508 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



The symbolic use of the lion's name is not confined to western 

 nations. In the great East, warlike potentates blazon him upon 

 their standards and armour as emblems of themselves and the 

 valour of their people. The imperial standard of the great 

 Mogul pictured in Tavernier Terry's Voyage to India repre- 

 sents the sun rising in glory behind the body of a recumbent 

 lion ; the ensign of Persia is a lion passant guardant holding a 

 sword, the sun in splendour rising behind — all emblems of the 

 highest kind. A writer in " Nature and Art," referring to the 

 lion in the East, says. "The present inhabitants of the Punjaub, 

 the Sikhs, were so named from the Hindustanee verb Sikna, to 

 teach, and they claimed to be men of peace from being taught; 

 but the cruelties of the Mahommedans of Northern India caused 

 them to become men of war, and they called themselves Lions, 

 which in their language is Singh. Every Sikh now calls him- 

 self by this name ; Dunleep Singh is the Lion Dunleep, and 

 his father in like manner, Runjeet Singh, the Lion Runjeety 



The name of the lion in Welsh, Gaelic, and the Scandinavian 

 dialects appears to indicate that the cognomen, and probably 

 the idea of this animal, was from a Latin source. 



Through the whole course of our national literature he is 

 represented in the noblest light ; our greatest writers compared 

 their heroes to him, his courage and magnanimity affording 

 the highest type of these qualities. Shakespeare, in his histori- 

 cal plays, has numberless allusions to the English lions — 



" Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth 



Do all expect that you should rouse yourself 



As did the former lions of your blood." — (H. V., I., 2.) 



" The awless lion could not wage the fight 



Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand." — (K. J., I, i.) 



Richard Cceur-de-Leon fitly embodied the mediaeval conception 

 of the valorous chief and leader capable of every daring. 



" The man that once did sell the lion's skin 



Whilst the beast lived, was killed in hunting him." — (H. V., 4, 3.) 



The figurative personification of the lion overcoming his 



