"_Seven great heads out of his body grew,
An iron breast, and back of scaly brass;
And all imbrued in blood his eyes did shine as glass,
His tail was stretched out in wondrous length._"
SPENSER, "Faerie Queen," Book i. c. vii.
The hydra is represented in heraldry as a dragon with seven heads; it is
not of frequent occurrence as a bearing in armory.
[Illustration: Hercules and the Lernean Hydra. From Greek vase.]
The terrible dragon, with one hundred heads, that guarded the golden
apples of the Hesperides, slain by Hercules, was celebrated in classic
mythology; so was the Lernean hydra, a monster of the marshes that ravaged
the country of Lerna in Argolis, destroying both men and beasts. The
number of its heads varies with the poets, though ancient gems usually
represent it with seven or nine. Hercules was sent to kill it as one of
his twelve labours. After driving the monster from its lair with arrows he
attacked it with his sword, and in place of each head he struck off two
sprang up. Setting fire to a neighbouring wood with the firebrands he
seared the throat of the Hydra until he at length succeeded in slaying it.
The fable is usually referred to in illustration of a difficulty which
goes on increasing as it is combated. (_See_ page 63.)
"Whereon this Hydra son of war is born
Whose dangerous eyes may well be charmed asleep."
_Henry IV._ part ii. sc. 2.
[Illustration: The Hydra.]
The Lernean hydra, the watchful dragon of the garden of the Hesperides,
the many-headed Naga or snake of the Hindu religion, are, say learned
writers, only some of the many forms under which the relics of the ancient
serpent-worship exhibited itself.
_A hydra, wings endorsed vert, scaled or_, is the crest of _Barret_ of
Avely, Essex. It is also borne by the names _Crespine_ and _Downes_.
[Illustration: A Wyvern holding a fleur-de-lis.]