Imp J.Ri&oelC" THE ROSE: HISTORY, POETRY, CULTURE, AND CLASSIFICATION. BY S. B. PARSONS NEW YORK. WILEY & PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY. 1847. I I / Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by S. B. PARSONS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. Stereotyped by C. Davison & Co., 33 Gold street, N. Y. PREFACE*. THE commencement and partial preparation of this work assisted to beguile the tedium of a winter's residence from home, where even Orange and Magnolia groves, with the luxuriant vegetation of a semi- tropical region, could scarcely dispel the ennui attending a life of idleness. Our especial object has been to throw around the culture of the Rose a halo of pleasant thoughts and associations ; and while to the mere cultivator there may seem much irrelevant matter of his- tory, poetry, and the like, we think that it will not thus seem to all. For the classical scholar, the early history of the Rose, and its con- nection with the manners and customs of the two great nations of a former age, will impart to it no slight interest ; while the various poetic effusions, which we. have endeavored to string together in a multifarious garland, will clothe our favorite flower with additional charms in the eyes of many, and render it perhaps more attractive with the gentler sex, to whom pre-eminently belong the culture and the care of flowers. For many interesting facts in the History and Culture of the Rose, we are indebted to Deslongchamps, Vibert, Laffay, and several anony- mous writers. To the former we wish most fully to express our obli- gations, both for the plan of this work and for many interesting facts and researches, to which we cannot conveniently attach his name in the body of the work. Upon the classification we have bestowed much thought, and al- though we do not feel quite satisfied with the system we have adopted, it is the best that occurs to us in the present condition of rose culture. The amateur will, we think, find the labor of selection much dimin- ished by the increased simplicity of the mode we have adopted, while the commercial gardener will in nowise be injured by the change. IV PREFACE. In directions for culture, we give the results of our own experience, and have not hesitated to avail ourselves of any satisfactory results in the experience of others, which might enhance the utility of the work. The colored engravings were drawn from nature, by one of the best Parisian artists, and are deemed correct portraits. While we do not claim exemption from hyper criticism in any form, we readily express our willingness to be ever open to conviction, in a field where, among the varied results of experiment and skill, there is much room for difference of opinion. For our labor we shall feel abundantly compensated, if the publica- tion of this work shall in any way tend to produce a more general ad- miration and increased culture of the most beautiful denizen of the floral kingdom. S. B. P. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Early History of the Rose, and Fables respecting its origin. - - 7 CHAPTER II. Luxurious Use of the Rose, 14 CHAPTER III. The Rose in Ceremonies and Festivals, and in the Adornment of Burial Places 21 CHAPTER IV. The Rose in the Middle Ages, 29 CHAPTER V. Perfumes of the Rose, 38 CHAPTER VI. Medical Properties of the Rose, 51 CHAPTER VII. General Remarks, --------------55 CHAPTER VIII. Poetry of the Rose, 61 CHAPTER IX. General Culture of the Rose, 127 CHAPTER X. Soil, Situation, and Planting, - 146 CHAPTER XI. Pruning and Training, 151 CHAPTER XII. Potting and Forcing, 157 1* VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. Propagation, CHAPTER XIV. Multiplication by Seed and Hybridizing, - CHAPTER XV. Diseases of the Rose, CHAPTER XVI. Botanical Classification, CHAPTER XVII. Garden Classification, PAGE 168 181 191 211 237 HISTORY OF THE ROSE. CHAPTER I. THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE, AND FABLES RESPECTING ITS ORIGIN. ERY little is known of the early history of the Rose, or who were its first cultivators ; and on this point all is conjecture. Mention of it is made in the ancient Coptic manuscripts, while nothing concerning it can be distinguished, with any degree of certainty, on the Egyptian monuments which are left us. Bocastre, the French traveler, observes, that he carefully searched all the monuments in Egypt, and could find neither sculpture nor w painting, figure nor hieroglyphic, that would lead us to suppose that the Rose was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians. We are, however, induced to believe that this beautiful flower was known to them, from the fact that several varieties are now found in Egypt. Dr. Delile, Director of the Botanic Garden at Mont- pelier, and with whom we enjoyed some pleasant intercourse during a recent visit to that place, was with Napoleon in his expedition to Egypt. In his valuable published account of that expedition, he mentions that he found there two varieties of the Rose Rosa alba and Rosa centifolia ; and there is also reason to believe, that under Domitian the Egyptians cultivated 8 EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. another variety Rosa bifera. It is quite probable that the Rose was planted in the celebrated gardens of Babylon, the formation of which is attributed to Semiramis, about 1200 years before the Christian era ; and it also appears probable, from the testimony of modern travelers, that several kinds of roses crossed over into Persia. It is very certain that the Rose was cultivated by the Jews during the reign of Solomon, about two centuries after Semi- ramis ; for mention of this flower is made in the Scripture books attributed to that king. In the Song of Solomon, he says : " I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the valleys ;" and in the Apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon " Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered." It also appears, by several passages of the Book of Ecclesi- asticus, the author of which lived about 700 years after Solo- mon, that the Jews possessed beautiful gardens of roses, particu- larly at Jericho. " I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, and as a rose-plant in Jericho :" xxiv. 14. " Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of the field :" xxxix. 