laced upon his standard, two lions supporting a shield
beneath the white horse.

Thus you now know the origin of the Brunswick coat-of-arms. But how came
the banner of a small German country to be adopted on the arms of Great
Britain? This I will now explain.

About the year 1650, the then reigning Duke of Brunswick, afterward also
Elector of Hanover, married the granddaughter of King James the First of
England. Their eldest son was named George Louis. When, on the death of
Queen Anne, the English were in want of a successor, they looked about
among those nearest of kin to the royal family, and decided to choose
this great-grandson of King James I. Thus it was that George Louis
Guelph--a Saxon-German--came to be King George the First of England, and
this was how the "lion-and-horse" arms of Brunswick and Hanover came to
be also part of the arms of Great Britain. His successors were George
the Second, George the Third (against whose rule the American colonies
rebelled), George the Fourth, William, and lastly Victoria, the present
queen, who is granddaughter to George the Third. Thus you understand how
Queen Victoria is descended from the princes of Brunswick,--how she
happens to be of German instead of English blood,--and why her name is
Guelph.

Now, whenever you look upon "The lion and the unicorn fighting for the
crown," you will reflect how strange it is that this great and
enlightened Christian nation should bear on its proud standard a symbol
of pagan superstition. You will think of the bold Crusader, Henry the
Lion; of Wittikind, the brave Saxon duke who, after a twenty years'
resistance, was finally conquered and baptized into Christianity; of the
wild, half-clad Saxons, with their bloody horse-head ensign; of the
Druid priests, who sacrificed human beings as well as white horses; and
so, far back to the god Woden himself, who was probably merely some
great hero or warrior who lived in a period so remote that we have no
record of it in history.

And yet, while you are wondering at England and her relic of
Woden-worship, shall I tell you that here, in America, we too possess
relics of this very pagan god to which some people accord a
superstitious regard? Look on the threshold, or above the door of some
cottage or cabin, and you will see nailed there a common horse-shoe as a
protection against evil. Examine your grown-up sister's watch-chain, and
you will find attached to it a tiny gold horse-shoe, studded wit