FLEUR DE LYS. 229 



MRS. F. 



Who bore the Genista or broom as their device. Ft was 

 first adopted by the grandfather of Henry II, Fulk, Count of 

 Anjou, who bore the broom branch in his pilgrimage to the 

 Holy Land. From this circumstance the name of Plantage- 

 net (Ptanta- genista, or genet in French,) descending to our 

 kings. 



HENRIETTA. 



But what made him fix upon the broom"? 



MRS. F. 



Because ifc was the fittest emblem of humility; the brick 

 and marble floors, which were then strewed with rushes or 

 odoriferous herbs, being, in the season, covered with the fra- 

 grant flowers of the broom. When Louis IX married Margaret 

 of Anjou, he instituted an order of knighthood; but in token of 

 his humility, he adopted the broom flower, which, with the 

 fleur de lys, was enamelled alternately on the collar. The 

 motto was " Humiles exaltat." 



FREDERICK. 



That is, " He exalts the humble." 



Edward III, as you all know, was the first to assume the 



fleurs de lys in the royal escutcheon. He bore them (what the 



heralds term) semee, that is, irregularly strewed over the field, 



without any regard to number. It was Charles VI, of 



France, that first reduced their number to three. 



ESTHER. 



Thefleur de lys is a very ancient symbol. In the temple 

 of Dendera, among the hieroglyphics, is frequently to be 

 seen a sceptre, surmounted by a fleur de lys, resembling ex- 

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