814 
KNIGH 
alludes to this legendary (lory. After it had been laid afide 
for a great number of years, John-William, elector palatine 
of the Rhine, revived it in the year 1709. The reigning 
elector palatine is the fnpreme grand mailer; but, (ince the 
diflolution of the Germanic body, we do not know whe¬ 
ther it is ftill exilting. It was alfo ufed at Wirteinberg, 
where the duke is grand mailer; but, fince this dukedom 
has been advanced to the dignity of a kingdom, and the 
emperor of France has placed himfelf and the honours he 
has inftituted at the head of Germany, the order has been 
little thought of. The badge con lifts of a crofs patee fet 
with jewels, from the angles of which ifl'ue rays of gold ; 
in the centre a medal reprefenting St. Hubert kneeling 
before a crucifix, placed between the horns of a flag Hand¬ 
ing in a wood, all proper. See Plate III. The knights 
wore a kind of badge on the left fide of their coats, which 
was a circle furrounded with rays embroidered in gold ; 
and in the centre, on a red ground, fome German words, 
the meaning of which is, “ Keep firm in the faith.” 
There was a numerous fet of men, ftyling themfelves 
Knights of St. Hubert, travelling through France, Ger¬ 
many, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and in general through the 
Roman-catholic countries. They wore a kind of badge 
at their button-hole; and thofe knight-errants pretended, 
by the virtue of their knighthood, to prevent or cure that 
horrid malady, the hydrophobia. Men, dogs, and cattle, 
were under the influence of their power; and it was ge¬ 
nerally believed among the people, that' their touching had 
a fpecific effeift. They ufed to brand dogs on the fore¬ 
head with a hot iron in fliape fomething like a horfelhoe, 
intended perhaps to reprefent the initial letter of the word 
Hubert ; and the country people had a firm confidence 
that any animal fo (lambed was not fufceptible of imbib¬ 
ing the poilon. We leave to our readers to comment 
upon thele facts ; but we can vouch for the ceremony of 
branding the dogs, if we cannot pledge ourfelves for the 
refult. This being particularly connected with the order 
of St. Hubert, and not generally known, we thought it 
our duty to record it. 
LXXV. The Order of the Ermine, at Naples. 
This order was inltituted by Ferdinand king of Naples, 
in the year 1463, upon the difcovery of a plot which his 
brother-in-law, the duke of Seda and prince of Rofiona, 
had raifed againft him. He not only forgave the princi¬ 
pal adtor of this confederacy, the purpofe of which was 
his death, but honoured him with, the firft collar of the or¬ 
der. We are told that the collar was of gold intermixed 
witnmud or dirt, to which was appended an ermine, with 
this motto : Malo mori quani fczdari\ “ I had rather die 
than be difgraced.” 
LXXVI. The Order of St. Michael, in France. 
From the earlieft times, the archangel St. Michael was 
much venerated in France. Under his protection the 
kingdom was fuppofed to have been efpecially placed by 
the Almighty; and the kings ufed to keep open court on 
the 29th of November, the day upon which the feaft of 
that leader of the celeftial hierarchy was celebrated. Louis 
XL the firft who was ftyled his Molt Chriftian Majefty, 
and who perhaps deferved it the leaft on account of his 
principles, conceived, however, that the creation of an 
order of knighthood would be conducive to unite toge¬ 
ther the nobility of his kingdom, whom his fyftematical 
dilfimulation tended to divide. He therefore inltituted 
th is affociation in the year 1469, confining the number of 
the knights to thirty-fix. But, as at that time France 
began to open her eyes to the light of military valour, 
civil virtues, and the liberal arts, opportunities of reward¬ 
ing merit crowded fo fait before the throne, that the num¬ 
ber of the knights foon amounted to more than three 
hundred. 
