3 o8 HERALDIC SCIENCE. 



of heraldry, gave its name to Dauphiny, one of the greatest fiefs of the 

 French crown. 



Shell-fish, serpents, and insects also form part of the figures used in 

 heraldry, but it is difficult to say what was the special signification attached 

 to them. Lowan Geliot, however, in his "Armorial Index," published in 

 1650, states that the cricket represents all the domestic virtues, because this 

 insect " only frequents the hearth of honest people." 



According to the same author, whose imagination gets the better of him, 

 as is the case with all the old heralds of arms, plants, flowers, and fruits had 

 all a fixed symbolism: the oak, for instance, meant power; the olive-tree, 

 peace ;' the vine, gladness ; the apple-tree, love ; the cypress, sadness ; the 



Fig. 249. Pope Paul III. (1534 1549}. A Chameleon carrying a Dolphin. 

 Motto, "Mature." 



pomegranate (Fig. 250), by an ingenious idea, was held to represent " the 

 alliance of nations and men united under one religion." Trifolium, columbine, 

 tierce-feuilles, quatre-feuilles, and quinte-feuilles represented hope, because their 

 appearance in the spring presaged the summer and autumn crops ; the rose 

 naturally typified grace and beauty. The fleur-de-lis (which in France, at all 

 events, may be called the queen of heraldic flowers) has a complex meaning, 

 which justifies its selection by French kings to variegate the azure field of 

 their banner bespangled with innumerable fleurs-de-lis or, before the heralds 

 reduced the number of flowers to three (Fig. 276). 



Various experts have argued that this so-called fleur-de-lis did not in 



