The mythical dragon is represented in heraldic art with the huge body of
the reptile saurian type covered with impenetrable mail of plates and
scales, a row of formidable spines extending from his head to his tail,
which ends in a great and deadly sting; his enormous jaws, gaping and
bristling with hideous fangs, belch forth sparks and flame; his round
luminous eyes seem to shoot gleaming fire; from his nose issues a dreadful
spike. He is furnished with sharp-pointed ears and a forked tongue, four
sturdy legs terminating in eagle's feet strongly webbed, clawing and
clutching at his prey. Great leathern bat-like wings armed with sharp
hook's points, complete his equipment. The wings are always "endorsed,"
that is, elevated and back to back.
[Illustration: Crest, a Dragon's Head erased collared and chained.]
The dragon of our modern books of heraldry is a miserable impostor, a
degenerate representative of those "dragons of the prime, that tore each
other in their slime." It is curious to note in this the gradual
degradation from the magnificent saurian type of the best period of
heraldic art to a form not far removed from that given to an ordinary
four-legged creature covered with plates and scales. His legs are longer
and weaker, his mighty caudal appendage, shrunk to insignificant and
useless proportion, and most unlike his ancient prototype the crocodile.
This error of our modern heraldic artists displays remarkable lack of
proper knowledge of this mythical creature and his attributes. Such a
splendid creation of the fancy should not be represented in such a weak
and meaningless form by the hands of twentieth-century artists. The
ancient form is infinitely to be preferred as a work of symbolic art.
[Illustration: Domine dirige nos]
ARMS OF THE CITY OF LONDON.--Two dragons are the supporters of the arms of
the City of London, the crest a dragon's sinister wing. They are thus
blazoned: _Argent a cross gules, in the first quarter, a sword in pale
point upwards of the last. Supporters, on either side a dragon with wings
elevated and addorsed, argent, and charged on the wing with a cross
gules._
The crest is a _dragon's sinister wing charged with a similar cross_.
THE COUNTY OF CHESTER has for its supporters two dragons, each holding an
ostrich feather.
Basingstoke, Linlithgow and Dumfries on the town seals have St. Michael
overthrowing the dragon (_see_ p. 72).
The dragon appears in various forms in the arms of many towns, and also in
those of some peers.
[Illustration: Sinister supporter of the arms of Viscount Gough.]
One of the most extraordinary and elaborate coats of arms of modern times
is that of Viscount Gough. The sinister supporter of the shield is a
dragon (intended to represent the device upon a Chinese flag). _A dragon
or, gorged with a mural crown sable, inscribed with the word "China," and
chained gold._
Examples vary considerably in the form of the dragon, some early examples
represent it to have four legs, others with only two, when it is properly
a wyvern. The pendent "George" in the Order of the Garter represents it
with a body similar to a crocodile, winged and covered with plates and
scales.
A similar device to that of the George noble of Henry VIII. was the St.
George slaying the dragon by Pistrucci, a foreigner employed at the mint.
This handsome reverse, says Mr. Noel Humphrey, "Coin Collector's Manual,"
is nearly a copy from a figure in a battle-piece on an antique gem in the
Orleans collection, but several Greek coins might equally well have
furnished the model. Old George III. sovereigns and five-shilling pieces
have this most finely conceived and executed device on the reverse of the
coins. It also appears upon some sovereigns of Queen Victoria. Prominence
is naturally given to the figure of St. George, the dragon in consequence
being diminished in its relative size.