never
were lilies in the Holy Land--but is it so?--it is none the less certain
that a whole series of symbols were derived from this plant both by the
ancients and in mediaeval times.

"Look, for instance, at Origen; to him the lily is Christ, for Our Lord
alluded to Himself when He said, 'I am the flower of the field and the
lily of the valley;' and in these words, the field, meaning tilled land,
represents the Hebrew people, taught by God Himself, while the valleys
or fallow land are the ignorant, or, in other words, the heathen.

"Again, turn to Peter Cantor. According to him, the lily is the Virgin,
by reason of its whiteness, of its perfume delectable above all others,
of its healing virtues; and finally, because it grows in uncultivated
ground, as the Virgin was born of Jewish parents."

"As regards the therapeutic virtues mentioned by Petrus Cantor," said
the Abbe Plomb, "I may add that the Anonymous English writer of the
thirteenth century tells us that the lily is a sovereign remedy for
burns, and for this cause is an image of the Virgin, who heals sinners
of their burns--that is to say, of their vices."

"You may further consult Saint Methodus, Saint Mechtildis, Peter of
Capua, and the English monk of whom you spoke, and you will find that
the lily is the attribute, not only of the Virgin Mary, but of virginity
in general and of all virgins.

"And here is a posy of meanings culled from Saint Eucher, who compares
the whiteness of the lily to the purity of the angels; from Saint
Gregory the Great, who says its fragrance is like the works of the
saints; and again from Raban Maur, who speaks of the lily as emblematic
of celestial beatitude, of the beauty of holiness, of the Church, of
perfection, of chastity in the flesh."

"Not to forget that, according to the translation of Origen, the Lily
among Thorns is the Church in the midst of its enemies," the Abbe Plomb
put in.

"Then it is Jesus, His Mother, the Angels, the Church, the Virgins,
everything at once!" exclaimed Durtal. "We cannot but wonder how these
mystic gardeners could discern so many meanings in one and the same
plant!"

"Why, you can see: the symbolists not only considered the analogies and
resemblances they discovered between the form, scent, and colour of a
flower and the being with whom they compared it; they also studied the
Bible, especially the passages wherein a tree or flower was named, and
they then ascribed to it such qualities a