Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Different times, different aspirations but hardly in the spirit of of his poem "The Man's a man for a that". I read from the article his "detestation of the Anglicisation process" and I can agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments there which I am sure were closer to his fierce patriotism than all the silly flummery associated with heraldry.
I tend to agree with you that Burns's interest in heraldry was more in terms of his nationalism, but to dismiss heraldry as simply "silly flummery" is not very objective. There are many people who are interested in heraldry, myself included, who find it to be a legimate and interesting subject.

Heraldy itself is not "silly flummery" or elitist; it is the individual that chooses to make it a vehicle for those beliefs, and as Acaig pointed out, not everyone who is an armiger is that way.

Regards,

Todd