The Lion And The Unicorn

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The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town.

Some gave them white bread,
And some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake
and drummed them out of town.

Illustration by Sir John Tenniel, Alice's Adventure In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. 1865.

Disraeli on the left, Gladstone on the right.
 

The unicorn and its compliment have regularly been used in heraldic emblems, or symbolic representations of nations, families, and important ranks, since the 16th century. In 1603, James VI, King of Scotland, united the crowns of Scotland and England when he acceded to the English throne as James I, the anointed successor to Elizabeth I. This joining of the crowns of two sovereign states required a new Royal coat of arms. The lion, standing for England, and a unicorn, for Scotland, serve as supporters, or figures posed to buttress the central shield of the emblem. King James I endorsed the use of this beastly imagery as it represented the harmonious and powerful union that results from two opposites — the two formerly warring nations.
 
Brown University Library.
 

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