628 
REMARKS IN ILLUSTRATION 
also represented in all pictures of the salutation of Gabriel to the 
Virgin Mary; and, in fact, has been held in mysterious vener¬ 
ation by people of all nations and times. The old heraldic 
work of “ The Theatre of Honour,” published in France about 
two hundred years ago, gives this curious account of the lotos 
or lily: — “ It is the symbol of divinity, of purity, and abund¬ 
ance, and of a love most complete in perfection, charity, and 
benediction; as in Holy Scripture, that mirror of chastity, Su¬ 
sanna, is defined Susa, which signifieth the lily flower; the chief 
city of the Persians bearing that name for excellency. Hence 
the lily’s three leaves in the arms of France, meaneth Piety, 
Justice, and Charity.” So far the general impression of a pecu¬ 
liar regard to this beautiful and fragrant flower; but the early 
Persians attached a particular sanctity to it. 
Water, according to their belief, was held in the next degree of 
reverence to fire; and the white flower which sprung from the 
bosom of the colder element, was considered an emblem of its 
purity, submissiveness, and, above all, of its fecundity, when meet¬ 
ing the rays of the great solar flame. These symbols, united in 
the lily their joint properties had produced, represented to the 
poetical conceptions of the East, first, the creative and regener¬ 
ating attributes of the Supreme Being himself; and, secondly, 
the imparted powers of the great elements of earth, air, water, 
and fire, to act mutually on each other, so that, at the return of 
certain seasons, moisture should spread over the land, from the 
clouds or the rivers, the air should dry the ground, the sun’s 
beams fructify it, and the grateful earth, at the call of all united in 
the genial breath of spring, put forth her increase. Hence, as the 
sovereigns of the East have always been revered, according to a 
tradition of their being the express vicegerents of the Deity, it is 
