Chapter Linklater to Lirriper's Lodgings of L by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Linklater to Lirriper's Lodgings

Linklater (Laurie), yeoman of the king’s kitchen. A friend to Ritchie Moniplies.—Sir, W. Scott: Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).

Linne (The Heir of), a ballad in two parts. (See under Heir of Linne, p. 479.)

Lion (A), emblem of the tribe of Judah. The old church at Totnes contained a stone pulpit divided into compartments containing shields, decorated with the several emblems of the Jewish tribes, of which this is one.

Judah is a lion’s whelp;…he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?—Gen. xlix. 9.

The Lion, a symbol of ambition. When Dantê began the ascent of fame, he was met first by a panther (pleasure), and then by a lion (ambition), which tried to stop his further progress.

A lion came
With head erect, and hunger mad.
   —Danté: Hell, i. (1300).

Lion (The), Henry duke of Bavaria and Saxony, son of Henry “the Proud” (1129–1195).

Louis VIII. of France, born under the sign Leo (1187, 1223–1226).

William of Scotland, who chose a red lion rampant for his cognizance (*, 1165–1214).

The Golden Lion, emblem of ancient Assyria. The bear was that of ancient Persia.

Where is th’ Assyrian lion’s golden hide,
That all the East once grasped in lordly paw?
Where that great Persian bear, whose swelling pride
The lion’s self tore out with rav’nous jaw?
   —P. Fletcher: The Purple Island, vii. (1633).

The Valiant Lion, Alep Arslan, son of Togrul Beg the Perso-Turkish monarch (*, 1063–1072).

Lion Attending on Man.

(1) Una was attended by a lion. Spenser says that Una was seeking St. George, and as she sat to rest herself, a lion rushed suddenly out of a thicket, with gaping mouth and lashing tail; but as it drew near, it was awe-struck, licked her feet and hands, and followed her like a dog. Sansloy slew the faithful beast.—Faërie Queene, I. iii. 42 (1590).

N.B.—This is an allegory of the Reformation. The “lion” means England, and “Una” means truth or the reformed religion. England (the lion) waited on truth or the Reformation. “Sansloy” means queen Mary or false faith, which killed the lion, or separated England from truth (or the true faith). It might seem to some that Sansfoy should have been substituted for Sansloy; but this could not be, because Sansfoy had been slain already.

(2) Sir Ewain de Gallis or Iwain de Galles was attended by a lion, which, in gratitude to the knight, who had delivered it from a serpent, ever after became his faithful servant, approaching the knight with tears, and rising on its hind feet.

(3) Sir Geoffrey de Latour was aided by a lion against the Saracens; but the faithful brute was drowned in attempting to follow the vessel in which the knight had embarked on his departure from the Holy Land.

(4) St. Jerome is represented as attended by a lion. The tale is that while St. Jerome was lecturing, a lion entered the room, and lifted up one of his paws. All the disciples fled precipitately, but St. Jerome took up the paw and saw it was wounded with a thorn. He took out the thorn and dressed the wound; and the lion showed a wish to stay with its benefactor, and, followed him about like a dog. (See Androclus, p. 42.)