The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 34

FOOTNOTES:

[95:1] "_Juniper._ Go get white of egg and a little Flax, and close the breach of the head; it is the most conducible thing that can be."--BEN JONSON, _The Case Altered_, act ii, sc. 4.

[96:1] "From the abundant harvests of this elegant weed on the upland pastures, prepared and manufactured by supernatural skill, 'the good people' were wont, in the olden time, to procure the necessary supplies of linen!"--JOHNSTON.

FLOWER-DE-LUCE.

(1) _Perdita._

Lilies of all kinds, The Flower-de-luce being one.

_Winters Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (126).

(2) _K. Henry._

What sayest thou, my fair Flower-de-luce?

_Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (323).

(3) _Messenger._

Cropped are the Flower-de-luces in your arms; Of England's coat one half is cut away.

_1st Henry VI_, act i, sc. 1 (80).

(4) _Pucelle._

I am prepared; here is my keen-edged sword Deck'd with five Flower-de-luces on each side.

_Ibid._, act i, sc. 2 (98).

(5) _York._

A sceptre shall it have, have I a soul, On which I'll toss the Flower-de-luce of France.

_2nd Henry VI_, act v, sc. 1 (10).

Out of these five pa.s.sages four relate to the Fleur-de-luce as the cognizance of France, and much learned ink has been spilled in the endeavour to find out what flower, if any, was intended to be represented, so that Mr. Planche says that "next to the origin of heraldry itself, perhaps nothing connected with it has given rise to so much controversy as the origin of this celebrated charge." It has been at various times a.s.serted to be an Iris, a Lily, a sword-hilt, a spearhead, and a toad, or to be simply the Fleur de St. Louis. _Adhuc sub judice lis est_--and it is never likely to be satisfactorily settled. I need not therefore dwell on it, especially as my present business is to settle not what the Fleur-de-luce meant in the arms of France, but what it meant in Shakespeare's writings. But here the same difficulty at once meets us, some writers affirming stoutly that it is a Lily, others as stoutly that it is an Iris. For the Lily theory there are the facts that Shakespeare calls it one of the Lilies, and that the other way of spelling it is Fleur-de-lys. I find also a strong confirmation of this in the writings of St. Francis de Sales (contemporary with Shakespeare). "Charity," he says, "comprehends the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, and resembles a beautiful Flower-de-luce, which has six leaves whiter than snow, and in the middle the pretty little golden hammers" ("Philo," book xi., Mulholland's translation).

This description will in no way fit the Iris, but it may very well be applied to the White Lily. Chaucer, too, seems to connect the Fleur-de-luce with the Lily--

"Her nekke was white as the Flour de Lis."

These are certainly strong authorities for saying that the Flower-de-luce is the Lily. But there are as strong or stronger on the other side. Spenser separates the Lilies from the Flower-de-luces in his pretty lines--

"Strow mee the grounde with Daffadown-Dillies, And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and loved Lillies; The Pretty p.a.w.nce And the Chevisaunce Shall match with the fayre Floure Delice."

_Shepherd's Calendar._

Ben Jonson separates them in the same way--

"Bring rich Carnations, Flower-de-luces, Lillies."

Lord Bacon also separates them: "In April follow the double White Violet, the Wall-flower, the Stock-Gilliflower, the Cowslip, the Flower-de-luces, and Lilies of all Natures;" and so does Drayton--

"The Lily and the Flower de Lis For colours much contenting."

_Nymphal V._

In heraldry also the Fleur-de-lis and the Lily are two distinct bearings. Then, from the time of Turner in 1568, through Gerard and Parkinson to Miller, all the botanical writers identify the Iris as the plant named, and with this judgment most of our modern writers agree.[99:1] We may, therefore, a.s.sume that Shakespeare meant the Iris as the flower given by Perdita, and we need not be surprised at his cla.s.sing it among the Lilies. Botanical cla.s.sification was not very accurate in his day, and long after his time two such celebrated men as Redoute and De Candolle did not hesitate to include in the "Liliacae,"

not only Irises, but Daffodils, Tulips, Fritillaries, and even Orchids.

What Iris Shakespeare especially alluded to it is useless to inquire. We have two in England that are indigenous--one the rich golden-yellow (_I.

pseudacorus_), which in some favourable positions, with its roots in the water of a brook, is one of the very handsomest of the tribe; the other the Gladwyn (_I. ftidissima_), with dull flowers and strong-smelling leaves, but with most handsome scarlet fruit, which remain on the plant and show themselves boldly all through the winter and early spring. Of other sorts there is a large number, so that the whole family, according to the latest account by Mr. Baker, of Kew, contains ninety-six distinct species besides varieties. They come from all parts of the world, from the Arctic Circle to the South of China; they are of all colours, from the pure white Iris Florentina to the almost black I. Susiana; and of all sizes, from a few inches to four feet or more. They are mostly easy of cultivation and increase readily, so that there are few plants better suited for the hardy garden or more ornamental.

FOOTNOTES:

[99:1] G. Fletcher's Flower-de-luce was certainly the Iris--

"The Flower-de-Luce and the round specks of dew That hung upon the azure leaves did shew Like twinkling stars that sparkle in the evening blue."

The "leaves" here must be the petals.

FUMITER, FUMITORY.

(1) _Cordelia._

Crown'd with rank Fumiter and Furrow-weeds.

_King Lear_, act iv, sc. 4 (3).

(_See_ CUCKOO-FLOWERS.)

(2) _Burgundy._