part ii

. sc. 2.

[Illustration: The Hydra.]

The Lernean hydra, the watchful dragon of the garden of the Hesperides, the many-headed Naga or snake of the Hindu religion, are, say learned writers, only some of the many forms under which the relics of the ancient serpent-worship exhibited itself.

_A hydra, wings endorsed vert, scaled or_, is the crest of _Barret_ of Avely, Essex. It is also borne by the names _Crespine_ and _Downes_.

[Illustration: A Wyvern holding a fleur-de-lis.]

The Wyvern

(SAXON, _Wivere_, a serpent) said to represent a flying serpent, an imaginary creature resembling the dragon, but having only two legs, which are like an eagle's, and a serpent-like tail, barbed, sometimes represented nowed after the manner of serpents. It is figured on one of the standards in the Bayeux tapestry (_see_ Dragon, p. 86). It is erroneously termed a dragon by some writers, though perhaps they may both be classed together. Old heralds say of these imaginary monsters that they are emblems of pestilence, and are represented as strong and fierce animals covered with invulnerable mail, and fitly typify viciousness and envy. In armory they are properly applied to tyranny or the overthrow of a vicious enemy.

[Illustration: A Wyrvern, wings endorsed, tail nowed.]

[Illustration: Wyvern from the Garter plate of Sir John Gray, 1436 A.D.]

Occasionally a wyvern is borne with the tail nowed and without wings.

_Lindworm._--It is not usual to say a wyvern "without wings" or "without legs," but _sans wings_ or _sans legs_, as the case may be. A dragon or wyvern sans wings is termed a lindworm. (_See_ page 80.)

[Illustration: Wyvern, or Lindworm. (German version.)]

_Argent, a wyvern, wings endorsed gules_, are the arms of _Drake_, of Ashe, Devon (Bart.), 1600.

The town of Leicester has for crest a _wyvern, wings expanded, sans legs, strewed with wounds, gules_.

_Argent on a bend sable, between two lions rampant of the last, a wyvern volant in bend of the field, langued gules, Ruddings._

_Two wyverns, wings endorsed and emitting flames_, are the supporters of Viscount _Arbuthnot_.

The arms of the King of Portugal are supported by _two wyverns erect on their tails or_, each holding a banner, the crest is a _demi-wyvern_ out of a ducal coronet.

_Guivre._--The wyvern or serpent in the arms of the Visconti, Lords of Milan, _argent a guivre d'azure couronnée d'or, issante de gules_ (GUIVRE is represented as a serpent or wingless dragon sans feet, with a child's body issuing from its mouth), is said to commemorate the victory of a lord of that house over a fiery dragon or guivre which inhabited a cavern under the church of St. Denis in that place. "It is hardly possible," says Miss Millington, "not to think that the story of the dragon as well as its adoption in the coat-of-arms bears allusion rather to the dragon of paganism, expelled from the city, as it might seem, by the church built upon the site of the cave, in which too, by the rite of Holy Baptism, _children_ especially were delivered from the power of Satan. Indeed, the innumerable legends of saints who have fought and overcome dragons sufficiently prove the symbolic light in which that creature was anciently viewed." (_See_ also Serpent Biscia, p. 117.)

[Illustration: Wyvern, wings displayed. (Early example.)]

[Illustration: Wyvern, wings depressed.]

The Chimera

An imaginary fire-breathing monster of great swiftness and strength, invented by the ancient Greek poets. Though mentioned by heraldic authorities, it is not met with in British coat armour; it is described as having the head, mane and legs of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. From this creature the term "chimerical" is applied to all such figures as have no other existence but in the imagination. It is represented upon the coins of Sycion during the Achæan League.

[Illustration: Chimera, from a Greek coin.]

The origin of the story of the chimera is ascribed to a mountain in Lycia which had a volcano on its top and nourished lions; the middle part afforded pasture for goats, and the bottom was infested with serpents; according to Hesiod it had three heads, that of a lion, a goat, and a dragon. Bellerophon destroyed the monster by raising himself in the air on his winged steed Pegasus, and shooting it with his arrows.

"Amid the troops, and like the leading god, High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode; A triple pile of plumes his crest adorned, On which with belching flames chimera burned: The more the kindled combat rises higher, The more with fury burns the blazing fire." VIRGIL, _Æneid_,