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CHAPTER VII: England

The ensign of Hengist and Horsa still stretches his legs on the chalky hills of southern England. There it lingers as a memorial of the old days when the south of England was so frequently pillaged by its warlike neighbors. Its "lingering," however, is due to the muscle and good "elbow-grease" of the farmers in the surrounding country, who yearly scrape the grass from the stratum of chalk that underlies the slight surface soil. He also capers about on the shield of Brunswick Hanover, apparently as youthful and full of equine spirit as when Odin first vaulted upon his back. The wiseacres, who are all the time trying to detract from the fame of our beloved heroes in history, smile at our belief that Hengist and MEANING OF "COAT-OF-ARMS."

Horsa were the names of invading warriors, who did their best to conquer England, and aver that they were really not the names of those daring marauder chieftains, but the names were given to them by the terrified Britons from the banner that they bore. This standard was first carried by the chief called Horsa, and on it was the device of the war horse belonging to Odin, the Scandinavian God of War. Afterwards he who was styled Hengist adopted the ambling horse of Odin as his standard; he pushed his conquests beyond the shores of England, and setting his banner in the centre of a conquered town, it became known as Canterbury! This horse is rampant - an attitude which at that time was called the "canter" or Canterbury gallop, and is now the ensign of the County of Kent. This White Horse of the Saxons, which appears upon a red shield, at one time belonged to Westphalia, and for many hundreds of years has been displayed by the House of Brunswick. Wittekind bore on his banner a black horse, but when converted by the eloquence of Charlemagne to Christianity, he changed it to a white charger - thus showing the purity of his new faith. Brunswick.

But these were standards that existed long before the days of Heraldry, and so we cannot pay them that attention that their great age really entitles them to expect. We have spoken of our own bright flag, but not a word have we said of the one that flies - so the owners boast - forever in the sun! England's many colonies are so scattered over the world that there is reason for the boast. On so many spots of this round globe of ours her flag is set that the sun never ceases to shine upon her crosses of red, white, and blue. But why does she call her well known marine flag "The Union Jack," and why is St. George the favored saint of England, when formerly the good St. Edward was the hero whose name inspired a holy zeal within the English bosom? Two tales can be told about this saintly individual, and the one which is really not at all to the saint's credit is the first that we will relate, as we can then blot out the memory of it by telling the other, which is far more satisfactory to the English heart. It seems, according to this legend, that St. George was originally a sort of contractor of bacon for the army, and, although greater saints have risen from much smaller beginnings, still it seems to be rather to his disadvantage that he was associated with this particular article of commerce. But selling bacon was the least of his crimes; he is reputed to have been a rogue - an informer - and getting rich, as such scamps often do; inquiries were set on foot, the results of which were that to preserve his soul inside of his skin he was compelled to make a precipitate departure from his native land. He managed clever knave that he was - to carry his money-bags with him, however, and turning Armenian, became so righteous in all outward appearance that he was even made Bishop of Alexandria, in Egypt. But in later days (361) his Nemesis overtook him, and he was clapped into prison; from there an excited mob managed to drag him to a convenient spot, and lynched him.