In process of time the Gordons, according to the practice in Heraldry, increased the number of _Boars Heads_ to _three_, two and one; and thus they continue to be borne at this day, with proper differences; one of which, being particular, I shall mention, _viz._ GORDON, _Earl_ of _Aboyne_. The reference contained in the Motto of this Branch seems merely to be confined to the _Cheveron_ placed between the _Boars Heads_, in these words, "_Stant cætera Tigno_," which last word is the acknowledged Latin word for the _Cheveron_[317]. This is, perhaps, the greatest compliment ever paid to the _Cheveron_, which is accounted one of the humblest Charges known, in Heraldic language, by the name of Ordinaries. [317] Gibbon's Introd. ad Latinam Blazoniam. See also Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 316. Thus much for the Arms of the _Duke of Gordon_, and for what has been said both of the Arms and Motto of the Earl of Aboyne; but the Motto of the Ducal Branch of the Family is yet unaccounted for, which is "Bydand." This, I make no doubt, is a compound word, and of no little antiquity; and I take the resolution of it to be, by contraction, _Byde th' End_, with the letter D in the place of the TH; for the Glossarist to some ancient Scottish Poems, published from the MSS. of George Bannatyne, at Edinburgh, 1770, p. 247, renders the word _Bidand, pendente Lite_. See also the Glossary, ad calcem. As to its import, it may refer to Family transactions, in two points of view; _viz._ either to loyal or religious attachments. In support of the first, we find that Sir Adam Gordon was a strenuous asserter of the claims of the Bruces, and peculiarly active in the cause of King Robert I. (in that long contest), who accordingly rewarded him with a large grant of land, sufficient to secure his interest, and make him _byde the end_ of the contest as a feudatory under that King. The Son and Grandson of Sir Adam were both faithful to the interest of the Bruces, and had the above grant confirmed by King David II.[318] If this is not satisfactory, we have instances of acts of piety done by the early Branches of this Family, sufficient to warrant the Motto on the interpretation here given; for in the Reign of Malcolm IV. the Family had large possessions, part of which they devoted to religious purposes, by considerable endowments and benefactions given to the Abbey of Kelso[319]. [318] Crawfurd's Peerage. [319] Ibid. I incline, however, more strongly to the military sense of the Motto; and the more, as it is borne by other Families, manifestly with that reference, though I cannot account for the connexion of the two Houses. Thus, for instance, _Leith_, in one Branch, has for the Motto, "_Semper Fidus_;" in another, "_Trusty to the End_;" and in a third, "_Trusty and Bydand_;" in this last, I think the contraction of the last word, as above suggested, is more clearly established[320]. [320] Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 217.