The family of Burnett of Leys, with collateral - Electric Scotland

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THE FAMILY OF BURNETT OF LEYS.
Sir James Balfour gives the arms of Leys as having the horn between the
three holly leaves.*
The holly leaves in the coat of the Scottish Burnetts undoubtedly owe their
origin to the similar emblems borne by
their southern ancestors treated of in
Chapter I. The earlier seal of Odo Burnard has the device of one leaf or flower,
and in the later seal there are three leaves on an escutcheon, which, with the
addition of the hunting horn assumed by the Burnetts of the north, owing to
their connection with the Forest of Drum, now form the coat of the family. As
mentioned before, the seal of Richard Burnard of Farningdown, 1252, shews the
single leaf of a different shape from that of Odo. The leaves on the English
Burnard's seals may be burnet (pimpernel), but all the Scottish blazons have holly.
The crest used by the Burnetts of Leys is " a hand, with a pruning knife,
pruning a vine tree proper." Motto : Virescit vulnere virtus.
Seton : says
"
This crest and motto owe their origin to Mary Queen of Scots,
and were probably intended to allude to her own unhappy condition. 'When
'she was in England,' says Bell, in his life of the Scottish Queen, 'she
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embroidered, for the Duke of Norfolk, a hand with a sword in it, cutting vines,
'with the motto " Virescit vulnere virtus." '
The Earl of Galloway has the same motto but a different crest.
The following arms of cadets of the family are matriculated in the " New
Register " in the Lyon
Office :
1672. Thomas Burnet of Inverleith, descended of Leys; Argent, three holly
leaves in chief vert and a hunting horn in base sable, garnished gules, within a
bordure indented of the second, a crescent for difference.
Crest : A holly branch proper.
1678.
Motto : Virtute cresco.
Alexander Burnet of Craigmelie (Craigmyle), whose father was lawfully
procreate between James Burnet of the house of Leys, and Elizabeth Burnet,
heiress of Craigmelie and representer of Craigmelie of that ilk, bears two coats
* A very curious coat occurs in Workman's MS. (1565-6) in the Lyon Office. It is headed
in the pictorial blazon as " Burnet of Leyis," but in the description is called " Bornett in Lides-
"dale? Argent, a naked man cutting a tree growing from a mount in base vert with a long
"
sword, on a chief azure a crescent between two mullets argent." The tinctures in the pictorial
blazon are different. There would appear to be some confusion of names, as the coat has no
have some
resemblance to one borne by any family of Burnetts (although it may possibly
connection with the crest) and may be considered as a heraldic curiosity.