Part 28 (1/2)
”'The greatnesse of his mynde is such that he chooseth rather to dye than be taken alive.' Indeed, he was only conquerable by a beautiful maiden. One fifteenth-century writer gives a recipe for catching a unicorn. 'A maid is set where he hunteth and she openeth her lap, to whom the unicorn, as seeking rescue from the force of the hunter, yieldeth his head and leaveth all his fierceness, and resteth himself under her protection, sleepeth until he is taken and slain.' But although many were reported to be thus enticed to their destruction, only their horns, strange to say, ever reached Europe. There is one in King Edward's collection at Buckingham Palace.
”Naturally, the horn of such an animal was held a sovereign specific against poison, and 'ground unicorn's horn' often figures in mediaeval books of medicine.
”There was in Shakespeare's time at Windsor Castle the 'horn of a unicorn of above eight spans and a half in length, valued at above 10,000.' This may have been the one now at Buckingham Palace. One writer, describing it, says:--
”'I doe also know that horn the King of England possesseth to be wreathed in spires, even as that is accounted in the Church of St. Dennis, than which they suppose none greater in the world, and I never saw anything in any creature more worthy praise than this horne. It is of soe great a length that the tallest man can scarcely touch the top thereof, for it doth fully equal seven great feet. It weigheth thirteen pounds, with their a.s.size, being only weighed by the gesse of the hands it seemeth much heavier.' {221}
”Spenser, in the 'Faerie Queen,' thus describes a contest between the unicorn and the lion:--
'Like as the lyon, whose imperial powre A proud rebellious unicorn defyes, T'avoide the rash a.s.sault and wrathful stowre Of his fiers foe, him to a tree applies.
And when him running in full course he spyes He slips aside; the whiles that furious beast His precious horne, sought of his enimyes, Strikes in the stroke, ne thence can be released, But to the victor yields a bounteous feast.'
”'It hath,' remarked Guillim, in 1600, 'been much questioned among naturalists which it is that is properly called the unicorn; and some have made doubt whether there be such a beast or no. But the great esteem of his horn in many places to be seen may take away that needless scruple.'
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 414.--Unicorn rampant.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 415.--Unicorn pa.s.sant.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 416.--Unicorn statant.]
”Another old writer, Topsell, says:--
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 417.--Unicorn rampant.]
”'These beasts are very swift, and their legs have not articles. They keep for the most part in the deserts, and live solitary in the tops of the mountaines. There was nothing more horrible than the voice or braying of it, for the voice is strained above measure. It fighteth both with the mouth and with the heeles, with the mouth biting like a lyon, and with the heeles kicking like a horse.'
”Nor is belief in the unicorn confined to Europe. By Chinese writers it is characterised as a 'spiritual beast.' The existence of the unicorn is firmly credited by the most intelligent natives and by not a few Europeans.
A very trustworthy observer, the Abbe Huc, speaks very positively on the subject: 'The unicorn really exists in Tibet.... We had for a long time a small Mongol treatise on Natural History, for the use of children, in which a unicorn formed one of the pictorial ill.u.s.trations.'”
The unicorn, however, as it has heraldically developed, is drawn {222} with the body of a horse, the tail of the heraldic lion, the legs and feet of the deer, the head and mane of a horse, to which is added the long twisted horn from which the animal is named, and a beard (Figs. 414, 415, and 416).
A good representation of the unicorn will be found in the figure of the Royal Arms herein, and in Fig. 417, which is as fine a piece of heraldic design as could be wished.
The crest of Yonge of Colbrooke, Devons.h.i.+re, is ”a demi-sea-unicorn argent, armed gules, finned or,” and the crest of Tynte (Kemeys-Tynte of Cefn Mably and Halswell) is ”on a mount vert, a unicorn sejant argent, armed and crined or.”
The unicorn will be found in the arms of Styleman, quartered by Le Strange, and Swanzy.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 418.--Gryphon segreant.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 419.--Gryphon pa.s.sant.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 420.--Gryphon Statant.]
_The Griffin_ or _Gryphon_.--Though in the popular mind any heraldic monster is generically termed a griffin, the griffin has, nevertheless, very marked and distinct peculiarities. It is one of the hybrid monstrosities which heraldry is so fond of, and is formed by the body, hind-legs, and tail of a lion conjoined to the head and claws of an eagle, the latter acting as its forepaws (Figs. 418-420). It has the wings of the eagle, which are never represented close, but it also has ears, and this, by the way, should be noted, because herein is the only distinction between a griffin's head and an eagle's head when the rest of the body is not represented (Fig. 421). Though but very seldom so met with, it is occasionally found proper, by which description is meant that the plumage is of the brown colour of the eagle, the rest of the body being the natural colour of the lion. The griffin is frequently found with its beak and fore-legs of a different colour from its body, {223} and is then termed ”armed,” though another term, ”beaked and fore-legged,” is almost as frequently used. A very popular idea is that the origin of the griffin was the dimidiation of two coats of arms, one having an eagle and the other a lion as charges, but taking the origin of armory to belong to about the end of the eleventh century, or thereabouts, the griffin can be found as a distinct creation, not necessarily heraldic, at a very much earlier date.
An exceedingly good and an early representation of the griffin will be found in Fig. 422. It is a representation of the great seal of the town of Schweidnitz in the jurisdiction of Breslau, and belongs to the year 1315.
The inscription is ”+ S universitatis civium de Swidnitz.” In the grant of arms to the town in the year 1452, the griffin is gules on a field of argent.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 422.--Seal of the Town of Schweidnitz.]
The griffin will be found in all sorts of positions, and the terms applied to it are the same as would be applied to a lion, except in the single instance of the rampant position. A griffin is then termed ”segreant” (Fig.