13. " And as the flower of roses in the spring of the year :" 1. 8. These passages prove that this most fertile and beautiful portion of Palestine abounded in roses, palms and cedars. They no longer, however, abound ; for while "the cedars wave on Lebanon," and the solitary palm stands in its isolated beauty, the Rose has entirely disap- peared ; and that now called the Rose of Jericho, is but a little plant of the family of Cruciferce. The Greeks cultivated the Rose at an early period, during the time of Homer, who lived about 200 years after the wise Hebrew monarch. In the Iliad and Odyssey he borrows the brilliant colors of the Rose to paint the rising of the sun. Aurora, according to this poet, has fingers of roses, and perfumes the air with roses. Few poets are more celebrated than Homer for beauty of conception, and for his frequent similes borrowed from natural objects. His selection, in this instance, evinces that the Rose was neither an unknown nor an unadmired flower. Herodotus, who lived EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. 9 about 400 years before the Christian era, mentions that in Mace- donia, in the gardens which were supposed to have belonged to Midas, there were roses of sixty petals, which grew spontaneously without culture, and emitted a most delightful perfume. Ancient writings are full of allusions to the Rose and fabulous accounts of its origin. From its brilliant colors, melting into each other as the shades of night melt into the glowing richness of the rising sun, it was frequently consecrated to Aurora. It was also consecrated to Harpocrates, the patron of Silence, of which it was considered the symbol. Thus the expression "sub rosa " (under the Rose), signified that all that was said should remain secret ; and there is scarcely used a more expressive de- vice for a seal, than the simple figure of a Rose. It was the cus- tom, in some of the northern countries, to suspend a Rose over the table in the dining-room, reminding the guests that silence should be observed respecting all that might be said during the meal. Anacreon, Bion, Theocritus, Apollodorus, and others, relate various fables respecting its origin and its obtaining the bright color for which it is distinguished. One fable relates that Flora, having found the dead body of one of her favorite nymphs, whose beauty could only be equalled by her virtue, implored the assistance of all the Olympian deities, to aid her in changing it into a flower, which all others should ac- knowledge to be their queen. Apollo lent the vivifying power of his beams, Bacchus bathed it in nectar, Vertumnus gave its per- fume, Pomona its fruit, and Flora herself gave its diadem of flowers. A beetle is often represented on antique gems, as expir- ing, surrounded by roses ; arid this is supposed to be an emblem of luxurious enervation ; the beetle being said to have such an antipathy to roses, that the smell of them will cause its death. From the earliest period, the Greeks gave to the Rose the pref- erence over all other plants, and distinguished it as the " Queen of Flowers." In the fragments which still exist of Sappho, who lived about 600 years before the Christian era, there are lines in which the Rose is placed in the highest rank. It is, however, in the ode which Anacreon has especially 10 EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. devoted to the praise of the Rose, that there seems a truly enthu- siastic love for that beautiful flower. Nothing which has been written on this subject, can equal the beauty of this little gem, even clothed, as it is, in the somewhat inflated style of the au- thor. It will be found on another page. Since Sappho and Anacreon, many poets, both ancient and modern, have celebrated, in their songs, the charming qualities of the Rose. They have chosen it for an emblem of the most beautiful things for the most pleasing and delightful com- parisons ; and they have united in making it the symbol of inno- cence, of modesty, of grace, and of beauty. Quite a volume might be collected of all the verses and pleasant sentences that have been inspired by the elegant form of the Rose its charm- ing color and delightful fragrance. Some of these we have in- serted in another part of the work. Nothing proves better the preference which has always existed for this beautiful flower, than the thoughts expressed by Sappho. Anacreon and the other poets of antiquity have since imitated her in almost every language, and the lines of these have sacrificed nothing of her elegance and freshness. The poets and writers of the East have abundantly celebrated, in their works, the beauties of the Rose. According to the Boun- Dehesch, of Zoroaster, the stem of that flower was free from thorns until the entrance of Ahrimanus (the evil one) into the world ; the universal spirit of evil, according to their doctrine, affecting not only man but also the inferior animals, and even the very trees and plants. The same work states, that every flower is appropriated to a particular angel, and that the hun- dred-leaved Rose (Rosa centifolia) is consocrated to an archangel of the highest order. Basil, one of the early fathers, had un- doubtedly seen these passages in oriental works, when he related that at the creation of the world the Rose had no thorns, and that they were gradually furnished with them as mankind be- came more corrupt. The oriental writers also represent the nightingale as sighing for the love of the Rose ; and many beautiful stanzas have arisen EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. 