KNIGH 
i 5 . That, if any knight were fick,and in peril of death, 
all other his fellow-kniglus fliould vifit him, and exhort 
him to godlinefs ; and, if he died, accompany his corpfe 
to the grave; alfo to mourn in black one whole month; 
and abl'ent themfelves from the exercifeof arms for the 
fpace of three months, unlefs the king fliould otherwile 
command. 
17. That, within two days after fuch funeral, all the 
knights fliould affemble, and prefent the band of the dead 
knight unto the king, making humble fuit for fome of his 
fons to fucceed, if any of them were meet; and praying it 
would pleafe his majefty to be good to the mother, that 
flie might live according to her honourable calling. 
Such were the obligations to which not only the knights 
of the Band, but all knights, were fubjeft in thole heroic 
times, when bravery, religion, and love, uniting in one 
focus, elevated the mind, purified the habits, and en¬ 
chanted the heart. Hence thofe acts of courage which 
have altonifhed the pen of Hiflory when flie recorded them; 
thofe courteous deeds towards the fair fex, which were 
the firfi: Itamina pf that flower of politenefs which itill 
thrives and blooms amonglt all the nations of Europe; 
and that philanthropy, which religion fublimates and fup- 
ports by views and motives much more refined and dif- 
interefted than thofe which nature alone could ever 
fugged. 
LIV. The Order of the Seraphims, or of Jesus, 
in Sweden. It has been wrongly Hated that this order 
was inflituted by Eric the Great, or Guftavus I. for it ap¬ 
pears clearly, from the belt records, that, in 1334, king 
Magnus II. was the founder of it, in memory of the liege 
of the metropolitan city of Upfal; but, upon the change of 
religion which happened in Sweden under Charles IX. and 
perhaps owing to other caufes which have not been tradi¬ 
tionally handed down to us, this order was abolilhed. 
However, finding the want of a flimulus to excite the cou¬ 
rage of his nobles, and of means to reward the bravery of 
his warriors, Frederic I. revived the order on the nth 
of February, 1748. 
The habit of the order is a white fatin jacket, trim¬ 
med with black lace, and lined with black; white 
breeches, flioes, and ftockings, trimmed with black; 
and black ribbons ; a black fatin fliort cloak lined with 
white, with a white cape trimmed with black lace; a 
hat of black fatin alfo, bound with white, having on 
the left fide four white oftrich-feathers, and in the mid¬ 
dle a black one. They wore alfo upon the left bread 
of the cloak a ftar of eight points embroidered in filver, 
and, on the jacket on the fame fide, the fame kind of flar, 
but l’omewhat lefs in fize. The collar is conipofed of ele¬ 
ven golden heads of feraphs, with wings expanded, and 
as many patriarchal or double erodes enamelled on gold, 
all joined with gold chains. The crofs is fliaped like that 
of Malta, and cantoned by four feraphs’ heads, as in the 
collar; and on the centre a medallion azure, enfigned 
with the arms of Sweden, in the centre of which are the 
three initial letters of the name Jel'us in Greek, I H S, the 
middle letter being furmounted with afmall crofs; at the 
bottom of the arms the paflion-nails, and on the top of the 
badge the rojal crown of Sweden. SeePlatell. Itwasalfo 
borne pendent to a broad fky-blue watered ribbon placed 
fcarfwife. Tnefe letters IIIS have been often explained as 
being the initials of the three words Jefus Hominum Salvator, 
“ the Saviour of Men ;” but, although we cannot deny 
that this interpretation is ingenious, yet we mult itate the 
true and original meaning of them. The name of our Sa¬ 
viour in Greek is IHSOY 2 . By abbreviation, and changing 
the 2 into S, its correfpondent in Latin, the three firll let¬ 
ters have been ufed in the church as a cipher for the name 
of the Son of God ; and, as the Greek E long is of the fame 
form with the Latin H, it gave occafion to the interpre¬ 
tation we have mentioned above. 
LV. The Most Noble Order of the Garter. 
We cannot confider, without a melancholy fenfe of regret, 
that moft of thofe admirable inftitutions, which have be- 
Vol. XI. No. 797. 
