Wood Crowfoot. _Rununculus Auricomus._
Dedicated to _St. Rufus_.
[99] Morn. Chron., Sept. 3, 1818.
~April 23.~
_St. George._ _St. Adalbert_, Bp. A. D. 997. _St. Gerard_, Bp. A. D.
994. _St. Ibar_, or _Ivor_, Bp. in Ireland, about 500.
ST. GEORGE the Martyr,
_Patron of England_.
Who was St. George? Butler says that the Greeks long distinguished him
by the title of “The Great Martyr;” that, among other churches, five or
six were formerly dedicated to him at Constantinople; that he “seems” to
have been the founder of the church of St. George over “his tomb” in
Palestine; that one of his churches in Constantinople gave to the
Hellespont the name of “the Arm of St. George;” that he is honoured as
principal patron of saints by several eastern nations, particularly “the
Georgians;” that the Byzantine historians relate battles gained, and
miracles won, by his intercession; that he was celebrated in France in
the sixth century; that his office is found in the sacramentary of the
(credulous) pope Gregory the Great; that certain of his (presumed)
relics were placed in a church at Paris, on its consecration to St.
Vincent; that “he is said to have been a great soldier;” that he was
chosen by our ancestors the tutelar saint of England, under the first
Norman kings; that the council at Oxford in 1222, commanded his feast to
be kept a holiday of the lesser rank; that under his name and ensign our
Edward III. instituted the most noble order of knighthood in Europe;
that this institution was fifty years before that of St. Michael by
Louis XI. of France, eighty years before the order of the Golden Fleece
by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, one hundred and ninety years
before that of St. Andrew by James I. of Scotland, and one hundred and
forty years before the order of St. George by the emperor Frederick IV.;
and that “the extraordinary devotion of all Christendom to this saint is
an authentic proof how glorious his triumph and name have always been in
the church.” Still who _was_ St. George?
[Illustration: ~St. George and the Dragon.~]
It is related of St. George,[100] that he arrived at a city of Lybia
called Sylene. Near this city was a stagnant lake or pond like a sea,
wherein dwelt a dragon, who was so fierce and venomous, that he
terrified and poisoned the whole country. The people therefore assembled
to slay him; but when they saw him, his appearance was so horrible,
that they fled. Then the dragon pursued them even to the city itself,
and the inhabitants were nearly destroyed by his very breath, and
suffered so much, that they were obliged to give him two sheep every day
to keep him from doing them harm. At length the number of sheep became
so small, that they could only give him one sheep every day, and they
were obliged to give him a man instead of the other: at last, because
all the men might not be eaten up, a law was made that they should draw
lots to give him the youth and infants of all ranks, and so the dragon
was fed with young gentlefolks and poor people’s children, till the lot
fell upon the king’s daughter. Then the king was very sorry, and begged
the people to take his gold and silver instead of his daughter, which
the people would not accept, because it was according to his own law;
and the king wept very much, and begged of the people to give the
princess eight days before she should be given to the dragon to be
devoured, and the people consented. And when the eight days were gone,
the king caused his daughter to be richly dressed as if she were going
to her bridal, and having kissed her, he gave her his blessing, and the
people led her to where the dragon was. St. George had just come; when
he saw the princess, and demanding why she was there, she answered, “Go
your way, fair young man, that you perish not also.” Then again St.
George demanded the reason of her being there, and why she wept, and
endeavoured to comfort her; and when she saw he would not be satisfied,
she told him. Upon this St. George promised to deliver her; but she
could not believe he had power to do her so great a service, and
therefore again begged him to go away. And while they were talking the
dragon appeared, and began to run towards them; but St. George being on
horseback, drew his sword and signed himself with the cross, and rode
violently, and smiting the dragon with his spear, wounded him so sorely
that he threw him down. Then St. George called to the princess, to bind
her girdle about the dragon’s neck, and not to be afraid; and when she
had done so, “the dragon folowed as it had been a meke beest and
debonayre;” and she led him into the city, which when the people saw,
they fled for fear to the mountains and vallies, till, being encouraged
by St. George, they returned, and he promised to slay the dragon if they
would believe and be baptized. Then the king was baptized, with upwards
of 15,000 men, besides women and children, and St. George slew the
dragon, and cut off his head; and the people took four carts and drew
the body with oxen out of the city; and the king built a church, and
dedicated it to our Lady and St. George--“This blyssyd & holy martyr
saynt George, is patron of this realme of englond, & the crye of men of
warre. In the worshyp of whom is founded the noble ordre of the gartre,
& also a noble college in the castel of wyndsore by kynges of englonde,
in whiche college is the hert of saint George, which Sygysmond the
emperour of almayne[101] brought, & gave it for a grete & precyous
relyke to kynge Henry the fyfth; & also the sayd Sygismond was a broder
of the said garter, & also there is a pece of his heed.”
Butler informs us, that St. George, was born in Cappadocia; that he went
with his mother into Palestine, of which country she was a native, where
she had a considerable estate, “which fell to her son George,” who was a
soldier, and became “a tribune or colonel in the army,” wherein he was
further promoted by the emperor Dioclesian, to whom he resigned his
commissions and posts when that emperor waged war against the christian
religion, and who threw him into prison for remonstrating against bloody
edicts, and caused him to be beheaded. This is all that Butler relates
of him, and this on the authority of what he calls “the account given to
us by Metaphrastes.” According also to Butler, St. George became the
patron of the military because he had been military himself, and his
apparition encouraged “the christian army in the holy war before the
battle of Antioch,” which proved fortunate under Godfrey of Bouillon;
and also because his apparition inspirited Richard I. in his expedition
against the Saracens. “St. George,” says Butler, “is usually painted on
horseback, and tilting at a dragon under his feet; but this is no more
than an emblematical figure, purporting that, by his faith and christian
fortitude, he conquered the devil, called the dragon in the Apocalypse.”
