"_The unicorn whose horn is worth a city._"
DECKER, "Gull's Hornbook."
_The horn_ of the unicorn was supposed to be the most powerful antidote
against, as it was a sure test of, poisons. He was therefore invested by
the other beasts of the forest with the office of "water-conner," none
daring to taste of fountain or pool until he had stirred the water with
his horn, to discover whether any dragon or serpent had deposited his
venom therein, and render it innocuous. So complete was the faith in the
efficacy of the wonder-working horn as a test of poisons, that fabulous
store was set upon the possession of even a portion. In old inventories
the "Essai" of Unicorn's horn is frequently mentioned.
1391. Un manche d'or d'un essai de licourne pour attoucher aux viandes
de monsigneur le Dauphin.--"Comptes Royaux."
1408. Une pièce de licorne à pour faire essai, à ung bou.
d'argent.--Inv. des ducs de Bourgogne.
1536. Une touche de licorne, garni d'or, pour faire essai.--Inv. de
Charles Quint.
An Italian author who visited England in the reign of Henry VII., speaking
of the wealth of the religious houses in this country, says: "And I have
been informed that, amongst other things, many of these monasteries
possess unicorns' horns of an extraordinary size." Hence such a horn was
worthy to be placed among the royal jewels. At the head of an inventory
taken in the first year of Queen Elizabeth and preserved in the Harleian
Library (No. 5953) we read "Imprimis, a piece of unicorn's horn," which,
as probably the most important object, is named first. This was no doubt
the piece seen by the German traveller Hentzner, at Windsor: "We were
shown here, among other things, the horn of a unicorn of about eight spans
and a half in length, valued at about £10,000." Peacham places "that horne
of Windsor, of an unicorn very likely," amongst the sights worth seeing.
"One little cup of unicorn's horn" was also in possession of Queen
Elizabeth, and was subsequently given by James I. to his Queen.
Alviano, a celebrated general of the Venetian Republic, when he took
Viterbo, and dispersed the Gatesca faction, whom he called the poison of
the city, caused to be embroidered upon his standard a unicorn at a
fountain surrounded by snakes and toads and other reptiles, and stirring
up the water with his horn before he drinks, with the motto or legend
"Venene pello" (I expel poison). Although the unicorn has not been seen
and described by any modern writer, its horn has been occasionally found,
sometimes preserved in museums, but alas! the cherished horn, whenever it
is examined, turns out to be a narwhal's tooth. To this, Wood's "Natural
History" makes special reference: "In former days, an entire tusk of a
narwhal was considered to possess an inestimable value, for it was looked
upon as the weapon of the veritable unicorn reft from his forehead in
despite of his supernatural strength and intellect. Setting aside the
rarity of the thing, it derived a practical value from its presumed
capability of disarming all poisons of their terrors, and of changing the
deadliest draught into a wholesome beverage."
This antidotal potency was thought to be of vital service to the unicorn,
whose residence was in the desert among all kinds of loathsome beasts and
poisonous reptiles, whose touch was death and whose look was
contamination. The springs and pools at which such monsters quenched their
thirst were saturated with poison by their contact, and would pour a fiery
death through the veins of any animal that partook of them. But the
unicorn, by dropping the tip of his horn into the pool, neutralised the
venom and rendered the deadly waters harmless. This admirable quality of
the unicorn's horn was a great recommendation in days when the poisoned
chalice crept too frequently upon the festive board, and a king could
receive no worthier present than a goblet formed from such valuable
material.
Even a few shavings of the unicorn's horn were purchased at high prices,
and the ready sale for such antidotes led to considerable adulteration--a
fact which is piteously recorded by an old writer, who tells us that "some
wicked persons do make a mingle-mangle thereof, as I saw among the
Venetians, being, as I here say, compounded with lime and sope, or
peradventure with earth or some stone (which things are apt to make
bubbles arise), and afterwards sell it for the unicorn's horn." The same
writer, however, supplies an easy test, whereby the genuine substance may
be distinguished from the imposition. "For experience of the unicorn's
horn to know whether it be right or not; put silk upon a burning coal, and
upon the silk the aforesaid horn, and if so be that it be true, the silk
will not be a whit consumed."
EXAMPLES.--_Argent, a unicorn rampant_ (_sometimes sejant sable armed and
unguled or_), is borne by _Harling_, Suffolk.
Another of the name bears the unicorn _courant in chief_ with additional
charges upon the shield.
_Azure, a unicorn couchant, argent between twelve cross crosslets,
or._--_Doon._
_Argent a chevron engrailed gules between three unicorns' heads, erased
azure._--_Horne._
Religious emblems were in great favour with the early printers; some of
them for this reason adopted the unicorn as their sign. Thus John Harrison
lived at the Unicorn and Bible in Paternoster Row, 1603.
Again, _the reputed power of the horn_ caused the animal to be taken as a
supporter for the Apothecaries' arms, and as a constant signboard by
chemists.
The great value set upon unicorn's horn caused the Goldsmiths of London to
adopt this animal as their sign.
[Illustration: Pegasus or Pegasos.]