128 
temples. A sceptre of the most mo- 
dern kind, surmounted with fleurs-de- 
lys, is observed. The baronial coro- 
net, with balls, is also to be seen, In- 
deed, the coronet of Memnon (at the 
British Museum), composed of erect 
serpents and balls, is a near example. 
So are the bishop’s mitre and the cro 
sier,, both of which are occasionally 
carried by Osiris. The pedum is an 
admitted Egyptian symbol, derived 
through St. Anthony, the Coptic asce- 
tic, to the Christian episcopacy. The 
cross-keys of St. Peter himself be- 
longed to Horus, Mithra and Hecate, 
and are of Egyptian invention; from 
Egypt they descended to the Druids, 
a cognate branch of the Magian and 
Memphian priesthood. The symbol of 
the first Christians was indeed a fish, 
and thence they were called Pisciculi. 
The most leading symbol of heraldry, 
a dragon, was that which figured most 
among the hieroglyphics. To this 
source may be traced the famous Ur- 
gunda of the Mexicans, the great ser- 
pent depicted on the Chinese banner, 
and the sea-snake of the Scandinavians. 
It became a substitute, after Trajan’s 
Dacian war, for the eagle of the Ro- 
mans, and passed from them to several 
European nations. But among none 
was it so great a favourite as among 
our British progenitors. It was the 
banner of the Mercian, East Anglian 
and West Saxon kings. It was borne 
by Cadwallo and the kings of Wales, 
from whom it descended to Henry 
VII., and by him it was introduced 
into the English arms. It was. the 
favourite symbol of the Druids, who 
built their great temple of Abury in the 
form of a winged serpent; and, like 
the Orientals, represented the struggle 
of good and evil in the universe, un- 
der the form of two dragons contending 
for an egg. It was afterwards intro- 
duced into the armorial bearings of 
London and Dublin. According to the 
heralds, it was borne by the Milesian 
kings of Ireland; and, during the eru- 
sades, was considered as the symbol of 
the whole British nation. 
—— 
To the Editor of theMonthly Magazine. 
Rk Bis) 0 
i fy your January Number (Vol. lviii. 
No. 404), a short inquiry is made, 
respecting some of the divines assembled 
at Dort, at the commencement of the 
17th century; and, hoping to elicit 
more, I presume to lay before you 
what miscellaneous information I have 
Synod of Dort. 
[Sept. 1, 
hitherto been able to collect on this 
subject. 
Conrad Vorstius,a native of Cologne, 
studied at Heidelburg, where*he? took 
the degree of D.D. In'1613; he suc- 
ceeded Arminius in’ the divinity chair, 
at Leyden—an appointment so displeas- 
ing to the Calvinists, that’ James I. of 
England, caused his book’ De Deo to be 
publicly burnt in London, and prevailed 
upon the Sates of Holland to banish the 
unoffending divine. He found protec- 
tion in Holstein, and died at Toningen, 
in 1622. 
Samuel Ward, D.D., scholar of Christ 
College, and Fellow of Emanuel,’ was, 
in 1609, Master of Sydney, in’ the 
University of Cambridge ;—he was also 
Archdeacon of Taunton, and Margaret 
Professor of Divinity:—and so well 
known as a divine, that he was selected 
to attend at the Synod of Dort, in 
1619; where, it seems, he was induced 
to relax his former rigid adherence to 
the doctrines of Calvin. He (Dr. W.) 
suffered great persecution during the 
civil war; being not only expelled from 
his offices in the university, but other- 
wise treated with such harshness and 
severity, that his deathis attributed to it; 
—having ensued, in 1643. It does not 
appear, as Q. thinks, that he ever was 
Bishop. , 
Of Dr. Goad I have been unable to 
find any account. 
Walter Balcanqual attended James-I. 
when he came to England, as chaplain : 
he took the degree of D.D. at Oxford, 
and appeared at the Synod of Dort as 
Scotch representative. He was Master 
of the Savoy, (1624) Dean of Rochester, 
and (1639) of Durham. He wrote King 
Charles’ s Declaration of the Late Tumulis 
in Scotland ; Epistles concerning the Dodt 
Synod, &c.—Dr. Balcanqual, also, suf- 
fered much in the Trovstes, and with 
difficulty escaped from his persecutors. 
He died at Chirk Castle, in Denbigh- 
shire, on Christmas-day, 1645... 
The Synod of Dort, in 1618-19, was 
summoned by the States-general «(the 
provinces of Holland, Utrecht and Over- 
yssel excepted), Eminent divines’ of 
the United Provinces, and deputies from 
the respective churches of England, 
Scotland, Switzerland, Bremen, Hessia 
and the Palatinate, met to decide the 
questions that had arisen between. the 
Gomarists and Arminians ; and the lat- 
ter were declared corrupters of the true 
religion. But the authority of this 
National Synod was far from being uni- 
versally acknowledged. The reformed 
v churches 
+ 
a eee 