11 from this fable. According to the Language of Flowers ; " In a curious fragment by the celebrated Persian poet Attar, entitled Bulbul Namehj the Book of the Nightingale, all the birds appeal- before Solomon, and charge the nightingale with disturbing their rest, by the broken and plaintive strains which he warbles forth all the night, in a sort of frenzy and intoxication. The' nightin- gale is summoned, questioned, and acquitted by the wise king ; because the bird assures him, that his vehement love for the Rose drives him to distraction, and causes him to break forth into those passionate and touching complaints which are laid to his charge." The same work also mentions that the Persians assert, that " the nightingale, in spring, flutters around the rose-bushes, uttering incessant complaints, till, overpowered by the strong scent, he drops stupified on the ground. The invention of these fables, extravagant as they are, evince the Persian fondness for this beautiful flower. The Ghebers, or Persian fire-worshipers, believe that Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod, when the flame turned into a bed of roses. According to the Hindoo mythology, Pagoda Siri, one of the wives of Vishnu, was found in a rose. Among the many stories of roses in the East, is that of the philosopher Zeb, related by Madame de Latour. " There was at Amadan, in Persia, an academy with the following rules : Its members must think much, write a little, and be as silent as pos- sible. The learned Zeb, celebrated through all the East, learning that there was a vacancy in the academy, endeavored to obtain it, but arrived, unfortunately, too late. The academy was annoyed because it had given to power what belonged to merit, and the president, not knowing how to express a refusal without mortifying the assembly, caused a cup to be brought, w r hich he filled so full of water, that a single drop more would have made it run over. The wise philosopher understood, by that emblem, that no place remained for him, and was retiring sadly, when he perceived a rose petal at his feet. At that sight, he took courage, seized the petal, and placed it so delicately on the water, that not a single drop escaped. At this ingenious allusion to the rules of 12 EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. the academy, the whole assembly clapped their hands, and the philosopher was admitted as a member." Madame de Genlis relates very nearly the same anecdote, but attributes it to Abdul- kadri, a person celebrated among the Turks, who was desirous of residing at Babylon, where they were unwilling to receive him. The Turks themselves, matter of fact as they are, have also seen something marvelous in the beautiful and vivid tints which the hand of nature has painted on the corolla of the Rose ; but their imagination, less glowing than that of the Greeks, furnished them an idea more singular than pleasing. They suppose that the Rose owed its origin to the perspiration which fell from Mahomet ; for which reason they never tread upon a rose-leaf, or suffer one to lie on the ground. Meshilu, the Turkish poet, speaks of " a pavilion of roses, as the seat of pleasure raised in the garden;" of '-'roses like the bright cheeks of beautiful maidens;" of the time when "the plants were sick, and the rose-bud hung its thoughtful head on its bosom ;" and of the "dew, as it falls, being changed into rose- water." They also sculpture a rose on the tomb-stone of a female ,who dies unmarried. The early Roman Catholics have made the Rose the subject of various miraculous events one of which is attributed to the canonized Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary. As the French author, Montalembert, relates it in his history of that queen, Elizabeth loved to carry to the poor herself, by stealth, not only money, but even food and other things which she had provided for them. She went thus loaded and on foot, by the steep and hidden paths which led from the chateau to the town, and to the cottages in the neighboring valleys. One day, when, accompanied by her favority maid, she was descending by a rough and scarcely visi- ble path, carrying under her cloak some bread, meat, eggs, and other food, for distribution among the poor, she was suddenly met by her husband, who was returning from the chase. Astonished to see her thus bending under the weight of her burden, he said to her, " Let me see what you are carrying." At the same time he threw open the cloak, which she held, with terror, to her EARLY HISTORY OP THE ROSE. 13 breast, but found, as the legend says, nothing there but some white and red roses, the most beautiful he had ever seen. D'Orbessan, in his work on the Rose, states that, in the church of Sainte-Luzanne, at Rome, is a mosaic of the time of Charle- magne, in which that prince is represented in a square mantle, and on his knees, while St. Peter is placing in his hands a stan- dard covered with roses. Michaud, in his Biographic Universelle, speaks of Clemence Isaure, a French lady, who lived in the latter part of the 15th century. She bequeathed to the academy of Toulouse a large income, exclusively for the celebration of floral games, and for the distribution of five prizes for as many pieces of poetry. The prizes consisted of an amaranth and rose of gold, and of a violet, marigold, and lily, of silver. The will also required that every three years, on the day of the commencement of the floral games, among other ceremonies to be observed, the members of the academy should visit and spread flowers upon her tomb. Ron- sard, the French poet, having gained the first prize in the 'floral games, received, in place of the accustomed rose, a silver image of Minerva. Mary, Q,ueen of Scots, was so much delighted with Ronsard's beautiful poetry on the Rose, that she sent him a mag- nificent rose of silver, valued at 500, with this inscription : " A Ronsard. VApollon de la source des Muses" 2 CHAPTER II. LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. HE ancients possessed, at a very early period, the luxury of roses, and the Romans brought it to perfection by covering with beds of these flowers the couches whereon their guests were placed, and even the tables which were used for banquets j 1 while some emperors went so far as to scatter them in the halls of their palace. At Rome, they were, at one time, brought from Egypt, in that part of the year when Italy could not produce them; but afterwards, in order to render .these luxuries more easily attainable during the winter, by the leaders of the ton in that capital city of the world's empire, their gardeners found the means of producing, in green-houses warmed by means of pipes filled with hot water, an artificial temperature, which kept roses and lilies in bloom until the last of the year. Seneca declaimed, with a show of ridicule, against these improvements; 2 but r without being discouraged by the reasoning of the philosopher, the Romans carried their green-houses to such perfection, that, at length, during the reign of Domitian, when the Egyptians i " Tempora subtilius pinguntur tecta coronis, Et latent injecta splendida mensa Rosa." (Ovm, lib. v.) 2 " Non vivunt contra naturam, qui hieme concupiscunt Rosam 1 Fomentoque aquarum calentium, et calorum apta imitatione, bruma lilium florem vernum, exprimunt." (Seneca, epistle 122-8.) LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. 