402 WILD FLOWERS. 



compass to symbolise the north by its reputed in- 

 ventor, Flavio Gioia, of Amalfi, in the year 1302, 

 who thus intended to pay a delicate compliment to 

 the French descent of the then King of Naples. 



Iris, the ancient name of the plant, preserved in 

 modern botany, was bestowed by the Greeks, either 

 from the varied and delicately blended hues which 

 the greater part of the tribe present ; or, according 

 to others, from the arc-like form given by the re- 

 flexed petals, though Pliny says it was from the 

 variety of its colours resembling the rainbow. The 

 flower was called, according to Philinus, " the wolf/' 

 from its supposed resemblance to the lips of that 

 animal; and some made it the symbol of a mes- 

 senger on account of its name of iris.* It was also 

 held in the highest esteem as a medicine : curing 

 coughs, bruises, " evil spleens/' convulsions, dropsies 

 and serpent-bites, and, as Gerard e says, " doth 

 mightilie, and vehementlie, draw forth choler." It 

 was even employed as a cosmetic, and still finds 

 favour for this purpose in the eyes of our rustic 

 maidens. But it is to be used with caution, as 

 Gerarde thus refers to its powers ; " clene washed, 

 and stamped with a few drops of rose-water, and 

 laid plaisterwise vpon the face of man or woman, it 



* By a strange misconception of Plutarch's statement re- 

 specting the pupil of the eye, this plant has been said to signify 

 in the hieroglyphical language of ancient Egypt, the eye of 

 Heaven. But the eye represented the land of Egypt, ac- 

 cording to Plutarch, from the blackness of the soil resembling 

 that of the pupil of the eye, and the eye with a sceptre signi- 

 fied Osiris, his name, according to some, being interpreted 

 " many-eyed." 



