190 



IRIS VIRGINICA. BOSTON IRIS. 



engaged in battle, and King Louis VII adopted the flower, in 

 June, II 37, as the national emblem of France, possibly to per- 

 petuate the memory of some such event. The type of the 

 French " Fleur de lis " is supposed to be the white Florentine 

 Iris, which produces the orris-root of commerce. 



There seems to be little doubt that the original " Flower of 

 Louis "was an Iris. English writers, however, misled by the 

 corrupted form of " Felur de lis," have imagined the flower to 

 be a lily, and this idea is still current in the English literature of 

 our own day. Even Webster's Dictionary has adopted this 

 idea, for there we read : " Fleur-de-lis, French, flower of the lily, 

 corrupted in English to flower-de-luce. The royal insignia of 

 France, whether originally representing a lily or the head of a 

 javelin, is disputed." Under " Flower-de-luce," however, where 

 no allusion is made to the royal insignia of France, the same 

 dictionary says that the word is identical with Iris, and quotes 

 Spenser as an authority. But this quotation can hardly be 

 called apt, if, as the dictionary intimates, the three terms, 

 " Flower-de-luce," " Flower of the Lily," and " Iris," are to be 

 looked upon as identical. Spenser, if we may judge from the 

 following lines, was evidently quite well aware of the difference 

 between the " Fleur-de-lis " and the lily : — 



" Strow me the grounde with Daffadown-Dillies, 

 And Cowslips and Kingcups, and loved Lillies ; 



The pretty Paunce, 



And the Chenisaunce 

 Shall match with the fayre Floure Delice." 



On the other hand it must be admitted that Shakespeare, who 

 frequently refers to the Flower de luce, evidently regards it as a 

 true lily. Thus he makes Perdita say in the " Winter's Talc " : 



" Bold oxlips and 

 The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds, 

 The flower de luce being one ! Oh, these I lack 

 To make you garlands of ; and, my sweet friend, 

 To strew him o'er and o'er." 



