[182] Works, p. 156.
[183] Works, p. 159.
[184] Horace gives us the speech in which she told Lynceus of his danger, and urged him to make his escape—
"'Wake!' to her youthful spouse she cried,
'Wake! or you yet may sleep too well:
Fly—from the father of your bride,
Her sisters fell:
They, as she-lions bullocks rend,
Tear each her victim: I, less hard,
Than these, will slay you not, poor friend,
Nor hold in ward:
Me let my sire in fetters lay
For mercy to my husband shown:
Me let him ship from hence away,
To climes unknown.
Go; speed your flight o'er land and wave,
While Night and Venus shield you; go
Be blest: and on my tomb engrave
This tale of woe.'"
Her sad forebodings concerning her own fate, it is satisfactory to know, were not fully realised. Perhaps she was shipped away to Cromartie, or Ireland, or Portugal, or Africa, or wherever it was that the head of the Urquhart family was then reigning. Instead of Lynceus having the melancholy satisfaction of putting an inscription on her tombstone, it is probable that she performed that office for him.
[185] Clanmolinespick is, we believe, more correctly clann-maol-an-easbuig (the last pronounced cspick), and means "the clan" or "family of the servant of the bishop." They are probably the Irish ancestors of the Macmillans of Knapdale in Argyleshire. The word "maol," "a tonsured servant," occurs in Malise (maol-Josa), "a servant of Jesus," a family name of the old Earls of Strathearn; and easbuig in Gillespie or Gillespic, "a servant" or "gillie of the bishop."
[186] Clanrurie is "the clan" or "family of Roderick." These are the Macrories and Fullartons, their eponym having been Rory or Roderick, one of the two sons of Reginald, whose father in almost prehistoric times was Somerled, Lord of the Isles. They settled in Bute and Arran, and about Ardnamurchan and the islands there.
[187] This phrase—"by many"—is very delightful.
[188] Works, p. 168. A curious stone lintel now at Kinbeakie gives a representation of the Urquhart coat of arms, such as it was in Sir Thomas's own time. It was no doubt executed at his orders and under his direction, for inscribed on it are the names of some of those worthies who appear in the above genealogical history. The representation which we give of this stone is from a photograph specially taken for the illustration of this work. As the porch in the wall of which the slab is set is very narrow, it was impossible, even with the use of a wide-angle lens, to get a more satisfactory photograph than that which is here reproduced. Our readers will therefore kindly excuse the distortion of shape which is only too apparent, and accept as a measure of compensation the vividness with which the details of the engraved stone are brought out. "This singular relic," says Hugh Miller, "which has, perhaps, more of character impressed upon it than any other piece of sandstone in the kingdom, is about five feet in length by three in breadth, and bears date A.M. 5612, A.C. 1651. On the lower and upper edges it is bordered by a plain moulding, and at the ends by belts of rich foliage, terminating in a chalice or vase. In the upper corner two knights in complete armour on horseback, and with their lances couched, front each other, as if in the tilt-yard. Two Sirens playing on harps occupy the lower. In the centre are the arms—the charge on the shield three bears' heads, the supporters two greyhounds leashed and collared, the crest a naked woman holding a dagger and palm, the helmet that of a knight, with the beaver partially raised, and so profusely mantled that the drapery occupies more space than the shield and supporters, and the motto Meane Weil, Speak Weil, and Do Weil. Sir Thomas's initials, S. T. V. C., are placed separately, one letter at the outer side of each supporter, one in the centre of the crest, and one beneath the label; while the names of the more celebrated heroes of his genealogy, and the eras in which they flourished, occupy in the following inscription the space between the figures:—Anno Astioremonis, 2226; Anno Vocompotis, 3892; Anno Molini, 3199; Anno Rodrici, 2958; Anno Chari, 2219; Anno Lutorci, 2000; Anno Esormonis, 3804. It is melancholy enough that this singular exhibition of family pride should have been made in the same year in which the family received its deathblow—the year of Worcester battle" (Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, chap. vii.). The arms of the Urquhart family in their later form, as associated with those of the Meldrum and Seton families, are given in the 1774 edition of the ΠΑΝΤΟΧΡΟΝΟΧΑΝΟΝ, and are as follows:—"Arms, Or, three Bears-heads, erazed, gules, langued azure. Crest, a demy Otter issuing from the wreath sable, crowned with an antique Crown, or, holding betwixt his paws a crescent gules. Motto above, Per mare et Terras, and below, Mean, speak, and do well. Supporters, two grayhounds, proper collared gules, and leashed." There can be no doubt that the Urquhart arms should be the three bears' heads, though they are often described as three boars' heads. The records of 1742 and 1760 in the Lyon Register make this quite certain. Probably the close resemblance between the two words is the principal cause of the confusion with regard to the matter which exists. In the sculptured coat of arms, of which we give a representation, the heads certainly have a superficial resemblance at least to those of boars. A correspondent who takes an interest in this question remarks, however, that "though the heads have tusks worthy of any boar, they (i.e. the heads) are set at right angles to the necks in a way in which no boar could be represented." On the other hand, the snouts of the animals have that distinctly retroussé shape which we associate with pigs, both wild and domesticated. The question is, therefore, not so simple as at first sight it appears, and can scarcely be adequately dealt with in a mere footnote. Accordingly we leave our readers to discuss and settle the difficulty.
[189] See p. 4, supra.