Lion (grateful for kindness):-
ANDRROC'LUS. (See under Lion as an emblem.)
SIR IWAIN DE GALLES
was attended by a lion, which, in gratitude to the knight, who had delivered it from a serpent with which
it had been engaged in deadly combat, ever after became his faithful servant, approaching the knight
with tears, and rising on his hind-feet like a dog.
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.
ST. GERASIMUS. (See under Lion as an emblem.)
ST.
JEROME. (See under Lion as an emblem.)
Lion in HERALDRY.
(1) Couchant. Lying down; head erect, and tail beneath him. Emblematic of sovereignty.
(2)
Coward or Coué. With tail hanging between his legs.
(3) Dormant. Asleep, with head resting on his fore-
paws.
(4) Passant. Walking, three feet on the ground; in profile. Emblematic of resolution.
(5) Passant
Gardant. Three feet on the ground; full face. The Lion of England. Resolution and Prudence.
(6) Passant
Regardant. Three feet on the ground; side face turned backwards.
(7) Rampant. Erect on his hind legs; in
profile. Emblematic of magnanimity.
(8) Rampant Gardant. Erect on his hind legs; full face. Emblematic
of prudence.
(9) Rampant Regardant. Erect on his hind legs; side face looking behind. Emblematic of
circumspection.
(10) Regardant. Looking behind him; emblematic of circumspection.
(11) Saliant. In the
act of springing forward on its prey. Emblematic of valour.
(12) Sejant. Sitting, rising to prepare for action; face
in profile, tail erect. Emblematic of counsel.
(13) Sejant Affronté (as in the crest of Scotland).
(14) Statant.
Standing with four legs on the ground.
(15) Lion of St. Mark. A winged lion sejant, holding an open
book with the inscription Pax tibi Marce, Evangelista Meus. A sword-point rises above the book on the
dexter side, and the whole is encircled by an aureola.
(16) Lion of Venice. The same as the lion of St.
Mark.
Then there are black, red, and white lions, with many leonine monsters.
A lion at the feet of knights
and martyrs, in effigy, signifies that they died for their magnanimity.
The lions in the arms of England.
They are three lions passant gardant, i.e. walking and showing the full face. The first lion was that
of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, and the second represented the country of Maine, which was added to
Normandy. These were the two lions borne by William the Conqueror and his descendants. Henry II.
added a third lion to represent the Duchy of Aquitaine, which came to him through his wife Eleanor. The
French heralds call the lion passant a leopard; accordingly Napoleon said to his soldiers, Let us drive
these leopards (the English) into the sea.
In heraldry any lion not rampant is called a lion leopardé.
The
lion in the arms of Scotland is derived from the arms of the ancient Earls of Northumberland and Huntingdon,
from whom some of the Scotch monarchs were descended. The tressure is referred to the reign of
King Achaicus, who made a league with Charlemagne, who did augment his arms with a double trace
formed with Floure-de-lyces, signifying thereby that the lion henceforth should be defended by the ayde
of Frenchmen. (Holinshed: Chronicles.)
Sir Walter Scott says the lion rampant in the arms of Scotland
was first assumed by William of Scotland, and has been continued ever since.
William, King of Scotland, having chosen for his armorial bearing a Red Lion rampant, acquired the
name of William the Lion; and this rampant lion still constitutes the arms of Scotland; and the president
of the heraldic court ... is called Lord Lion King-at-Arms.- Tales of a Grandfather, iv.
A marble lion was
set up in honour of Leonidas, who fell at Thermopylæ, and a Belgian lion stands on the field of Waterloo.
Lions in classic mythology. CYB'ELE (3 syl.) is represented as riding in a chariot drawn by two tame
lions.
PRACRITI, the goddess of nature among the Hindus, is represented in a similar manner.
HIPPOM'ENES
and ATLALANTA (fond lovers) were metamorphosed into lions by Cybele.
HERCULES is said to have
worn over his shoulders the hide of the Nemean lion, which he slew with his club. TERROUR is also
represented as arrayed in a lion's hide.
The Nemean lion, slain by Hercules. The first of his twelve labours.
As it could not be wounded by any weapon, Hercules squeezed it to death.