32 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



It forms the crowns of angels, of saints, and of 

 the Madonna herself. When it is the attribute 

 of the Infant Christ it recalls the Heaven from 

 which He came. 



The English and Flemish miniaturists add 

 to these the pansy, which is the old herb 

 Trinity," bearing the same meaning as the 

 clover. 



In the Netherlands and Germany the lily 

 of the valley was also used, with meek purity 

 as its significance. 



All these flowers, on account of some accident 

 of shape, colour or habit of growth, were con- 

 sidered holy flowers, while others, such as the 

 buttercup, the narcissus, the forget-me-not, 

 were rejected as meaningless. Fruit in general 

 represents good works, or the fruits of the 

 Spirit, faith, hope and peace, and is accounted 

 good; the vine is the emblem of Christ Himself, 

 but the fruit, usually taken to be the apple, 



' ' This is that herb which such physicians as are hcensed to 

 blaspheme by authority without danger of having their tongues 

 burned through with a hot iron called an herb of the Trinity; 

 it is also called, by those who are more moderate, three faces in a 

 hood . . . and in Sussex we call them pancies.' Culpeper's 

 Herbal. 



