d'azur, au pairle d'or, and Menestrier, in his La-