DECEMBER 313 



honesta' Only honest things are good (Lord Cole- 

 brooke). 



Nothing in heraldic lore is more quaint than the 

 traditional origin of the motto, ' Honi soit qui mal y 

 pense,' adopted for the oldest extant Order of Chivalry 

 in the world the Garter. Knights of the Thistle are 

 well content with the motto of the Kings of Scotland, 

 ' Nemo me impune lacessit,' or, as Scots love to have 

 it in the vernacular Wha daur meddle wi' me? 

 a sentiment so finely condensed into 'Defence not 

 Defiance ' for the Volunteer Force lately extinguished. 

 As for the Order of St. Patrick, its motto, 'Quis 

 separabit?' Who shall separate us? will receive a 

 different answer according to the quarter to which it 

 is addressed. 



To conclude : there never was a nobler motto devised 

 for any peer than that conferred upon John Scott, son 

 of a Newcastle ' coal-fitter,' when he was raised to the 

 peerage as Lord Eldon in 1799, and received with his 

 grant of arms the legend, 'Sit sine labe decus' Let 

 honour be stainless ! 



In sounding the praise of this beautiful lily on page 

 146 I meant, but forgot, to add a mild but The Nankin 

 firm protest against the scientific title my - 

 Lilium testaceum which modern classifiers have 

 affixed to it. Now testaceum means ' of the colour of 

 brick ' or, at best, of terra-cotta, which is a gross libel 



