12 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
and if Bayard, the “ knight without fear and 
without reproach,” obtained from the lady of his 
heart a pair of elegant bracelets and a silken 
purse—the favoured knight of a more recent 
age received from the hand of his mistress the 
less costly gift of a simple flower. The pre¬ 
sents given in this manner by ladies to their 
favourite champions were soon converted into 
emprises, or devices, and were worn on those 
parts of the dress or armour which an adversary 
was obliged to touch when he challenged the 
possessor of the emprise to single combat. 
In France, during the middle ages, flowers 
were much employed as emblems of love and 
friendship. At the banquet given in celebration 
of the marriage of Charles the Bold, Duke of 
Burgundy, with the English Princess Margaret, 
several ingenious automata were introduced— 
among others was a large unicorn, bearing on 
its hack a leopard, which held in one claw the 
standard of England, and in the other a daisy, 
the French name of which is Marguerite. The 
unicorn, having gone round all the tables, 
halted before the Duke ; and one of the maitres 
d’hotel, taking the daisy from the leopard’s 
