154 COMPOSITE 



Eve beheld its purple rays through blinding tears — yet with that curse came 

 mercy ; and as toil sweetens rest, so those soft amethyst tints give a grace 

 to the thorny plants. The order of knighthood called the Order of the 

 Thistle is said by Nisbet and other Scottish antiquaries to be a very ancient 

 one, and to have been instituted by Achaius, King of the Scots, when he 

 obtained a victory over Athelstan ; but this is not apparent from any 

 authentic records, nor does the Thistle appear to have been employed as a 

 royal or national badge before the latter part of the fifteenth century. The 

 first mention of it occurs in the inventory of the effects of King James III., 

 who died A.d. 1488. It also appears on the collar worn by James V., and 

 was subsequently worn by his successors. The insignia borne by the knights 

 of the Order of the Thistle is a gold collar with thistles and sprigs of rue 

 interlaced. A gold medal is also worn, bearing a figure of St. Andrew, with 

 his cross of martyrdom, within a circle containing the national motto. The 

 rue was probably significant of remembrance ; and on various works of art 

 we find the Thistle popularly used without the rue, but with the motto 

 beneath it, " Dinna forget." Graham refers to his nation's flower : 



" Proud Thistle, emblem dear to Scotland's sons, 

 Begirt with threatening points, strong in defence, 

 Unwilling to assault ! By thee the arm 

 Of England was repell'd : the rash attempt 

 Oft did the wounded arm of England rue ; 

 But fraud prevail'd where force had tried in vain, 

 Fraud undermined thy roots, and laid thy head, 

 Thy crested head, long sullied in the dust." 



Happily, however, these national prejudices and dislikes have passed away, 

 and the Englishman looks on the Thistle in the badge of his country with 

 as much satisfaction as on the rose. Eobert Nichols, and many another 

 Scottish poet, has verses in its praise :— 



" May it flourish, its home is our dear native land ; 

 While there's life in ilk heart, while there's strength in ilk hand ; 

 Be't by night or by day — be't by sea or by land. 

 We'll stand by the auld Scottish Thistle. 



" While we hallow the graves of the free and the brave. 

 While the land hath a stream, while the .sei hath a wave, 

 While the bold are the free, and the coward's a slave, 

 We'll stand by the auld Scottish Thistle. 



" For the love of the maiden, the praise of the free, 

 For the blessings that father and mother will gi'e, 

 For the hames that are dear both to you and to me, 

 We'll stand by the auld Scottish Thistle." 



The Scotch Thistle, though peculiar to no soil, seems to flourish best upon 

 gravel. Its somewhat dull purple flowers, which are mostly solitary, though 

 sometimes two or three together, are large, and expand in July and August. 

 The plant was formerly cultivated for its esculent fleshy receptacle, but the 

 culture of the artichoke and of the cardoon has superseded its use. According 

 to Gerard e, the artichoke was introduced into this country in the sixteenth 

 century. The Spaniards call our Scotch Thistle Al-cachofa (Wild Artichoke), 



