nd
led him through the streets of the city," as if it had been a meek beast
and debonnaire? or shall we give ear to the suggestion that St. George is
but another name for St Michael, who is always represented in combat with
the dragon? To whatever belief we may incline, the fact of the antiquity
of his claims upon Christendom for universal reverence cannot be
disputed. Long before he became the patron saint of England, many
eastern nations had adopted him in the same capacity; and to his personal
and miraculous interference in protecting Richard Coeur de Lion in his
conflict with Saladin, are we to attribute his elevation to that dignity
in this country? Many orders of knighthood besides that of England have
been distinguished by his name in Austria, Bavaria, Burgundy, Montesa,
Ravenna, Genoa, and Rome. The most authentic accounts that have come
down to us of the individual history and mortal career of this
semi-fabulous personage, resolve themselves into a few leading facts. He
was a saint of high repute in the eastern church at a very early date, a
Cappadocian of good family, and a commander of note in the army of
Diocletian, and that he suffered martyrdom at Raniel, on the 23d of
April, the day on which his festival was kept. He is mentioned in old
Saxon homilies as an ealder-man (or earl) of Cappadocia, and is mentioned
in a MS. Martyrologicum Saxonicum, in the library of Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge, as Georius Nobilis Martyr. The Greeks called him the
"Great Martyr." The Coptic Arabic MSS. mention him as of Cappadocia;
Constantine instituted a religious order of knighthood, under the title
of St. George, on which was borne a red cross; he is also said to have
erected a church near his tomb in Palestine, and others in his honour at
Constantinople. The red cross, usually attributed to St. George for an
armorial bearing, was possibly adopted from Constantine's order of
knighthood. The figure of the saint armed and on horseback, expresses
his martial character; and the dragon by many is conceived to be a symbol
of Paganism; the figure of the young lady sometimes introduced also is
regarded as a type of some city or province imploring aid, or may
possibly have been intended to memorialize the rescue of the damsel, whom
he is reported so gallantly to have saved from destruction. There is a
separate legend of a St. Margaret and a dragon related by Mrs. Jameson,
which says that the governor of Antioch, capti