VIII. THE STEM. 151 



germ, (B) after the wheat, most vital of divine gifts; 

 and assuredly, in days to come, fated to grow on many a 

 naked rock in hitherto lifeless lands, over which the 

 glancing sheaves of it will shake sweet treasure of inno- 

 cent gold. 



And who shall tell us how they grow; and the fashion 

 of their rustling pillars bent, and again erect, at every 

 breeze. Fluted shaft or clustered 'pier, how poor of art, 

 beside this grass-shaft built, first to sustain the food of 

 men, then to be strewn under their feet ! 



We must not stay to think of it, yet, or we shall get no 

 farther till harvest has come and gone again. And hav- 

 ing our names of stems now determined enough, we must 

 in next chapter try a little to understand the different 

 kinds of them. 



The following notes, among many kindly sent me 

 on the subject of Scottish Heraldry, seem to be the 

 most trustworthy : 



"The earliest known mention of the thistle as the national badge 

 of Scotland is in the inventory of the effects of James III., who 

 probably adopted it as aii appropriate illustration of the royal 

 motto, Li defence. 



"Thistles occur on the coins of James IV., Mary, James V., and 

 James VI. ; and on those of James VI. they are for the first time 

 accompanied by the motto, Nemo me impune lacesset. 



" A collar of thistles appears on the gold bonnet- pieces of James 

 V. of 1539 ; and the royal ensigns, as depicted in Sir David Lind- 

 say's armorial register of 1542, are surrounded by a collar formed 

 entirely of golden thistles, with an oval badge attached. 



