Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/439

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instead of the usual unicorns. There is also on the base or pedestal of the monument a coat of arms, containing quarterly first and fourth the Stewart arms, and second and third the royal arms. The shield is supported by two angels. In a paper by Mr. John Mackinlay,[1] written in 1825, these arms are fully described and illustrated. They were then doubtless better preserved than they now are, but the arms can still be deciphered. Mr. Mackinlay tries to explain the remarkable circumstance of the Stewart arms having precedence in the lower shield over the royal arms, by supposing that they are placed on the tomb of the chief of the

Fig. 1355.—St. Mary's Abbey, Rothesay. Plan.

Clan. But the name of the person whose monument this is has not been discovered.[2] As the bearings in quartered shields are often reversed by mistake, the same may have happened here.

The effigy is that of a knight in complete plate armour. The head rests on a tilting helmet, with a dog's head for crest, which is attached to a cap put on over the helmet. The round hollow visible to the spectator represents the inside of the helmet. The feet rest upon a lion. The

  1. Archæologica Scotica, Vol. III. p. 1.
  2. There is also an interesting paper on this subject by Mr. James C. Roger in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. II. p. 446.