Scottish thistle. It would be tedious
here to refer to all, so let us just note that although the _Carduus
Marianus_, or the Blessed or Lady's Thistle--the origin of whose name we
have given--is very commonly accepted, so competent an authority on
Scottish lore as the author of Nether Lochaber rejects both that and all
other varieties in favour of the _Cnicus acaulis_, or the stemless
thistle. In doing this, he founds his belief upon the following
tradition: Once, during the invasion of Scotland by the Norsemen, the
invaders were stealing a march in the dark upon the Scots, when one of
the barefooted scouts placed his foot upon a thistle, which caused him
to cry out so loudly that the Scots were aroused, and, flying to their
horses, drove back the Danes with great slaughter. Now, this could not
happen, says Dr. Stewart, with any of the tall thistles, but only with
the stemless thistle, which has sharp, fine spikes, and grows close on
the ground.

This, at least, is as reasonable an explanation as any of the great
national badge of Scotland. It but remains to add that the first mention
of the thistle as a national emblem occurs in an inventory of the jewels
and other effects of James the Third, about 1467, and its first mention
in poetry is in a poem by Dunbar, written about 1503, to commemorate the
marriage of James the Fourth with Margaret Tudor, and called The
Thrissell and the Rois. The Order of the Thistle dates from James the
Seventh of Scotland and Second of England, about 1687.

And now, as we began with the wreath of parsley, which symbolized death,
let us end with the crown of orange-blossoms, which, among us, now
symbolizes the twofold life of the married state. Among the Greeks, the
brides used to wear garlands of myrtle and roses, because both of these
plants were associated with the Goddess of Love. In China the orange
has, from time immemorial, been an emblem of good luck, and is freely
used to present to friends and guests. But although the orange is said
to have been first brought by the Portuguese from China in 1547,
nevertheless this fruit is supposed to have been the golden apple of
Juno, which grew in the Garden of Hesperides. As the golden apple was
presented to the Queen of Heaven upon her marriage with Jupiter, we may
find here a definite explanation of the meaning attached to the fruit.

But, besides this, it seems that orange-blossom was used centuries ago
by Saracen brides in their personal d