NAPOLEONS EMBLEM.
Napoleon 1., wishing to have some regal emblem more ancient than the fleur-de-lys, is said to have adopted the bee under the following circumstances : —When the tomb of Childeric (the father of Clovis) was opened in 1653, there were found, besides tbe skeletons of his horse and page, his arms, &c., a great number of what the French heralds mistook for bees. These were “of the purest gold, their wings being inlaid with a red stone, like cornelian.’* These “bees” were accordingly sprinkled over tbe imperial robe as emblematical of enterprise and activity. But these small ornaments resembling bees were only what in French are called Jleurons, supposed to have been attached to the harness of the war-horse. Handfuls of them were found when the tomb was opened at Tonrnay, and sent to Louis XIV. They were deposited upon a green ground at Versailles, which was adopted by Napoleon as the orginal Merovingian colour.
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Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 9092, 1 May 1890, Page 7
Word Count
156NAPOLEONS EMBLEM. Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 9092, 1 May 1890, Page 7
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