BROOM. 
209 
BROOM. 
( Humility.) 
“ The memorial flower of a princely race.” 
G EOFFRY, Count of Anjou, acquired the surname 
of Plantagenet from the incident of his wearing 
a sprig of broom in his helmet on a day of battle. 
This Geoffry was second husband to Matilda, or Maud, 
Empress of Germany and daughter of Henry I. of Eng¬ 
land; and from this Plantagenet family were descended 
all our Edwards and Henrys. 
It could not be expected that so romantic a story 
would escape the poets, and accordingly we find it em¬ 
balmed in the following verses : 
“ Time was when thy golden chain of flowers 
Was linked, the warrior’s brow to bind ; 
When reared in the shelter of royal bowers, 
Thy wreath with a kingly coronal twined. 
“ The chieftain who bore thee high in his crest, 
And bequeathed to his race thy simple name, 
Long ages past has sunk to his rest, 
And only survives in the rolls of fame. 
“ Though a feeble thing that Nature forms, 
A frail and perishing flower art thou ; 
Yet thy race has survived a thousand storms 
That have made the monarch and warrior bow. 
“ The storied urn may be crumbled to dust, 
And time may the marble bust deface ; 
But thou wilt be faithful an.d firm to thy trust, 
The memorial flower of a princely race.” 
