ORDER OF THE THISTLE.

13

Institutions of the Princely Orders of Collars,” presented to King James soonafter his succession to the Throne of England, by Sir William Segar, Garter,where the Knots, as in the Collar of King James the Fifth, are like the figureof an Eight; and the Badge is a gold oval, charged with a Saltire argent, on anazure ground. Though there is no appearance of Sprigs of Rue 2 in any of thepreceding sketches of Collars, they occur in two contemporary representations,namely, in Favine’s Theater of Honour, published in 1623, and in a Collectionof Drawings of the Orders of Knighthood, made in 1629; 2 3 but on theaccuracy of neither can much confidence be placed. Mirseus, 4 however, statesthat the Collar was made of Thistles and Sprigs of Rue; and the RoyalAchievements of Scotland, in Sir George Mackenzie’s “ Science of Heraldry,”published in 1680, are surrounded by a Collar of Thistles, linked with sprigs ofRue, to which a Badge, with the Image of Saint Andrew having the Cross onhis breast, is suspended.

In a Portrait of King James, engraved soon after his marriage with Anneof Denmark, though no Order appears on His person, the Royal Arms aresurrounded with a Collar and Badge; but in other Portraits, somewhat later,he is represented wearing the Badge suspended to a Ribband. On the Medalstruck in 1633, to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles the First in

2 Sprigs of Rue occur in the present Collar, and, according to Nisbet, (II. 12,) were introducedinto the Collar by King Achaius, to demonstrate to his enemies that he had power to make alltheir practices unprofitable ! Dunbar alludes to the Rue in some Verses “ To a Layde,” (Ed. Laing,Vol. I. p. 27,) as emblematical of Mercy or Compassion:

“ Sweet Rois of vertew and of gentilness,

Delytsum Lyllie of everie lustyness,

Richest in bontie, and in bewtie cleir,

And everie vertew that is held most deir,

Except onlie that ye ar mercyless.

In to your garthe this day I did persew,

Thair saw I flowris that fresche wer of hew;

Baithe quhyte and reid moist lusty wer to seyne,

And halsum herbis upone stalkis grene,

Yit leif nor flour fynd could I nane of Rew.

I dout that Merche, with his cauld blastis keyne,

Hes slane this gentili herbe, that I of mene;

Quhois petewous deithe dois to my heart sic pane,

That I wald mak to plant his rute again,

So confortand his levis unto me bene.”

Shakespeare describes Rue as the “ Herb of Grace.”—Richard II. Act in. sc. 4. Hamlet, Act iv. sc. 5.

3 Harleian MS. 4038.

4 Vide the Appendix.