DAISY APPRECIATION 85 



emblem. Louis the Ninth of France took this flower 

 as his device in honour of his beloved consort 

 Marguerite, wearing a ring of fleurs-de-lis and 

 daisies entwined, with the inscription, "What we 

 cherish," the fleur-de-lis standing for his devotion 

 to la belle France, the daisy his affection for la belle 

 Marguerite. Margaret of Anjou, the wife of our 

 King Henry VI., also bore the daisy, little as it 

 suited her imperious nature, as her device. Drayton 

 tells how the nobles thronged to meet her when 

 she landed at Southampton, and how each and 

 all wore her cognisance 



u Of either sex who doth now delight 

 To wear the daisy for queen Marguerite ? " 



Prosaic as it may appear after sentiments so poetic, 

 associations so regal "the iuyce of the leaves given 

 to little dogs with milk keepeth them from growing 

 great." Victims "to all kinde of paines, but 

 especially in the ioynts," gouty folk, people 

 troubled with " naughtie humours " (of physical, 

 not moral, origin), bruises l or swellings of all 

 kindes, all resort in earlier days to this little plant 

 for alleviation of their various ailments. 



Readers of Chaucer will recall his delight to sally 

 forth on the bright May mornings to see the open- 

 ing daisies unfolding in the sunlight, and this 

 1 Hence an old name was bruise wort, 



