Julius Cæsar. The standard carried by the famous Roman Legions.
Charlemagne. King of the Franks—The imperial iron crown.
King Arthur of England. The Holy Grail, symbolizing the whole purpose of his career.
Godfrey de Bouillon. Heraldic cross of Jerusalem of which city he was king and which forms a part of his own coat-of-arms.
Judas Maccabeus. The hammer—which is the actual meaning of the name “Maccabeus.”
In the mantel, the figures are arranged chronologically and historically. Three of them, i. e., Hector, Alexander, and Cæsar, were Heathen; three were Christians, viz.: Charlemagne, King Arthur, and Godfrey; and three were Jews, viz.: Joshua, David, and Judas.
The choice of subjects was suggested to the architects by Caxton’s preface to the first volume of Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, from which the following quotation covering the choice of the figures is taken:
For it is notorly known through the universal world, that there be nine worthy and the best that ever were, that is to wit, three Paynims, three Jews, and three Christian men. As for the Paynims, they were to-fore the Incarnation of Christ, which were named, the first Hector of Troy, of whom the history is comen both in ballad and in prose, the second Alexander the Great, and the third Julius Cæsar, Emperor of Rome, of whom the histories be well known and had. And as for the three Jews, which were also to-fore the Incarnation of our Lord, of whom the first was Duke Joshua which brought the children of Israel into the land of behest, the second David, King of Jerusalem, and the third Judas Maccabeus, of these three the Bible rehearseth all their noble histories and acts. And since the said Incarnation have been three noble Christian men, stalled and admitted through the universal world into the number of the nine best and worthy. Of whom was first the noble Arthur. The second was Charlemain, or Charles the Great, of whom the history is had in many places, both in French and English. And the third and last was Godfrey of Boloine.
Cadets at Equitation in the World’s Largest Riding Hall (600 ft. × 150 ft.)