Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1844 edition. Excerpt: ... "That is an emblem that Italy was added to Germany, and thus the eagle is represented with two heads and with two crowns. The eagle also bears in one claw a globe, signifying that it wields imperial power, surmounted by a cross the emblem of Christianity; and in the other a sceptre headed by a lancehead, the emblem of power and might." Fig. 32. "But why are there so many coats of arms on the eagle?" "The German empire was elective, and the arms borne on the eagle are those of the seven electorates out of whom the emperor was to be chosen. Three of them are archbishops who possess regal power in their separate dominions, and their arms are contained in one shield; and the other four are counts of the empire, or kings, and their arms are in the other shield. The archbishops are those of Mentz, Treves, and Cologne; and the temporal lords are the Count of Brandenburg, the King of Saxony, the Elector Palatine, and the King of Bavaria." "And what is the meaning of their arms!" "The first Archbishop of Mentz, whose name was Willige, was the son of a wheelwright; and one day a person thinking to mortify him, drew a rude picture of a wheel on the door of his palace and wrote under it: --'Forget not Willige, What thine origin is!' "' Forget it, ' cried the worthy prelate, 'No, I don't wish to forget it, and what's more no one else shall;' and he ordered a white wheel on a black ground to be adopted for his arms; and this wheel has been borne in the arms of the Archbishops of Mentz ever since." At this moment Mr. and Mrs. Merton approached, and thanked the gentleman for his kindness to their little daughter. "But I have not explained all the coat of arms to her yet," said he; "and when I have done I will give her one of the engravings to keep that...
