LEGUMINIFERiB. 13 



for the Holy Land ; but the plant has been from a remote period the badge of 

 Bretagne. l\Iay not it have been assumed by Henry on account of his claim to the 

 sovereignty of that country, which he afterwards obtained. 



The Broom frequently occurs as an ornament in the wardrobe rolls both of 

 England and France. We read that the queen of Richard II. had a dress of rosemary 

 and broom in gold and silk on a white ground. A Broom plant, his own heraldic 

 device, with its oj)en pods despoiled of its seeds, ornaments the tomb of this same 

 lady's husband in Westminster Abbey. Antiquarians have spent not a little learning 

 and research on the origin of this simple emblem. We are inclined to agree with the 

 charming authoress ot " Weeds and Wild Flowers," who says, " They have overlooked 

 the simple beauty of this design — they have not felt with the designer the truthful 

 force of the silent record. The ripened seed had fallen from its husk ; the germ of 

 immortality was parted from its shell ; the body was laid in the dust and the soul 

 ■was called into a life eternal ere the marble tomb was raised." Rarely, indeed, doe.s 

 the sculptured shield or stately tomb convey its lessons to us with so much truth and 

 dignity as in that empty broom-pod. Those who are learned in old historic lore tell 

 us that from very early times the Broom was a favourite emblem in France. In the 

 year 1234, St. Louis, as he is called, celebrated the coronation of his queen by 

 establishing a new order of knighthood — the Soldiers of the Broom — MiUtes genestelke, 

 the collar of which was composed of broom-flowers interwoven with the white lily, signi- 

 fying humility and purity, and bearing a golden cross with the motto "Exaltat humiks." 

 In 1 368 we read of Charles V. ot France bestowing the insignia of the " Broom-pod " 

 on his favourite chamberlain. In 1389, Charles VI. gave the same decoration to liis 

 kinsmen, creating them knights of " the Star of the Broom-pods." The Highland 

 clan Forbes are true Plantagenets so far as their device goes, for the Broom is still their 

 distinctive badge. 



The Broom is known to be a very exhaustive crop to the land, so that a hedge 

 of it will impoverish the ground for some distance on each side of it. It is said that 

 sheep which eat the pods become subject to a sort of intoxication, and yet it is 

 supposed by fanners to be beneficial to them in some conditions, and the intoxicating 

 eflFects soon pass off. The inebriating properties of these pods do not act only on 

 the brute creation. Allan Ramsay, when speaking of the ale brewed by a certain 

 landlady, says : — 



" Some say it was with pith (pips ?) of broom, 



Which she stowed in her masking loom. 



Which in our heads raised sic a soom." 



Before the introduction of hops, broom-tops were often used to communicate a 

 bitter flavour to beer. The young flower-buds are occasionally pickled and used as a 

 substitute for capers. The stems yield an excellent fibre, which was formerly woven 

 into cloth in this country, and is now used for this purpose in the south of France, 

 while the refuse supplies the manufacture with firing. Paper is also made from this 

 fibre. As an article ot domestic cleanliness, the Broom may have originally obtained 

 its common name. 



" The vagrant artist oft at eve reclines. 

 And Broom's green shoots in besoms neat combines." 



Dr. Prior tells us that the name " comes from Brom or Brame, a word of the same 

 origin as bramble, but at present applied exclusively to a shrub of which besoms are 

 made, and called from it brooms." The branches have been used for tanning leather, 



