164 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



Ihe finir-3e Us was not very anciently the parti- 

 cular ornament and characteristic of the crown 

 and sceptre of France, it was, in several coun- 

 tries of the East, the mark of power among the 

 nations of antiquity. Herodotus and Strabo re- 

 late that the kings of Syria and of Babylon for- 

 merly bore the ficnr-de-lis at the extremity of 

 their sceptre *. Montfaucon likewise speaks of 

 that of David, found in the miniatiire of an en- 

 graved manuscript of the tenth century, and 

 which is surmounted by the fleiir-de-lis -)-. It is 

 evident, therefore, that the ornament called lis 

 (lily) was not a symbol peculiar to the kings of 

 France ; and it is not surprising that it composed 

 a part of those which were employed in the mys- 

 terious representations of antique Egypt, since it 

 was in former times the mark of power with some 

 sovereigns of this country, or of some adjacent 

 sovereignties. 



•to' 



A figure not less extraordinary than any of 

 those which I have just mentioned, is that of 

 plate XXXVI. Its position, the length of the 

 arms, equal to that of the thighs and legs taken 

 together, the deformity of all its parts, its head 



* Dissert, upon the ongin of the Fleurs-de-lis, by M. Rains- 

 sant, doctor and professor of medicine at Rheims, 1678. 



f Monum. of the French Monarchy, vol. i. prelim. dis» 

 course, p. 19, 



and 



