The term "to give or make the fig," as an expression of insult, has for many ages been very prevalent among the nations of Europe, and, according to Douce,[497] was known to the Romans. It consists in thrusting the thumb between two of the closed fingers, or into the mouth, a practice, as some say,[498] in allusion to a contemptuous punishment inflicted on the Milanese, by the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, in 1162, when he took their city. This, however, is altogether improbable, the real origin, no doubt, being a coarse representation of a disease, to which the name of _ficus_ or fig has always been given.[499]
[497] "Illustrations of Shakespeare," pp. 302-308.
[498] See Nares's "Glossary," vol. i. p. 305.
[499] See Gifford's note on Jonson's Works, vol. i. p. 52; Dyce's "Glossary," p. 161; Du Cange's "Glossary;" Connelly's "Spanish and English Dictionary," 4to.
The "fig of Spain," spoken of in "Henry V." (iii. 6), may either allude to the poisoned fig employed in Spain as a secret way of destroying an obnoxious person, as in Webster's "White Devil:"[500]
"I do look now for a Spanish fig, or an Italian salad, daily;"
"I must poison him; One fig sends him to Erebus;"
or it may, as Mr. Dyce remarks,[502] simply denote contempt or insult in the sense already mentioned.
[501] Edited by Gifford and Dyce, vol. i. p. 231.
_Flower-de-luce._ The common purple iris which adorns our gardens is now generally agreed upon as the fleur-de-luce, a corruption of fleur de Louis--being spelled either fleur-de-lys or fleur-de-lis. It derives its name from Louis VII., King of France, who chose this flower as his heraldic emblem when setting forth on his crusade to the Holy Land. It had already been used by the other French kings, and by the emperors of Constantinople; but it is still a matter of dispute among antiquarians as to what it was originally intended to represent. Some say a flower, some a toad, some a halbert-head. It is uncertain what plant is referred to by Shakespeare when he alludes to the flower-de-luce in the following passage[503] in "2 Henry VI." (v. 1), where the Duke of York says:
"A sceptre shall it have,--have I a soul,-- On which I'll toss the flower-de-luce of France."
