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In the Middle Ages the dragon gave a title in Hungary to an order of knighthood,,that of "the dragon over-thrown." This was established in the year 1418, to perpetuate the memory of the condemnation of John Huss and Jerome of Prague by the Council of Constance for heresy, and to denote the overthrow of the doctrines these men propagated in Hungary, Bohemia, and else-where in Germany, and for which they were ultimately burnt at the stake. The badge of the order was a dragon prostrate. In China the dragon is the symbol of the Imperial power, and all our readers who are familiar with the appearance of the Celestial pottery, bronzes, and so forth, will readily recall how commonly the form is introduced. Some little time ago the Chinese Government permitted coal-mines to be opened at Kai-ping, but they were speedily closed again, as it was sup-posed that their continued working would release the earth-dragon, disturb the Manes of the Empress, and .generally bring trouble upon the Imperial house and upon the nation. Uncharitable people, however, have been found to declare that the fear of the earth-dragon is all an excuse, and that, as the Government set its face against the introduction of railways, so it was equally prepared, in its rigid conservatism and hatred of innovations, to forswear the mining operations. The dragon of the 'Chinese designers is of the weirdest forms, and conceived with a freedom and wildness of fancy that puts to shame our Western attempts, powerful as they often are. As a symbol and attribute the dragon is constantly appearing in mediaeval work, as carvings, illuminations, and the like, and we may remind our readers that in the term gargoyle, used in speaking of the strange and monstrous forms often found in our old cathedrals and abbeys doing duty as water-shoots, we get the dragon idea again, as the word is derived from an old French word signifying some such draconic monster. While, however, we find ourselves thus classing the dragon amongst the mythical an l arbitrary forms of the stone-carver or the herald, we must be careful to remember that its terror had not thus in earlier days lost its sting, for the workman who sculptured it on a capital or thrust its hideous form into any other noticeable position not only regarded it as a symbol, but believed very really and truly in its veritable existence. Albertus Magnus gives a long account of the creature, an account alto. gether too elaborate for us to here transcribe; but its capture, according to hit*, is an easy matter enough if one only goes the right way to work. It was fortunately ascertained that dragons are "greatly afraid of thunder,, and the magicians who require dragons for their enchantments get drums, on which they roll heavily, so that the noise is mistaken for thunder bythe dragons, and they are vanquished." The thing is simplicity itself, and rather detracts from the halo of heroism that has hitherto surrounded dragon vanquishers. 1 A man is scarcely justified in blowing his trumpet When he has previously so cowed his antagonist by beating his drum and deluding its dull brains with his fictitious thunder. Pliny says that the eyes of a dragon, preserved dry, pulverised and then made up with honey, cause those who are anointed therewith to sleep securely from all dread of spirits of the darkness. In a media'val work we are told that " the turning joint in the chine of a dragon doth promise an easy and favourable access into the presence of great lords." One can only wonder why this should be, all clue and thread of connection between the two things being now so hopelessly lost. We must not however forget that, smile now as we may at this, there was a time when our ancestors accepted the statement with the fullest faith, and many a man who would fain have pleaded his cause before king or noble bewailed with hearty regret his want of draconic chine, the "turning-point" of the dragon and of his own fortunes. Another valuable receipt-" Take the taile and head of a dragon, the haire growing upon the forehead of a lion, with a little of his marrow also, the froth moreover that a horse fomethe. at the mouth who hath woon the victorie and prize in running a race, and the nailes besides of a dogs-feete bind all thesetogether with a piece of leather made of a red deers skin, with the sinewes partly of a stag, partly. of a fallow deere,, one with another: carry this about, with you and it will work wonders." It seems almost a' pity that the actual benefits to be derived from the possession of this compound are not more clearly defined, as there is no doubt that a considerable amount of trouble would be involved in getting the various materials together, and the zeal and ardour of the seeker after this wonder-working composition would be somewhat damped by the troublesome and recurring question, Where-fore ? Mediaeval medicine-men surely must have been somewhat chary of adopting the now familiar legend " Prescriptions accurately dispensed," when the onus of making up such a mixture could be laid upon them. John Leo, in his " History of Africa " says that the dragon is the progeny of the eagle and wolf. After describing its appearance, he says-" This monster, albeit I myself have not seen it yet, the common report of all Africa affirmeth that there is such a one." Other writers affirm that the dragon is generated by the great heat of India or springs from the volcanoes of Ethiopia ; and one is tempted to take the prosaic view that this dragon rearing and slaying is but a more poetic way of dwelling on some miasmatic exhalation reduced to harmlessness by judicious drainage; that the monster that had slain its thousands was at last subdued by no glittering spear' wielded by knightly or saintly arm, but by the spade of the navvy and the drainfpipes of the sanitary engineer. Father Pigafetta in his look declares that " Mont Atlas hath plenty of dragons, grosse of body, slow of motion, and in byting or touching incurably venomous. In Congo is a kind of dragons like in biggnesse to rammes with wings, having long tayles and divers jawes of teeth of blue and greene, painted like scales, with two feete, and feede on rawe fleshe." We cannot ourselves help feeling that if we saw a dragon like in bigness to a ram, we should so far be disappointed in him. After having had our imagination filled by legend after legend we should look for something decidedly bulkier than that, and should feel that he really was not living up to his reputation. |