guardant, each holding a book, and seven arrows. At the opposite end of the collar are two similar lions. The whole is of gold, except the crosses, which are of white enamels and it is linked together by small gold chains.
The Badge is a gold cross of fourteen joints of white enamel, edged with gold, having in the centre, on one side, the Archangel St. Michael encountering Satan, and on the other, St. George on horseback, encountering a dragon within a blue circle, on which the motto of the Order is inscribed. The cross is surmounted by the imperial crown, and is worn by the Knights Grand Cross to the collar, or to a wide Saxon- blue ribbon, with a scarlet stripe from the right shoulder to the left side.
The Mantle is of Saxon-blue satin, lined with scarlet silk, tied with cordons of blue and scarlet silk and gold, and has on the left side the star of a Knight Grand Cross.
The Chapeau is of blue satin, lined with scarlet, and surmounted with white and black ostrich feathers.
The Knights Commanders wear the badge suspended to a narrow ribbon from the neck, and have on their left side a star composed of four rays, with a small cross of eight points in saltier of silver surmounted by the cross of St. George, gules, and having the same centre as the star of Grand Crosses.
The Cavalieri and Companions wear the small cross of the Order from a still narrower ribbon at the button hole of their coats.
The Officers of the Order are; the Prelate, the Chancellor, the Secretary and the King of Arms.
{{center|Motto—Auspicium Melioris Ævi.
