442 Proc. B. N. F. C, 



a dragon or snake breathing forth fire and slaughter, and rowing 

 its way with its wings. It is evident that such a creature may 

 at one time have existed. Looking at the widespread beUef in 

 dragons, there seems Httle doubt that the semi-myth of to-day 

 is the traditional successor of a really once-existent animal, 

 whose huge size, snake-like appearance, and possibly dangerous 

 powers of offence, made him so terrible that the earlier races of 

 mankind adopted him unanimously as the most fearful embodi- 

 ment of animal ferocity to be found. 



A strange relic of the ancient faith is perpetuated by the 

 remains of early Celtic art, in the curiously wrought interlaced 

 monsters which form the chief ornament of ancient Irish 

 crosses, and particularly in the borders and initials of illumin- 

 ated manuscripts, where spirals, and interminable interlace- 

 ments of the most complex character, often allied with equally 

 strange colouring, form a style perfectly unique in itself, and 

 unlike any other ; the elaborate knots terminating in draconic 

 heads, and with wings and animal extremities in wonderfully 

 ingenious patterns that seem almost beyond the limits of 

 human ingenuity. In the kindred art of Scandinavia we 

 find similar decoration founded on serpentine forms. Another 

 survival of the old dragon exists in the name given to some of 

 our fighting men on the introduction of firearms. A kind 

 of blunderbuss gave, to the troops who used it, the name of 

 *' dragoneers," whence is derived the well-known term dragoons. 

 They used to be armed with dragons — i.e.^ short muskets — 

 which spouted fire, like the fabulous beast so named. The 

 head of a dragon was wrought on the muzzles of these muskets. 

 We have all heard of the Dragonades, a series of persecutions 

 by Louis XIV., which drove many thousands of Protestants 

 out of France — and out of the world. Their object was to 

 root out " heresy." A bishop, with certain ecclesiastics, was 

 sent to see if the heretics would recant ; if not they were left 

 to the tender mercies of the Dragonniers, who followed these 

 " ministers of peace and good will to men." The same game 

 of conversion was practised on the Presbyterians of Scotland, 

 with its accompaniment of "dragoons let loose" — a fact now 

 forgotten, I think, by their descendants hereabouts, 



