ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
the artist who designed the Health Insurance stamps. If pre- 
paratory to putting on one of these stamps you examine the 
festoon of national emblems you will find in it four daffodil 
blossoms in different positions. 
Of course, from an heraldic and historic point of view the leek 
holds the field as the emblem of Wales, but for aesthetic reasons 
the daffodil may on future occasions take its place. 
In leaving the badges of the British Isles we may pass on to the 
floral emblem of our friendly neighbours across the Channel. The 
origin of the fleur-de-lis in the arms of France has furnished an 
ample field for controversy. Whatever may be the source of the 
device, it has played an important part in the history of the nation 
and has a special interest for Englishmen, because for five hundred 
years three fleurs-de-lis were included in the British coat-of-arms, 
in order to maintain the claim that our monarchs were also kings 
of France. 
From early times the flower of the lily was associated with the 
Virgin Mary, and various Frankish kings adopted it as a proof that 
they were heaven- appointed monarchs. Such a feeling must have 
influenced Louis VII. of France in the middle of the 12th century, 
when, excommunicated by the Pope, and his kingdom laid under 
an interdict, he determined to take a leading part in the second 
Crusade of a.d. 1147, and thereupon assumed a personal 
cognizance emblazoned on his banner to serve as a rallying sign for 
his host of followers. He chose the iris, or lily as it was called 
in those days, and on his return from Palestine, the flower became 
celebrated as the national emblem, and was not only used in the 
arms of France, but employed in the decorative embellishments 
of the crown itself. Henceforth it was known as the Fleur-de- 
Louis, probably a rebus on the king's name, subsequently as 
Fleur-de-lyuce, and in less accurate times as Fleur-de-lis. 
It may be remembered that Shakespeare writes of <f lilies of all 
kinds, the flower de luce being one," as though they were different 
plants, but from the time of Turner in the 16th century onwards, 
all the botanical writers identify the iris as the Lily of France, and 
with this judgment most modern writers agree. 
The form of the fleur-de-lis bears out this origin, for although 
it is represented in art and sculpture with many variations, in all 
of them can easily be recognised the conventionalised shape of the 
upper petals of the common yellow iris or flag, when fully 
expanded and viewed from the front. 
From its historical association no prouder emblem can be met 
with amongst our native wild flowers. To refer to its place in 
later history we find the fleur-de-lis in combination with the lions 
of England for the first time in a.d. 1299, on the occasion of the 
marriage of Edward I. with his second queen, Margaret of France. 
A century later, when Edward III. claimed the crown of France 
he reduced the number of fleurs-de-lis on the arms of England, and 
from that time the well-known group of three flowers remained, 
