The good fortune of his ancestors in their inheritances, marriages, and
friendships is very remarkable. To one of them, Japhet, fell the
inheritance of "all the regions of Europe"; Japhet's grandson Penuel was
"a most intimate friend of Nimrod, the mighty hunter and builder of
Babel"; while his great-grandson Tycheros was chosen by "Orpah, the
daughter of Sabatius Saga, Prince of the Armenians, to be her husband,
because of his gallantry and good success in the wars."[180]
The name Urquhart came into use at the comparatively late period of B.C.
2139, when the family had been in existence for over eighteen hundred
years. It was first borne by Esormon. "He," we are told, "was soveraign
Prince of Achaia. For his fortune in the wars, and affability in
conversation, his subjects and familiars surnamed him ουροχαρτος, that
is [to] say, fortunate well-beloved. After which time, his posterity
ever since hath acknowledged him the father of all that carry the name
of Urquhart.[181] He had for his arms, three banners, three ships, and
three ladies, in a field _d'or_, with a picture of a young lady above
the waste, holding in her right hand a brandished sword, and a branch of
myrtle in the left, for crest; and for supporters, two Javanites, after
the souldier-habit of Achaia, with this motto in the scroll of his
coat-armour, ταυτα τα τρια αξιοθεατα; that is, These three are worthy to
behold. Upon his wife Narfesia, who was soveraign of the Amazons, he
begot Cratynter."[182]
The habits of the Urquharts to form alliances and friendships with
persons afterwards famous in sacred and secular history is very marked.
Thus, one of them, Phrenedon Urquhart, "was in the house of the
Patriarch Abraham at the time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha."
At a later period, another, named Hypsegoras Urquhart, married a
daughter of Herculus Lybius; while a descendant of theirs, Pamprosodos
Urquhart, married Termuth, "who was that daughter of Pharaoh Amenophis
which found Moses among the bulrushes, and brought him up as if he had
been her own childe."
Another ancestor, Molin Urquhart (_c._ B.C. 1534), married Panthea, "the
daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha, of whom Ovid maketh mention in the
first of his Metamorphoses." The genealogist goes on to say that "in
that part of Africk which, after his name, is till this hour called
Molinea, by cunning and valour together he killed in one morning three
lions;[183] the heads whereof, when in a basket, presented to his lady
Panthea, so terrified her, that (being quick with childe) for putting
her right hand to her left side, with this sudden exclamation, O
Hercules, what is this? the impression of three lions' heads was found
upon the left side of the childe as soon as he was born." In consequence
of this incident, the three banners, three ships, and three ladies in
the Urquhart arms were exchanged for three lions' heads.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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