It was an old
clergyman, who had wisdom and firmness enough to resist the panic which
seized his brethren, who was the means of rescuing a poor insane creature
from the cruel fate which would otherwise have overtaken her. The
accounts of the trials for witchcraft form one of the most deplorable
chapters in Scottish story.
NOTE 12
Although canting heraldry is generally reprobated, it seems nevertheless
to have been adopted in the arms and mottos of many honourable families.
Thus the motto of the Vernons, Ver non semper viret, is a perfect pun,
and so is that of the Onslows, Festina lente. The Periissem ni per-iissem
of the Anstruthers is liable to a similar objection. One of that ancient
race, finding that an antagonist, with whom he had fixed a friendly
meeting, was determined to take the opportunity of assassinating him,
prevented the hazard by dashing out his brains with a battle-axe. Two
sturdy arms, brandishing such a weapon, form the usual crest of the
family, with the above motto, Periissem ni per-iissem--I had died, unless
I had gone through with it.
NOTE 13
Mac-Donald of Barrisdale, one of the very last Highland gentlemen who
carried on the plundering system to any great extent, was a scholar and a
well-bred gentleman.
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