4 6 
SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
her sword-sheath embroidered with the royal arms, 
Joan says : 
Here is my keen-edged sword, 
Decked with five flower-de-luces on each side ; 
and yet again, 2 Hen . VI (V. i. 8): 
I cannot give due action to my words 
Except a sword or sceptre balance it: 
A sceptre it shall have, have I a soul, 
On which I’ll toss the flower-de-luce of France. 
The fleur-de-lis itself, so different from the birds 
and animals of prey assumed by other Sovereigns, is 
explained by the beautiful legend that it was brought 
by an angel to Clovis, King of the Franks, at his 
baptism, as a special grace from the Blessed Mary, 
and this was even assigned as a title to precedence 
by the French Bishops at the Council of Trent. It 
was probably little more than a rebus signifying 
Fleur-de-Louis, the Kings of that name calling 
themselves Lois or Loys, and it first appears on the 
coins of Louis VI. and VII. The arms of France in 
the form Azure, semee de lis, called by the heralds 
France Ancient, was quartered by England after 
1340 ; but in 1405 the modern coat of France 
(Azure, three fleurs-de-lis) was substituted, and this 
shield of England remained in use until the close of 
the reign of Elizabeth. The fleur-de-lis finally dis¬ 
appeared from our national arms in 1801, on the 
union with Ireland. 
The plant to be considered next is once again 
generic, and embraces in all probability members of 
the two orders Cruciferae and Caryophyllese. To the 
former the “ white and yellow gilloflowers ” of 
Stevens belong, and are represented by the plants 
still called in Warwickshire gilliflowers and Whitsun 
gillies, the one the beautifully variegated plant 
which decks with its gorgeous colouring many a 
