THIS TLE. 
(. Independence.) 
‘ The thistle shall bloom on the bed of the brave.”— Anon. 
S the national emblem of Scotland the Thistle has 
been celebrated, far and wide, by the many bards 
of its brave people. There is some little doubt as 
to how this flower was first adopted oy the Scots. Some 
patriotic authors go back to the days of the Piets in order 
to trace the origin of its use, and adduce a romantic legend 
in proof of the antiquity of the custom. Be this as it may, 
the Plantagenets were not prouder of the broom than 
were the Stuarts of their thistle; and princes of the royal 
house were wont to wear the Cluas-ciu-pheidh, as it is called 
in Gaelic, with all the respect that its presumed antique 
and honourable history entitled it to. The poets of 
Scotland are ever ready to pay it homage, and the follow¬ 
ing thoroughly characteristic poem, to be found in Plogg’s 
‘Jacobite Relics,’ is supposed to have been written by 
the Ettrick Shepherd himself: 
“ ‘ Let them boast of the country gave Patrick his fame, 
Of the land of the ocean and Anglian name, 
With the red blushing roses and shamrock so green ; 
Far dearer to me are the hills of the North, 
The land of blue mountains, the birthplace of worth ; 
Those mountains where Freedom has fixed her abode, 
Those wide-spreading glens where no slave ever trode. 
Where blooms the red heather and thistle so green. 
