92 



GARTER 



GARTH 



The manifold variations in the colour, form, and 

 material of the mantle, surcoat, and under habit 

 at different times need not be described here. As 

 at present worn, the mantle is of purple velvet lined 

 with white taffeta, having on the left shoulder the 

 badge of the order, namely, a silver escutcheon 

 charged with a red cross for the arms of St George, 

 and encircled with the garter and motto, as in the 

 annexed cut. In chapters it is worn over the 

 uniform or court dress. The surcoat, a short 

 gown without sleeves, is made of crimson velvet 

 lined like the mantle with white taffeta. The 

 hood, worn on the right shoulder of the mantle, 

 and now a meaningless appendage, is made 

 of the same velvet as the surcoat, and simi- 

 larly lined. When it ceased to serve its original 

 purpose of a covering for the head, a cap was 

 introduced in its place, which is now ornamented 

 with ostrich-feathers, and in the centre of 

 them a lofty tuft of black heron's feathers, the 

 whole attached to the hat by a clasp of diamonds. 



Order of the Garter : 



Star, Collar and George, and Garter. 



The under habit, introduced by Charles II., need 

 not be described in detail, and the costume is com- 

 pleted by white silk hose and white shoes and red 

 heels. The garter worn on the right leg is of 

 white silver riband with a large silver rosette. 

 The sword is straight, of an ancient pattern with 

 a cross-guard hilt, all gilt, the scabbard of crimson 

 velvet. 



The collar was introduced by Henry VII., prob- 

 ably in consideration of a similar ornament being 

 the principal ensign of the Golden Fleece and other 

 orders instituted in the 15th century ; but it was 

 first ordered to be worn in 1544. It consists of 

 twenty-six pieces in which interlaced knots of 

 cords alternate with double roses, each surrounded 

 with the garter and its motto, these roses being 

 alternately white within red and red within white ; 

 and pendent from one of the roses is the George, 

 or figure of St George piercing the dragon. The 

 collar and George were appointed to be worn on all 

 solemn feasts ; and provision was also made for a 

 lesser George to be worn on other occasions attached 

 to a chain or lace of silk, for which was aftt j-wards 

 substituted a dark-blue riband. The lesser George 

 is surrounded with the garter and motto. 



In respect that the mantle on which are the 

 arms of St George within the garter is only worn 

 on special occasions, Charles I. in 1626 introduced 

 another badge to be Avorn on the cloak or coat, 

 in which the cross of St George ( not in a shield ) 

 is surrounded by the garter, and, to make it more 

 splendid, ordered the whole to be surrounded with 

 rays of silver. While the badge worn on the 

 ordinary dress, popularly known as the star, is 

 thus irradiated, that on the mantle has remained 

 unaltered. 



On the occurrence of a vacancy, a chapter (con- 

 sisting of the sovereign and six knights) is 

 appointed to meet, in which the new companion 

 is elected, the election being practically a form, 

 and the choice lying with the sovereign. The 

 knight elect, if at hand, appears and is invested. 

 If absent, the garter and George are sent him by 

 Garter King of Arms. In case of a foreign prince 

 being elected, some person of distinction is sent 

 along with Garter to invest him. In later times, 

 the ceremony of election has often been dispensed 

 with, the investiture taking place privately, and 

 the ceremonies connected with installation are now 

 done away with. Each knight has his stall in 

 St George's Chapel, Windsor ; the knight elect 

 used to get his predecessor's stall, but a system 

 of promotion has latterly been introduced. The 

 garter-plates of the knights, containing their 

 arms and style, remain permanently, and those 

 placed there in the reign of Henry VII. rank 

 among the most valuable heraldic relics in 

 Europe. 



The officers of the order are the Prelate, who has 

 always been the Bishop of Winchester ; the 

 Chancellor, formerly the Bishop of Salisbury, now 

 (in consequence of a change in the division of the 

 respective sees) the Bishop of Oxford ; the 

 Registrar, who is the Dean of Windsor ; Garter 

 King of Arms ; and the Gentleman Usher of the 

 Black Rod. 



Knights of the Garter write K.G. after their 

 names. Though the military character of this 

 fraternity no longer exists, it has retained till the 

 present day its pre-eminence among the orders of 

 Knighthood of Europe. For two centuries past 

 the twenty-five companions have been almost 

 exclusively peers or the eldest sons of peers. See 

 Ashmole's Institution, Laws, and Ceremonies of 

 the Order of the Garter ( 1672 ) ; and Sir Harris 

 Nicolas' History of British Orders of Knighthood 

 (1842). 



4.art h. SIK SAMUEL, an eminent physician and 

 fair poet, was born at Bowland Forest in Yorkshire 

 in the year 1661. He studied at Peterliouse, Cam- 

 bridge, graduated M.D. in 1691, and next year 

 settled in London, where he soon became famous 

 as a physician and conversationalist. In the year 

 1700 he did himself everlasting honour by providing 

 burial in Westminster Abbey for the neglected 

 Dryden, and pronouncing a eulogium over his grave. 

 On the accession of George I. he was knighted and 

 appointed physician in ordinary to the king, and 

 physician -general to the army. He died in London, 

 January 18, 1718. Garth is best known in our liter- 

 ary history as the author of The Dispensary (1699), 

 a mock-heroic poetical satire on those apothecaries 

 and physicians who opposed the project of giving 

 medicine gratuitously to the sick poor. The poem 

 was exceedingly popular, but has long since ceased 

 to interest a reader. In 171b he published his topo- 

 graphical poem entitled Claremont, in imitation of 

 Denham's Cooper's Hill, and in 1717 he superin- 

 tended and contributed to a translation of Ovid's 

 Metamorphoses by Addison, Pope, Gay, Congreve, 

 Rowe,' and other eminent contributors. Garth is 

 now interesting chiefly for his versification as a 

 connecting link between Dryden and Pope. 



