Sans. Without. “Sans nombre,” without any number fixed or specified.
Savage-man, or Wood-man. A wild man, naked except large wreaths of leaves about his head and loins, and carrying a club.
No. 301.— Crest
of Hamilton.
Saw, or Frame-saw. Borne as the crest of Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, which is thus blazoned—Out of a ducal crest-coronet or, an oak-tree fructed and penetrated transversely in the main stem by a frame-saw ppr., the frame gold; above the crest the motto, “Through!” This device is said to commemorate the escape into Scotland, in 1323, of Sir Gilbert Hamilton, a reputed ancestor of the present ducal house. At the court of Edward II. Sir Gilbert had unadvisedly expressed admiration for Robert Bruce, on which John le Despencer struck him. Despencer fell in single combat the next day, and Hamilton fled, hotly pursued, northward. Near the border the fugitive and a faithful esquire joined some wood-cutters, assumed their dress, and commenced working with them on an oak, when the pursuers passed by. Hamilton, saw in hand, observed his esquire anxiously watching their enemies as they passed, and at once recalled his attention to his woodman’s duties by the word, “Through!”—thus, at the same time, appearing to consider the cutting down the oak to be far more important than the presence of the strangers. So they passed by, and Hamilton followed in safety. This crest does not appear in the Hamilton seals till long after the days of Bruce and his admirer, Sir Gilbert: No. 301.
Scarpe, Escarpe. A diminutive of a Bend sinister.
Scintillant. Emitting sparks.
Seax. A Saxon sword.
Seeded. Having seeds or seed-vessels, as in the centre of an heraldic rose. See Nos. [298]-[300].