ST. GEORGE'S DAY.

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 94, 21 April 1894, Page 2

ST. GEORGE'S DAY.

St. George, that swing'd the dragon, and e'er since Sits> on hib horseback ut mine hostess' door, —King John. The appeal made by the Lord Mayor of London to colonial Mayors to arrange a national celebration of St. George's Day doos not seem to havo elioited any response m this colony. Wo have not even heard of tho Lady Mayoress of Onehunga inviting her Councillors to afternoon tea. If in othor parts of the Empire the day is celebrated as a national anniversary, New Zealand will bo decidedly out in the cold in the matter. Wo havo ofteu wondered at the apathy of Englishmen in regard to thoir Patron Saint's natal day. Irishmen become enthusiastic on St. Patrick's Day, and Scotchmen unbend on the anniversary of St. Andrew, but Englishmen in the colonies rarely note St. George's Day otherwise than perhaps bya grumble at the Banks being closed. The Banks are very loyal and very impartial. Thoy take a holiday on eaoh of the throo Saints' days. We often wonder that they do not honour fet. David in liko manner. The lawj ors this year are going to do reverence to St. George, hut Mr. Justice Richmond does not Beem to favour the idea. In fact, when the arrangement was mentioned yesterday he seemed for a moment, forgetting his Gibbon, to be in doubt as to who St. George was, and whether he was quite a respectable person. Ho was not, perhaps, such a good saint as St. Patriok or St. Andrew, and in his early unregenerate days he made a lot of monoy by an army contraot in bacon, which ho managed so unscrupulously as to havo to fly his native country to save his life. He, howover, died a martyr Archbißhop, and having been killed by .pagans in Alexandria, he was in due course canonised. Tho Order of the Garter was instituted on St. George's Day, I*l4, and he is the Patron Saint of that Most Noble Order. The day was for many conturios observed in great form in England, and allusions to the fact abound in Shakespeare and other poets. Iv " Henry V£. " the Regent Bedford, on receiving uewa of disasters in France, exclaims— Bonfires in France I am forthwith to make, To keep our great St. George's Day withnl. Henry V. led tho attack on Harfleur to the ory of God for Harry ! England I and St. George ! Talbot at Patay used the ory of ".God and St. George !" and Edward of Wales, exhorting his sluggish parent, eiolaims— Uußheath your sword, good father, cry St. George ! Richard tho Third also invokes Our ancient word of courage, fair St. George. Under all these circutnstanes, we certainly think that tho suggestion of Lord Mayor Tyler is worthy of more attention than seems to have been given to it. The name of St. George is so intimately associated with English history, arms, and literature, that it should not bo allowed to sink into oblivion in any Kuglish country.