r 



ON IRISES 221 



order. Shakespeare made several references to the 

 Flower-de-luce as the cognisance of France in " King 

 Henry V." and " King Henry VI.," but that does not settle 

 the question as between Iris and Lily, for authorities 

 differ sharply as to which flower (if it was really meant 

 for a flower at all) the Gallic arms bore. Was the 

 Flower-de-luce the " Flower of St. Louis " ? or was it 

 the " Fleur-de-delices" (it was spelled sometimes " Fleur- 

 de-lys " and sometimes "Fleur-de-lis")? In either of 

 these cases it might still have been either Iris or Lily. 

 If Shakespeare's Flower-de-luce was the same flower as 

 St. Francis de Sales wrote of, it was certainly the white 

 Lily, for " the six leaves (petals) whiter than snow " 

 and " the pretty little golden hammers (anthers) in the 

 middle " do not belong to the Iris. 



We lean to the belief that the Flower-de-luce was a 

 Lily when we read the foregoing words, and we are 

 pushed further in the same direction by Chaucer's 

 " Her necke was white as the Fleur-de-lis." 



But other writers of the Middle Ages, including literary 

 men such as Bacon, Drayton, Jonson, and Spenser, 

 and botanists like Gerard and Parkinson, all wrote of 

 the Lily and the Flower-de-luce as distinct. Thus 

 Jonson's 



" Bring rich Carnations, Flower-de-luces, Lillies." 



And Bacon's 



" Flower-de-luces and Lilies of all Natures." 



Spenser, in the " Shepherd's Calendar," is not the least 

 definite 



" Strow mee the grounde with Daffadown-Dillies, 

 And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and loved Lillies ; 

 The pretty Pawnee 

 And the Chevisaunce 

 Shall match with the fay re Flowre Delice." 