15 thought to pay him a splendid compliment in honor of his birth- day, by sending him roses in the midst of winter, their present excited nothing but ridicule and disdain, so abundant had winter roses become at Rome, by the efforts of art. Few of the Latin poets have been more celebrated for their epigrammatic wit than Martial ; and his epigram " to Ceesar, on the Winter Roses," serves to show that the culture of roses at Rome was carried to such perfection, as to make the attempts of foreign competitors subjects only for ridicule. 3 " The ambitious inhabitants of the land watered by the Nile have sent thee, O Csesar, the roses of winter, as a present valu- able for its novelty. But the boatman of Memphis will laugh at the gardens of Pharaoh as soon as he has taken one step in thy capital city for the spring, in its charms, and the flowers in their fragrance and beauty, equal the glory of the fields of Pses- tum. Wherever he wanders or casts his eyes, every street is bril- liant with garlands of roses. And thou, O Nile ! must now, yield to the fogs of Rome. Send us thy harvests, and we will send thee roses." By this passage it is evident that the cultivation of roses, among the ancients, was much farther advanced than is gene- rally supposed. In another epigram Martial speaks again of roses, which were formerly seen only in .the spring, but which in his time had become common during the winter. We are 3 AD C^ESAREM DE ROSIS HlBERNIS. " Ut nova dona tibi, Caesa, Nilotiea tellus Miserat hibernas ambitiosa Rosas : Navita derisit Pharios Memphiticus hortos, Urbis ut intravit limina prima tuae. Tantus veris honos, et odore gratia florae, Tantaque Paestani gloria ruris erat. Sic quacumque vagus, gressum oculosque ferebat, Textilibus sertis omne rubebant iter. At tu Romanae jussus jam cedere brumoe, Mitte tuas messes, accipe, Nile, Rosas." MARTIAL, lib. vi., epig. 80. 16 LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. also but copyists of the Romans, in the cultivation of flowers in windows ; for vases of every style of beauty, and filled with roses, were a frequent ornament of their windows. Martial says that a miserly patron had made him a present of a very small estate, and adds that he has a much better country place in his window. Much that illustrates the use which the ancients made of roses in their ceremonies, in their festivals, and in their domestic life, may be found in various authors, evincing still more how very common the use of them had become. Florus relates that Antiochus, king of Syria, being encamped in the island of Eu- boea, under woven tents of silk and gold, was not only accompa- nied by a band of musicians, but that he might yet more enhance his pleasures, he wished to procure roses ; and although it was in the midst of winter, he caused them to be collected from every quarter. The gallants of Rome were in the habit of presenting their favorite damsels with the first roses that appeared in spring; and " Mea rosa" was an affectionate expression they often used to their betrothed. We frequently find in old Latin authors, an entire abandon- ment to pleasure and excessivfc luxury signified by such expres- sions as, living" in the midst of roses, sleeping" on roses, &c. (Yivere in rosa, dormire in rosa.) Seneca speaks of Smyndiride, the most wealthy and voluptu- ous of the Sybarites, who could not sleep if a single one of the rose-petals with which his bed was spread, happened to be curled. Cicero, in his "dejinibus" alludes to the custom which pre- vailed at Rome at that time, of reclining at the table on couches covered with roses ; and comparing the happiness which virtue gives, to the pleasures of luxury, says that "Regulus, in his chains, was more happy than Thorius drinking on a couch of roses and living in such a manner that one could scarcely imagine any rare and exquisite pleasure of which he did not partake." The same author, in his celebrated speech against Verres, the greatest extortioner whose name is recorded in history, reproached him not only with the outrageous robberies and cruelties which LUXURIOUS USE OP THE ROSE. 17 he committed during the three years that he was governor of Sicily, but yet more with his effeminacy and licentiousness. " When spring commenced," said the Roman orator, " that season was not announced to him by the return of Zephyr, nor by the appearance of any heavenly sign ; it was not until he had seen the roses bloom, that spring was visible to his voluptuous eye. In the voyages which he made across the province, he was ac- customed, after the example of the kings of Bithynia, to be car- ried in a litter borne by eight men, in which he reposed, softly extended upon cushions made of transparent material and filled with roses of Malta, having in his hand a net of the finest linen, and equally full of these flowers, whose fragrance incessantly gratified his eager nostrils." Latinus Pacatus, in his eulogium on the Emperor Theodosius, inveighs against the luxury of the Romans, whose sensual de- sires, he says, were not satisfied until they had reversed the order of the seasons, and produced roses in the winter season to crown their cup of wine, and until their Falernian during the summer, was cooled in large vessels filled with