Can any of your correspondents refer me to an account of the supposed
habits of this animal, which in these matter-of-fact days we must, I
presume, be content to consider as fabulous? I am desirous to know from
what source we derive the stories of the animosity between the lion and
unicorn, and the curious way of catching the latter, which are referred to
in Spenser's _Faerie Queen_, Act II. Sc. 5. 10.:
"Like as a lyon, whose imperiall powre,
A prowd rebellious unicorn defyes,
T'avoide the rash assault and wrathful stowre
Of his fiers foe, him a tree applyes,
And when him ronning in full course he spyes,
He slips aside; the whiles that furious beast
His precious horne, sought of his enemyes,
Strikes in the stocke, ne thence can be releast,
But to the mighty victor yields a bounteous feast."
Shakspeare also (_Julius Cæsar_, Act II. Sc. 1.) speaks of the supposed
mode of entrapping them:
"For he loves to hear,
That unicorns may be betrayed with trees,
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers."
The ancients were most liberal with their descriptions of fabulous animals,
and the Monoceros or Unicorn was a favourite subject with them; but I am
not aware whether or no the account which Spencer gives has so early an
origin.
The connexion of the unicorn with the lion in the royal arms of this
country naturally forces itself upon the attention, and I find that the
present arms were settled at the accession of George I. We owe the
introduction of the unicorn, however, to James I.; who, as King of
Scotland, bore two unicorns, and coupled one with the English lion when the
two kingdoms were {584} united. Perhaps some of your correspondents can
inform me how two unicorns became the "supporters" of the "achievement" of
the Scottish kings.
The position of the lion and unicorn in the arms of our country seems to
have given rise (and naturally enough in the mind of one who was ignorant
of heraldic decoration) to a nursery rhyme, which I well remember to have
learnt:
"The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown,
The lion beat the unicorn
All round the town," &c. &c.;
unless it alludes to a contest for dominion over the brute creation, which
Spenser's "rebellious unicorn" seems to have waged with the tawny monarch.