OUR BORROWED LION

Evening Star, Issue 19021, 17 August 1925, Page 2

OUR BORROWED LION

BRITISH HERALDRY QUESTION Nothing is sacred in these days, and a recent discussion on the subject of the Werablev lion, tho Scots lion, and the lion of Judah has brought an eminent authority into tho field with the remark that tho English lion is not English at all, but French (states a correspondent of tho ‘ Manchester Guardian ’). It came to ns from Aquitaine, and is merely a reminder of the days when tho English kings held large : properties in Franco as Dukes of Aquitaine. It does not appear that there is any definitely English beast for i heraldic purposes. There was the I “Dragon of the great Pendragonship ” [ which was King Arthur’s standardmind 1 there were tho Lords of the White Horse (“Heathen —I lie brood by Hen- - gist left”) with whom Modred inj trigued. The Anglo-Saxon used the ' dranon also, though it would hardly j do for ns in these clays when we are so constantly reminded, in our currency ' notes, of St. George’s slaying of the 1 dragon. No doubt there is a touch, of humor in the situation when wo remember Landseer’s polite lions at the | foot of a memorial erected to Nelson, j the “scourge of tho French.” But > Americans mav like to know that in | “twisting the lion’s tail ” it is really a 1 French lion whose tail suffers, and | Scots can console themselves with the thought that, lion of Judah or no, their lion has a long pedigree.