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May 4th, 1324. The competition created the greatest excitement, 

 and great numbers of people met to hear the judges' decision : 

 they awarded the golden Violet to Arnaud Vidal for his poem 

 in honour of the Virgin. In 13SS, three prizes were offered — a 

 golden Violet for the best song; an Eglantine (Spanish Jasmine), 

 for the best sirvcnte, or finest pastoral ; and a Floy-de-gang (yellow 

 Acacia) for the best ballad. In later years four prizes were 

 competed for. viz., an Amaranth, a Violet, a Pansy, and a Lily. 

 In 1540, Clemence Isaure, a poetess, bequeathed the bulk of her 

 fortune to the civic authorities to be expended in prizes for poetic 

 merits, and in fetes to be held on the 1st and 3rd of May. She 

 was interred in the church of La Daurade, on the high altar of 

 which are preserved the golden flowers presented to the successful 

 competitors at the Floral Games. The ceremonies of the fetes thus 

 revived by Clemence Isaure commenced with the strewing of her 

 tomb with Roses, followed by mass, a sermon, and alms-giving. 

 In 1694, the Jeux Flovaux were merged into the Academy of Belles 

 Lettres, which gives prizes, but almost exclusively to French poets. 

 The festival, interrupted by the Revolution, was once more 

 revived in 1806, and is still held annually in the Hotel-de-Ville, 

 Toulouse. 



St. Medard, Bishop of Noyon, in France, instituted in the 

 sixth century a festival at Salency, his birth-place, for adjudging a 

 most interesting prize offered by piety to virtue. This prize 

 consists of a simple crown of Roses bestowed on the girl who is 

 acknowledged by all her competitors to be the most amiable, 

 modest, and dutiful. The founder of this festival had the pleasure 

 of crowning his own sister as the first Rosiere of Salency. This 

 simple institution still survives, and the crown of Roses continues 

 to be awarded to the most virtuous of the maidens of the obscure 

 French village. A similar prize is awarded in the East of London 

 by an active member of the Roman Catholic Church — the ceremony 

 of crowning the Rose Queen being performed annually in the Crystal 

 Palace at Sydenham. 



In the middle ages the Queen of Flowers contributed to a 

 singular popular festival at Treviso, in Italy. In the middle of the 

 city the inhabitants erected a mock castle of upholstery. The most 

 distinguished unmarried females of the place defended the fortress, 

 which was attacked by the youth of the other sex. The missiles 

 with which both parties fought consisted of Roses, Lilies, Narcissi, 

 Violets, Apples, and Nuts, which were hurled at each other by the 

 combatants. Volleys of Rose-water and other perfumes were also 

 discharged by means of syringes. This entertainment attracted 

 thousands of spectators from far and near, and the Emperor 

 Frederick Barbarossa himself accounted it a most pleasing 

 diversion. 



The custom of pelting with Roses is still common in Persia, 

 where it is practised during the whole season that these flowers are 



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