PREFACE. A LOVE of heraldry has induced me for several years to collect all the family mottoes I could meet with on bookplates, seals, carriages, hatchments, church windows, &c., as well as to copy out all those that I have found in Peerages, works on family and county history; in a word, I have taken them from every source accessible to me. And as in the course of my researches I found that many of these mottoes were incorrect in spelling, and, if translated at all, were but too often translated improperly, it appeared to me that a small work on Mottoes might be not only useful to the heraldic artist and engraver, but also generally interesting to others; and I therefore determined after much consideration to publish the present volume. If the bearer of any of the mottoes contained in these pages deems that my translation is incorrect, I would bid him remember-that when a broken sentence of Latin or French bears no direct reference either to the arms, crest, or name of him who uses it, nothing remains for the translator but to procure, if possible, the sense which its owner attaches to it; or, failing this, to give that meaning which the words seem most naturally to bear. |