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language of flowers. 
the favoured knight of a more recent age received 
from the hand of his mistress the less costly gift of 
a simple flower. The presents 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 adver¬ 
sary 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 gallantry. 
At the banquet given in celebration of the marriage 
of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, with the 
English Princess Margaret, several ingenious auto¬ 
mata were introduced — among others was a large 
unicorn, bearing on his back a leopard, which held 
in one claw the standard of England, and in the 
other a daisy, the French name of which is Mar¬ 
guerite. The unicorn, having gone round all the 
tables, halted before the Duke, and one of the mai- 
tres d'hutel, taking the daisy from the leopard’s 
claw, presented it, with a complimentary address, to 
the royal bridegroom. 
In Spain, gallantry was forced to take a different 
direction; for there the fair sex were kept under 
such rigid restraint, that a lover scarcely ever had 