ice. The forcing of roses in winter, is no longer extensively practiced in Rome ; but during the summer they are more abundant, and we recollect being much struck with admiration of some beautiful hedges of the Daily rose in the villas near Rome. After reading the preceding statements of the abundance of roses among the ancient Romans, it is with some surprise that we recollect the great scarcity of that flower during the gayest and most animated festival of the modern Romans the Carni- val. As Ave slowly walked along the Corso, submitting with as quiet a grace as possible to the various fantastic tricks of the masqued figures around us, and occasionally pelted with hands- ful of sugar-plums from the windows, or passing carriages, we looked in vain for roses or camellias in the numerous bouquets that were cleaving the air around us. Little bouquets of violets were numerous, and the air was thick with them, as our eyes, nose, and mouth could bear striking witness ; and we recollect, too, the contemptuous curl of the lip, and rush of the aris- 2* ' 18 LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. tocratic blood into the face of a fair English girl, in one of the carriages, whose blue eyes had been nearly closed by an awkward cast of one of these petits bouquets from the hand of a plebian performer. But we only recollect catching a glimpse now and then, of a single ' rose or camellia, skilfully passed by a cavalier below, into the hands of some dark-eyed beauty in the balconies above ; the bright sparkle of whose eye convinced us that the single flower was of value, and a mark of especial regard. The Rose appeared to be valued as some rare exotic, and not to be idly bestowed where there was small probability of its due appreciation ; it was indeed a " rara flora in urbe" and quite superseded by the very pretty and abundant violets. The modern Romans have not only lost many of the good qualities of their early ancestors, but they have also escaped much of the effeminate softness which characterized the Romans under some of the later emperors ; and as belonging to this state of luxury, the cultivation of the Rose has in modern times been much neglected. The homage of the Romans is now reserved for art, and the beautiful products of nature are in their opinion, worthy only of secondary consideration. The Rose is now mostly confined in that city to the residences of the wealthier classes, and can scarcely be said to have resumed its old place in Roman esteem, until it is again a favorite with the mass of the people. When Cleopatra went into Cilicia to meet Marc Antony, she gave him for several successive days festivals, in which she dis- played a truly royal magnificence. She caused to be placed in the banqueting hall twelve couches, each of which would hold three guests. The walls were covered with purple tapestry, in- terwoven with gold ; all the vases were of gold, admirably ex- ecuted and enriched with precious stones. On the fourth day, the queen carried her sumptuousness so far as to pay a talent (about six hundred dollars) for a quantity of roses, with which she caused the floor of the hall to be covered to the depth of eighteen inches. These flowers were retained by a very fine net, in order that the guests might walk over them. LUXURIOUS USE OF THE ROSE. 19 In connection with this fact, it is curious to notice the following anecdote related by Pliny. " At the time that Marc Antony was preparing for the battle of Actium, he felt suspicious of Cleopatra, and made her taste of all the dishes which were served up to him, she all the while ridiculing his fears. "One day, while giving him a banquet, she placed on his head a crown, bordered with poisoned flowers ; and when Antony was heated with wine, she proposed that each should drink his crown. He at once consented, and hastening to tear off his crown, placed it in his cup and was about to drink it, when the queen stopped him, saying : * Why do you suspect me of deadly intentions towards your person ? if it were pos- sible to live without you, see how easy I could send you from the world.' At the same time having ordered a criminal from prison, she gave him the cup to drink, and he expired in a moment." At a later period, and after the loss of the battle of Actium, Antony, not wishing to survive his defeat, from fear of falling into the hands of Augustus, thrust himself through with his sword, and requested Cleopatra to scatter perfumes over his tomb and to cover it with joses. The greatest profusion of roses mentioned in ancient history, and which is scarcely credible, is that which Suetonius attributes to Nero. This author says, that at a fete which the emperor gave in the gulf of Baise, when inns were established on the banks, and ladies of distinction played the part of hostesses, the expense incurred for roses alone, was more than four millions of sesterces about $100,000. Since Nero, many of his succes- sors have nearly equalled him in prodigal enjoyment of the luxury of roses. Lucius Aurelius Verus, whose licentiousness and destitution of every manly quality equalled that of the worst emperors, but whom no one reproaches with any act of cruelty, was the inventor of a new species of luxury. He had a couch made, on which were four raised cushions, closed on all sides by a very thin net, and filled with leaves of roses. Heliogabalus, 20 LUXURIOUS USE OP THE ROSE. celebrated for luxury and vice of every kind, caused roses to be crushed with the kernels of the pine (Pinus maritima), in order to increase the perfume. The same emperor caused roses to be scattered over the couches, the halls, and even the porticoes of the palace, and he renewed this profusion with flowers of every kind : lilies, violets, hyacinths, narcissus, &c. Gallien, another equally cruel and luxurious prince, lay, according to some authors, under arbors of roses ; and, according to others, on beds covered with these flowers. And finally, Carrius, another licentious and pro- digal emperor, who reigned only a few months, caused roses to be scattered over the chambers of his palace, and on the couches upon which were placed his guests. CHAPTER III. THE ROSE, IN CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS, AND IN THE ADORN* MENT OF BURIAL PLACES. MONG the ancients, the Rose was con- spicuous in all the sacred ceremonies, and in public and private fetes. The Greeks and the Romans surrounded the statues of Venus, of Hebe, and of Flora, with garlands of roses. They were lavish of these flowers at the festivals of Flora ; in those of Juno, at Argos, the statue of the Olympian Queen was crowned with lilies and roses. In the festivals of Hymen, at Athens, the youth of both sexes, crowned with roses and adorned with flowers, mingled in dances which were intended to represent the innocence of primeval times. At Rome, in the public rejoicings, they sometimes strewed the streets with roses and other flowers. It is thus that Lucretius gives a description of the man ner in which was celebrated the festivals of Cybele. 