This is very easily said, but not so easily proved, nor has Butler in
any way attempted to prove it. To this assertion may be opposed the
fact, that St. Michael is also represented killing a dragon; and the
present writer presumes to think, that unless there be any valid
objection to mounting an angel on horseback, the well-known legend of
this archangel supplies the clue to the pictorial representation of St.
George; or, in plain words, that St. George and the dragon are neither
more nor less than St. Michael contending with the devil. Concerning
this device, however, more cannot be observed without excluding curious
particulars.
There are many old ballads in honour of the patron saint of England and
his feat. The ballad of “St. George and the Dragon,” which is not the
oldest, begins with the first and ends with the last of the following
verses, and places him above sir Bevis of Hampton, and other heroes of
mighty doings in our old romances.
Why should we boast of Arthur and his Knights,
Knowing how many Men have performed Fights?
Or why should we speak of Sir Lancelot de Lake,
Of Sir Tristram du Leon, that fought for Ladies Sake?
Read in old stories, and there you shall see,
How St. George, St. George, he made the Dragon flee.
St. George he was for England, St. Dennis was for France;
Sing _Honi soit qui mal y pense_.
* * * * *
Mark Anthony, I’ll warrant ye, play’d Feats with Ægypt’s Queen;
Sir Eglemore, that valiant Knight, the like was never seen;
Grim Gorgon’s Might was known in Fight; old Bevis most Men frighted;
The Mirmidons and Prester Johns; why were not these Men knighted?
Brave Spinola took in Breda, Nassau did it recover;
But St. George, St. George, turn’d the Dragon over and over.
St. George he was for England, St. Dennis was for France;
Sing, _Honi soit qui mal y pense_.[102]
This latter verse is a modern interpolation. Percy gives a purer
version of the old ballad.[103]
In the romance of the “Seven Champions of Christendom,” St. George’s
performances exceed that of the other champions; the ballad, bearing the
same title, distinguishes him in like manner, and it is there sung, that
in his fight with the dragon,
When many hardy Strokes he’d dealt,
And could not pierce his Hide,
He run his Sword up to the Hilt,
In at the Dragon’s Side;
By which he did his Life destroy,
Which cheer’d the drooping King;
This caus’d an universal Joy,
Sweet Peals of Bells did ring.[104]
Saint George was the ancient English war-cry.[105] Shakspeare so uses it
in his “Richard III.;” he makes Richmond conclude his address to his
soldiery, with
Sound, drums and trumpets, bold and cheerfully,
God and _Saint George_, Richmond and victory.
So also Richard, after he receives the news of Stanley’s defection,
exclaims,
Advance our standards, set upon our foes!
Our _ancient word of courage_, fair Saint George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
Upon them!
In the 10th year of king Henry VII. the Irish were prohibited from using
their favourite battle-cry of _Aboo_, or _Aber_. Every native of that
country was enjoined against using that word, or “other words like or
otherwise contrary to the king’s laws, his crown and dignity and peace,
but to call on St. George, or the name of his Sovereign Lord, the King
of England, for the time being,” &c.[106] There is also this injunction
to the English in an old art of war: “Item that all souldiers entering
into battaile, assault, skirmish, or other faction of armes, shall have
for their common cry and word, _St. George forward_, or, _Upon them St.
George_, whereby the soldier is much comforted, and the enemie dismaied
by calling to minde the ancient valour of England, which with that name
has so often been victorious.”[107] So much for the present concerning
St. George.
His majesty, king George IV., who was born on the 12th of August,
changed the annual celebration of his birth-day, to St. George’s-day.
The mail-coaches, according to annual custom on the king’s birth-day, go
in procession from Millbank to Lombard-street. At about twelve o’clock,
the horses belonging to the different mails, with new harness, and the
postmen and postboys on horseback, arrayed in their new scarlet coats
and jackets, proceed from Lombard-street to Millbank, and there dine. At
this place the coaches are fresh painted; from thence the procession
being arranged begins to move about five o’clock in the afternoon,
headed by the general postmen on horseback. The mails follow them,
filled with the wives and children, friends and relations, of the
coachmen and guards; while the postboys sounding their bugles and
cracking their whips, bring up the rear. From the commencement of the
procession, the bells of the different churches ring out merrily, and
continue their rejoicing peals till it arrives at the General
Post-office in Lombard-street, from whence they sparkle abroad to all
parts of the kingdom. Great crowds assemble to witness the cavalcade as
it passes through the principal streets of the metropolis, viz.
Parliament-street, the Strand, Fleet-street, Ludgate-hill, St. Paul’s
church-yard, and Cheapside. The clean and cheerful appearance of the
coachmen and guards, each with a large bouquet of flowers in his bright
scarlet coat, the beauty of the cattle, and the general excellence of
the equipment, present a most agreeable spectacle to every eye and mind,
that can be gratified by seeing and reflecting on the advantages derived
to trade and social intercourse by this magnificent establishment.
On the same day the Society of Antiquaries, by their charter of
incorporation, meet at their apartments in Somerset-place, to elect a
president, council, and other officers for the year ensuing, and dine
together, according to annual custom.