Louis XIV. defirous to raife the order from the difre- 
pute it had fallen into by having been improperly lavifiied 
■upon perfons who little deferved the honour, iflued an 
arret fignifying his royal pleafure, “ that all perfons who 
had been admitted into the faid order Ihouid bring or 
T H 0 O D. 
fend, to the commiflioners by him appointed, the title 
and document of their nobility and fervices ; and at the 
fame time prohibiting thofe who fliould not comply with 
the Laid arret from taking the title of Knights of St. Mi¬ 
chael, or wearing the badge.” This had the defired ef¬ 
fect. The order refumed its ancient fplendour; but in 
latter times it has been generally given to men of fcience 
and artilts. The king of France is the grand mailer of 
the order ; and the king of arms, whole privileges and du¬ 
ties are fimilar to thofe of Garter, is called Monjieur St. 
Michael , or, as Segar llyles him, Mount St. Michael. The 
chief lieu was originally at Mohn-t St. Michael in Nor¬ 
mandy; but was afterwards transferred to the caftle of 
Vincennes, a few miles from Paris. This order was held 
in fuch great repute, that none was admitted into that of 
the Holy Ghoft unlefs he had been previoully made a 
knight of St. Michael, as none can be inveited with the 
order of the Garter without having firft been madea knight 
bachelor. 
The mantle is white damalk embroidered all round with 
figures reprefenting the collar, and infide, on the borders, 
the motto is alfo embroidered. The chaperon is of 
crimfon velvet, embroidered like the mantle ; and the fliort 
or under coat, which the French ufed to ca\\ jujle au corps , 
alfo of crimfon velvet. The collar is compofed of efcal- 
lop-lhells and gold chains twilted in the fhape of knots. 
The jewel conlilts of a medallion of gold reprefenting St. 
Michael trampling on the dragon, the fymbol of Satan, 
according to what we read in the Revelation. See vol. vi 
p. 52. The motto is of an extenfive fignification : lmmenji 
terror Oceani ; but we do not fee how it applies to the or¬ 
der; which does not appear to have been, even at its ori¬ 
gin, particularly concerned with naval bravery. 
LXXVII. The Order of St. George, at Genoa. 
This was inftituted in 1472 by Frederic III. emperor of 
Germany. The doge or duke of the republic w\as in vett¬ 
ed with the grand-matterfliip, and it defcended to his fuc- 
ceflors till the extinction of the order. The badge was 
a plain crofs gules, worn pendent from a ribbon. 
LXXVIII. The Order of the Elephant, in Den¬ 
mark. We have already had inftances of an order of 
knighthood being created on occafion of the marriage of 
fome king or prince ; the order of the Elephant claims the 
fame origin. In 1478 Chriftian I. king of Denmark, be¬ 
ing on the point of giving his fon John in marriage to 
Chriftiana daughter of Erneft duke of Saxony, founded 
this knightly alfociation. Some authors aflfert that, this 
pious king having travelled to Rome upon a religious ac¬ 
count, pope Sixtus IV. among other honours, invefted him 
with this order in memory of the pafiion of our Lord Je- 
fus Clirift, and ordained that the fnpremacy thereof (hould 
remain perpetually with the kings of Denmark. Why 
the elephant (hould have been cliofen for the fymbol of an 
order thus inltituted, we are at a lofs to guefs, as we can¬ 
not difcover any connexion between the qualities of 
this enormous bead with the myfteries of the Chriftian 
religion. 
Confequently to this inftitution the monarch .founded 
the magnificent chapel of the three kings in the cathe¬ 
dral-church at Rofchild, four leagues from Copenhagen, 
where the knights were obliged to affemble upon the death 
of any of the fraternity. It was at one time held in fo 
much efteem and repute, that Henry VIII. of England 
and James V. of Scotland accepted this order. The col¬ 
lar was of gold, compofed of elephants and towers placed 
alternately, and enamelled in their proper colours. The 
badge confided of an elephant with a caftle on his back, 
and a leader, all proper: on the fide of the elephant a 
plain crofs of diamonds. The ribbon ufed on certain days 
was (ky-blue. See Plate IV. 
LXXIX. The Order of St. George, at Rome. 
The pirates from the fouthern parts of the Mediterranean 
fea infefting the (hores of the Adriatic, and being very 
troublefome to the republics of Italy, Alexander VI. then 
in the papal chair, was prevailed upon to create an or¬ 
der 
