ORDER OF THE THISTLE.

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Saint Andrew, or of the Thistle. 7 The Name even of such an Institution hasnot been found in any Record, nor is there a trace of a Charter of its Foun-dation, or of Statutes, Chapters, Elections, Installations, Investitures, Nomi-nations, or a List of the Knights. Numerous as are the Portraits of ScottishNoblemen, there is no instance of any of them being represented with theCollar; and the omission of even the slightest notice of the Insignia of theOrder in the full account of the Regalia, Jewels, and Dresses of Queen Maryand King James the Sixth, justifies a doubt whether the Collar itself, thoughplaced by Heralds round the Royal Arms, was then in existence; while everycircumstance at present known tends to shew, that if it were worn at that time,it was merely a Decoration, confined to the Sovereign, or to the Personexercising the Royal authority. This opinion is supported by the fact thatSir William Segar, in his account of various Collars of Orders of Knighthood,does not speak of the Collar of the Thistle as being, like those of the Garter,of the Annunciation, of the Golden Fleece, of Saint Michael, and of theHoly Ghost, the Ensign of an “ Order ” but he merely calls it a “ Collarand Device ” and though he was addressing King James, whose National pridewould have been gratified if the Antiquity of the Order could have been shewn,he candidly avowed, that he knew nothing of its History. Segar places hisnotice of the Collar at the end of his work, and only says, “ This Collar andDevice of the Thistle or Burr, I have often seen, both printed in Books,and painted in Tables, yet could never learn the original cause thereof. The

in the year 1715 himself seen the Arms of George Lord Seaton, “ who lived in the reign of James V.and was created by him a Knight Companion of this Noble Order, surrounded with the Collar of thisOrder, and thereat hangs in a roundel the image of Saint Andrew, with his Cross on his breast, carvedon the lining of the Great Hall of Seaton House;” and that when King James V. went to France in1535, to marry Magdalen, daughter of Francis I. he bestowed the Order of the Burr or Thistle onthe French King, and on the Count de Montmorency. Some remarks will be made on these state-ments in the Appendix.

It should also be observed, that there is in the possession of the Earl of Morton a Badge of theOrder of the Thistle, which, according to the tradition of that noble family, was worn by the RegentMorton, and is precisely similar to the Badge that belonged to King James the Seventh. To theseauthorities one, apparently still stronger, remains to be added. In the address from the Estates of Hollandand Zealand, on the Baptism of Prince Henry, in 1594, the Scottish Ambassadors are thus described:“ Les Seigneurs Guilliaume Keyth, Chevallier de son Ordre, son Counselier et Gentilhomme de saChambre, et le Capitaine Guilliaume Murray, Prevost de sa Ville de St. Andro.” —The Historie ofKing James the Sext, p. 336, printed in 1825 by the Bannatyne Club; an Association which, by itspublications, has rendered important service to Historical Literature. The probability, however, isthat Sir William Keith wore a Badge of Office of some kind, which was mistaken for the Ensignsof an Order of Knighthood.