“This shield rests on a larger shield, showing, first, the fleurs-de-lis of France: second, a cross, denoting persecution: third, an open Bible, denoting the cause: fourth, a palmetto tree, showing where freedom was found.
“On one side of this large shield is a spray of marigold, the Huguenot emblem, and on the other side, a spray of wall-flower, the French name for which is Ravenelle.”
Mr. Ravenel died in September, 1894; he was a direct descendant of René Ravenel, a Huguenot emigré from Bretagne, who settled in South Carolina in 1685.
Another of Mr. Ravenel’s ancestors was the first pastor of the little French Protestant church in Charleston, S.C., of which Mr. Ravenel was one of the elders at the time of his death. Indeed, everything connected with Huguenot history had a charm for him, as was shown by his zeal in collecting books, maps, manuscripts and coins dealing with it. He was almost as keen in searching for records concerning his native state of South Carolina, in addition to which he possessed one of the most interesting and valuable collections of book-plates then known in the United States.
CHAPTER XII.
BOOK-PLATES OF MEDICAL MEN.
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