is referred to. But the weight of evidence seem to favour the iris
theory, this plant having been undoubtedly famous in French history.
Once more, by some,[4] the name fleur-de-lys has been derived from Löys,
in which manner the twelve first Louis signed their names, and which was
easily contracted into Lys. Some consider it means the flower that grows
on the banks of the river Lis, which separated France and Artois from
Flanders. Turning to the literature of the past, Shakespeare has several
allusions to the plant, as in "I Henry VI," where a messenger enters and
exclaims:--

"Awake, awake, English nobility!
Let not sloth dim your honours new begot;
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms;
Of England's coat one half is cut away."

Spenser mentions the plant, and distinguishes it from the lily:--

"Show mee the grounde with daifadown-dillies,
And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lillies;
The pretty pawnee,
And the cherisaunce,
Shall march with the fayre flowre delice."

Another instance is the mignonette of our French neighbours, known also
as the "love-flower." One of the names of the deadly nightshade is
belladonna which reminds us of its Italian appellation, and "several of
our commonest plant names are obtained from the Low German or Dutch, as,
for instance, buckwheat (_Polygonum fagopyrum_), from the Dutch
_bockweit_." The rowan-tree (_Pyrus aucuparia_) comes from the Danish
_röun_, Swedish _rünn_, which, as Dr. Prior remarks, is traceable to the