T H O O D. 803 
nefited mankind, fliould, like the river that fecundates 
the plains of Egypt, conceal their venerable heads in 
mills of doubt and clouds of obfeurity; as if Providence, 
in order to humble the pride of man, had deemed necel- 
fary, not only to withhold and fequeftrate from his view 
the fecret fprings of nature and of the univerfe, but alfo 
the origin and caufes of the works of man himfelf. In¬ 
deed the fpace of human life is fo confined, fo chequered, 
and we hurry through it with fo much trepidation and 
ioipatience, that we do not think it worth our while to 
take notice of, and to record, events, which feem never to 
be obliterated from our memory; not unlike thole who 
dwell in the neighbourhood of wonders, and who, whilll 
ftrangers flock from the remoteil parts of the world to vi- 
fit them, put off from day to day the pleafure of contem¬ 
plating themfelves thofe marvels, and die without the fa- 
tisfaftion of having feen them. Thus every generation, 
unmindful of the future, and blind to the tranfaclions of 
the prefent, is entirely taken up by the ftudy of ruins, 
fearching, among their filent heaps and mouldering frag¬ 
ments, for a knowledge which the thoughtleffnefs of pre¬ 
ceding centuries has negledled to tranfmit, and thus leaves 
to the following age the trouble of recording the events 
of the prefent day. Such are the refleftions which arole 
in our mind on confidering what uncertainty veils the ori¬ 
gin of an order whofe inftitution was, not only on ac¬ 
count of its glorious founder but alfo for its connexion 
with all the parts of Europe, an event of the utmolt im¬ 
portance and eclat. The following extra&s from the bell 
writers on the fubjefl will countenance the jultnefs of our 
obfervation. 
1 . The Occafion of the Injlitution of this Order. It is 
not only unanimoufly attefted by all hiftorians, but alfo 
confirmed by good authorities, that Edward III. king 
of England and France, wa^the illultrious founder of 
this renowned fraternity; but, as to the occafion of 
its creation, and the certain time of its origin, thefe 
two points of hiflory have been long controverted. The 
lofs of original llatutes, ancient regillers, and annals, 
together with the filence of contemporary writers, has 
left the truth fo perplexed, that modern authors have 
thrown out their conje6lures without a decilion. The 
vulgar and more general opinion is, that, Joan countefs of 
Salilbury being at a ball where the king was prefent, her 
garter accidentally dropped off and fell on the floor. The 
monarch, whofe gallantry was well known in both fenfes 
of the word, hallily Hooping, took it up from the 
ground; whereupon fome of his nobles and courtiers 
finding, as at an amorous aflion, he, obferving their fpor- 
tive humour, turned it off with this reply in French ; Honi 
foit qui maly penfe , “ Shame be to him who evil thinks;’ 
adding, in difdain of their laughter, “ Tha,t in a fliort 
time they fliould fee that garter advanced to fo high an 
honour and eflimation as to account themfelves happy to 
wear it.” See Afhmole. This curious anecdote, we muft 
confefs, has been received upon the authority of Polydore 
Virgil, an Italian priefl, who fettled in England and 
Wrote two hundred years after the inflitution of the order. 
And, as it carries with it fpmething romantic and chival¬ 
rous, we are not furprifed at its having been eagerly 
adopted and generally believed. However, we do not 
think it to be Polydore’s own invention; and there is no 
doubt that fuch a rumour exifled, and was traditionally 
handed to him, perhaps, before he left Italy, where the 
people were over-fond of fuch anecdotes, and their au¬ 
thors very fertile in inventing them. Thofe who think 
that this is a mere flory, found their opinion upon the fi¬ 
lence of fir John Froiffart, a contemporary writer, who, in 
mentioning the inftitution in his chronicles, does not fay 
a word of the occafion of its origin ; and who, although 
he mentions very particularly the tender affection which 
the king felt for the countefs of Salifbury (whom he calls 
Alyce), and her coynefs and reluttance at taking notice of 
the royal attachment, does not feem to have been ac¬ 
quainted with the faft above-Hated, as he fays nothing 
9 T concerning 