1 To scatter flowers on the passage of the funeral procession of a private citizen, was an honor not common at Rome. Pliny informs us, however, that a Scipio, belonging to the illus- trious family of that name, who while he was tribune, fulfilled i " Ergo cum primum, magnas invecta per urbes Munificat tacita mortales muta salute ; JEre atque argento, sternunt iter omne viarum. Largifica stipe dilantes, ninguntque Rosarum Floribus, umbrantes matrem comitumque catervas." LUCRETIUS, lib. ii., ver. 625. :TIUS, 1] 22 THE ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. his duties to the satisfaction of the people, dying without leaving sufficient to pay his funeral expenses, the people voluntarily con- tributed to pay them, and on the appearance of the body, cast flowers upon its passage. At Baiae, when fetes were given upon the water, the whole surface of the lake of Lucina. appeared covered with roses. The custom of encircling the head, of surrounding the neck, and also the breast with crowns and garlands of roses, on differ- ent occasions, and particularly during the last days of a gay festival, when, after the solid dishes, they passed to the dessert and the rare wines, is well known by the odes of Anacreon, and from the writings of several of the ancient poets. The voluptuous Horace, when he abandoned himself to plea- sures, was always supplied with roses. In congratulating one of his friends on his safe return from Spain, he recommended that these flowers should not be wanting at the festival. On another occasion, he told his favorite servant that he cordially disliked the pompous displays of the Persians, and escaped them by searching in what place the late Rose was found. Drawing a picture of luxurious ease for his friend Hirpinus, he speaks of " lying under the shade of a lofty Plane or Pine tree, per- fuming our spotless hair with Assyrian spikenard, and crown- ing ourselves with roses." We can very well judge how general had become the custom of making crowns of roses, from the number of times which it is mentioned in Pliny, and the fre- quency with which Martial speaks of it in his epigrams. The latter author also informs us, that in the very height of Roman luxury and reveling, the most favorable time for soliciting and obtaining a favor was w r hen the patron was entirely given up to the pleasures of the table and of roses. 2 Whatever doubt may exist of the use of crowns of roses, as objects of luxury, it is well authenticated, that among medical 2 Haec hora est tua, dum furit Lyaeus Cum regnat Rosa, cum madent capilli, Tune me vel rigid! legant Catones." Lib. x., epig. 19. THE ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. 23 men of antiquity, endeavors were made to determine what kinds of flowers were suitable to place in crowns without detriment to health ; and according to the report made on this subject, the parsley, the ivy, the myrtle, and the Rose possessed peculiar virtues for dissipating the fumes of the wine. According to Athenseus, a crown of roses possessed not only the property of alleviating pain in the head, but had a very refreshing effect. Pliny mentions two Greek physicians Mnesitheus and Cal- limachus, who wrote on this subject. The custom of crowning with roses had passed from the Greeks to the Romans, and it also existed among the Hebrews, who had probably borrowed it from some of the neighboring nations, either from the Egyptians, in the midst of whom they had spent many years, or from the Babylonians, with whom they had in the cap- tivity much connection. The practice of this custom among the Israelites, is attested by the previously quoted passage, in the apoc- ryphal "Wisdom of Solomon." At Rome it was not only at the religious festivals that they crowned themselves with roses and other flowers, but it was the custom to wear these crowns during public and private fetes; they were strictly forbidden at some other times, and above all on certain public occasions, where to appear with such an orna- ment, would pass for an insult to a public calamity. Pliny informs us, that during the second Punic war, which lasted six- teen years, a banker named Lucius Fulvius, for looking from his gallery on the Forum, and wearing a crown of roses on his head, was, by order of the Senate, sent to prison, from which he was not liberated until the end of the war. This anecdote, moreover, proves that crowns of roses were in fashion at Rome at an early period, and before licentiousness and luxury had yet made many inroads upon the national char- acter. It may readily be supposed, that at Rome, under the emperors, the use of crowns of flowers was like every other species of luxury at that time, constantly on the increase. At first they wore the crowns interwoven with leaves of flowers, then they wore them 24 THE. ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. composed partly of roses, and finally they were not satisfied unless they consisted of these flowers only. Martial, as we have already, mentioned, speaks often of his crowns of roses. The crown sent by this poet to his friend Sabinus, was composed entirely of these flowers, and he was desirous that they should be considered the production of his own gardens. From the poverty of Turkish history, little is known of the early use of the Rose among them. We have, however, some account of its use among the Mohammedan Persians. Although wine was forbidden by the laws of Mahomet, the Persians frequently made use of it ; and in the time of Tavernier and of Chardin, they frequently drank it to excess. One of their kings, Soliman III., was intoxicated almost every day ; and it was the custom then in Persia, to serve the wine in crystal decan- ters, which, when the season permitted, they corked with roses. The most interesting purpose to which roses were devoted, was the adornment of tombs and burial-places. The Greeks employed generally for this object, the myrtle and the amaranth ; but the Romans gave the preference to the lily, the saffron-plant, and above all, the Rose. The ancients were careful to renew the plants which were placed around the sepulchral urn, in order that it might be sur- rounded by a continual spring. These flowers were regarded as sacred, and as a relic of the deceased. The Romans considered this pious care so agreeable to the spirits of the departed, that wealthy citizens bequeathed by will entire gardens, to be reserved for furnishing their tombs with flowers. They also often ordered that their heirs, or those to whom they left a legacy for the care of their ashes, should meet together every year, on the anniversary of their death, and dine near their tomb, scattering roses about the place. This custom is attested by several stories of ancient Roman tombs. One with an ancient inscription was found at Ravenna, and others in some other parts of Italy. D'Orbessan, in his "Essai sur les Roses? mentions having THE ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. 25 seen, at Torcello, a city about five miles from Venice, an inscrip- tion of this kind, mentioning a donation made by an emanci- pated slave to the assembly of the Centum, consisting of gardens and a building to be employed in celebrating his obsequies and those of his master. It requested that roses should not be spared, and that food should be then distributed in abundance. Gene- rally, the donation made on condition of covering the funeral monument with roses, was transferred to another, if that con- dition was not fulfilled. Sometimes the most terrible maledic- tions threatened those who dared to violate these sacred gardens. That which proves how frequent among the Romans was this custom of ornamenting tombs with roses, is, that those who were not rich enough to make such bequests, often directed to be engraved upon the stone which covered their remains a request to the passers by to scatter roses upon their tomb. Some of these stones still exist, with the following inscription: " Sparge, pre- cor, Rosas supra meq busta, viator" It was, perhaps, because they compared the short duration of human life to the quick fading existence of the Rose, that this flower was devoted to the burial place of the dead ; and there can certainly be chosen no more beautiful emblem of this transitory state of existence. This supposition is somewhat strengthened by the following passage from Jerome, one of the early Christian fathers : " The ancients scattered roses over the urns of the deceased, and in their wills ordered that these flowers should adorn their graves, and should be renewed every year. It was also the custom for husbands to cast roses, violets and lilies on the urns which enclosed the ashes of their wives. These modest flowers were emble- matic signs of their grief. Our Christians were content to place a Rose among the ornaments of their graves, as the image of life." In Turkey, females that died unmarried had a rose sculptured at the top of their monument. At the well-known cemetery of Pere la Chaise, which has often excited the ecstasy, admiration or praise of many travelers, but which in reality exhibits neither elegance, sentiment nor taste, wreaths of roses and other flowers are frequently seen upon the thickly crowded tombs, either as mementos of affection, or in 3 26 THE ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. compliance with a popular custom ; while the street leading to the cemetery is filled with shops in w T hich are exposed for sale the wreaths of flowers. The prevalence of the same custom in Denmark, is alluded to by Shakespeare, in Hamlet, in the scene of Ophelia's burial. The custom still remains also in some parts of Great Britain. In Wales, when a young girl dies, it is customary for her female companions to bring flowers with them to her funeral, and place them in her coffin. . They plant lilies and snow-drops over the graves of children, and wild and cultivated roses over those of adults. Gwillym, a Welsh poet, thus speaks of the custom in one of his elegies : " Oh ! while the season of flowers and the tender sprays, thick of leaves, remain, I will pluck the roses from the brakes, to be offered to ' the memory of a child of fairest fame ; humbly will I lay them on the grave of Ivor." Evelyn tells us that " the white rose was planted at the grave of a virgin, and her chaplet was tied with white riband, in token of her spotless innocence ; though sometimes black ribands were intermingled, to bespeak the grief of the survivors. The red rose was occasionally used in remembrance of such as had been remarkable for their benevolence; but roses in general were ap- propriated to the graves of lovers." Drummond, the Scotch poet, requested one of his friends to have the following couplet placed over his grave : f Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometimes grace The murmuring Esk : may roses shade the place." The first Christians disapproved of the use of these flowers, either at 'their festivals or as ornaments for their tombs, on account of its connection with the pagan mythology, and the custom thus became extinct. Tertullian wrote a book against crowns and garlands. Clement of Alexandria thought it im- proper that Christians should crown themselves with roses. A little later, however, Christians relaxed from this strictness, and the Christian poet Prudence, did not fear to invite his brethren " to cover with violets and with verdure, and to surround with THE ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. 