400 WILD FLOWERS. 



old tale of the knight, who, as noble and zealous as 

 he was ignorant and untaught, became from convic- 

 tion, a monk ; and being too advanced in age to 

 acquire the " book learning " not imparted to him 

 in his earlier days, could never repeat more than 

 two words of a single prayer. These were Ave 

 Maria, and with these he constantly addressed his 

 prayer to Heaven. Night and day the prayer ceased 

 not until the good knight died, and lay buried in 

 the chapel yard of the convent, when the acceptance 

 of his brief, but earnest, prayer was shewn by a plant 

 offleur de lys, which springing up on his grave, and 

 blossoming, displayed in every flower the words Ave 

 Maria shining as golden letters. The sight of this 

 induced the monks, who had formerly despised him 

 on account of his ignorance, to open the grave which 

 had produced so great a miracle ; when they found 

 that the root of the plant rested on the lips of the 

 pious old soldier who lay mouldering there.* 



Some writers again assert that France adopted 

 this device in honour of her noblest son, Bertrand 

 du Guesclin ; but the date of this brave Breton at 

 once contradicts it, although the mistake may have 

 arisen from his monarch Charles Y., having during 

 his lifetime re-arranged the shield, as before stated, t 



Reconsidering, then, the various opinions to which 

 I have referred, the reasonable conclusion is : 1. 

 That the fieur de lys was a conventional symbol 

 used long before it entered into the arms of France; 



* "Golden Legend." 



t Du Guesclin died in the year 1380. During the reign 

 of Charles V. considerable attention was paid to the subject of 



