IOO 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
it is an Iris. For the Lily theory there are the facts that 
Shakespeare calls it one of the Lilies, and that the other way 
of spelling it is Fleur-de-lys. I find also a strong confirmation 
of this in the writings of St. Francis de Sales (contemporary 
with Shakespeare). “ Charity,” he says, “ comprehends the 
seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, and resembles a beautiful 
Flower-de-luce, which has six leaves whiter than snow, and in 
the middle the pretty little golden hammers ” (“ Philo,” book 
xi., Mulholland’s translation). This description will in no way 
fit the Iris, but it may very well be applied to the White Lily. 
Chaucer, too, seems to connect the Fleur-de-luce with the 
Lily— 
“ Her nekke was white as the Flour de Lis.” 
These are certainly strong authorities for saying that the 
Flower-de-luce is the Lily. But there are as strong or stronger 
on the other side. Spenser separates the Lilies from the 
Flower-de-luces in his pretty lines— 
“Strow mee the grounde with Daffadown-Dillies, 
And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and loved Lillies; 
The Pretty Pawnee 
And the Chevisaunce 
Shall match with the fayre Floure Delice.” 
Shepherd's Calendar. 
Ben Jonson separates them in the same way— 
‘‘Bring rich Carnations, Flower-de-luces, Lillies.” 
Bacon also separates them: “ In April follow the double 
White Violet, the Wall-flower, the Stock-Gilliflower, the Cows¬ 
lip, the Flower-de-luces, and Lilies of all Natures; ” and so 
does Drayton— 
“ The Lily and the Flower de Lis 
For colours much contenting .”—Nymphal V. 
In heraldry also the Fleur-de-lis and the Lily are two dis¬ 
tinct bearings. Then, from the time of Turner in 1568, 
through Gerard and Parkinson to Miller, all the botanical 
writers identify the Iris as the plant named, and with this 