27 perfumes those bones which the voice of the All-Powerful would one day restore to life." The Roman Catholics of this day admit flowers to their churches and ceremonies, and on feast days they adorn the altars with bouquets and garlands. At the most imposing of these solemnities, the day of the " Fete-Dieu," rose petals, during the processions, are scattered in the air, and blended with the per- fume of censers, directed towards the Host ; in many of the towns, particularly those in the south of France and of Europe, the streets through which the procession passes are scattered throughout with fragrant herbs and flowers of every kind. Since the extinction of paganism in a greater part of the world, the custom of wearing crowns of flowers at festivals has passed entirely away. Women only use roses as an ornament for their hair, or employ them in different parts of their toilet. In our own country the toilet of a bride is never considered per- fect unless she wears a wreath of roses and other flowers, whose snow-white hue is an emblem of her departing maidenhood. Sometimes she is provided only with a bouquet of white roses and camellias, and her bridesmaids wear similar ornaments of nature's manufacture. The Rose is abundantly used by children in their beautiful celebration of May-day. We well recollect our own enjoyment of one of these scenes some seven years since. We were return- ing from a ride in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., on the first day of this, the sunniest of the months of Spring a day dedi- cated not to the spirit of motion, and celebrated not by proces- sions of furniture carts, amid the bustle and noise of a populous city, but dedicated there, at the sunny south, to innocent and joyous festivity, and celebrated amid all the fresh and fragrant luxuriance of southern vegetation, surrounded by the delicate sweetness of the magnolia, the Rose, and other flowers, while the mocking-bird, with its sweet and varied note, is the min- strel for the occasion. Riding quietly along the road, we were suddenly stopped by a procession which had just dismounted from a number of carriages in a beautiful grove hard by. It consisted 3* 28 THE ROSE IN CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, ETC. mostly of noble-looking boys and beautiful girls, of all ages under fourteen, the latter dressed in white and crowned with wreaths of roses and other flowers. The manly attention of the boys to the fair creatures with whom they walked hand in hand, would not have disgraced the gallantry of Bayard, or the politeness of Chesterfield. As the procession wound slowly from our view, under the shade of the lofty live oak and the rich magnolia, we could not help reflecting how beautiful was this graceful enjoy- ment of the sunny days of childhood, and how preferable to the mental excitement and precocious training of many of the infant philosophers of this most enlightened nineteenth century. It is much to be regretted that in circles where fashion reigns supreme, nature is gradually giving way to art, and instead of the fresh and natural beauty of a newly-gathered Rose, various forms of artificial flowers are found upon the center table, or in the hair of those whose quick discernment and refined taste should lead them to perceive the great inferiority of these arti- ficial toys to the delicate beauty and welcome fragrance of a Rose just from its parent plant. Very much additional matter could be inserted respecting the early history of the Rose, and its connection with ancient superstitions. Sufficient, however, has been given to show the esteem in which the Rose was held by the ancient Greeks and Romans. CHAPTER IV. THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. N Great Britain, according to Loudon, " one of the earliest notices of the Rose occurs in Chau- cer, who wrote early in the 13th century ; and in the beginning of the 15th century, there is evidence of the Rose having been cultivated for * commercial purposes, and of the water distilled from it being used to give a flavor to a variety of dishes, and to wash the hands at meals a custom still pre- served in some of the colleges, and also in many of the public halls within the city of London." In 1402, Sir William Cloptori granted to Thomas Smyth a piece of ground called Dokmedwe, in Haustede, for the annual payment of a rose to Sir William and his heirs, in lieu of all ser- vices. The demand for roses formerly was so great, that bushels of them were frequently paid by vassals to their lords, both' in England and France. The single rose, paid as an acknowledg- ment, was the diminutive representation of a bushel of roses as a single peppercorn, which is still a reserved rent, represents a pound of peppercorns a payment originally of some worth, but descending by degrees to a mere formality. Among the new- year gifts presented to Q,ueen Mary in 1556, was a bottle of rose : water ; and in 1570 we find, among the items in the account of a dinner of Lord Leicester, when he was Chancelor of the Uni- versity of Oxford, three ounces of rose-water. In an account of a grant of a great part of Ely House, Holborne, by the Bishop of 30 THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Ely, to Christopher Hatton, for twenty-one years, the tenant covenants to pay, on midsummer-day, a red rose for the gate- house and garden, and for the ground (fourteen acres) ten loads of hay and 10 per annum ; the Bishop reserving to himself and successors free access through the gate-house, for walking in the gardens and gathering twenty bushels of roses yearly. In 1 597, we find Gerard speaking of the Damask rose of Damascus and the Cinnamon rose as common in English. gardens. Hak- luyt says that the rose of Damascus was brought to England by De Linaker, physician to Henry IX. ; and his successor, Sir Richard Weston, who wrote in 1645, says, " We have red roses from France." In the reign of James I., the keeper of the robes and jewels at Whitehall, among a variety of other offices, had separate salaries allowed him, " for fire to air the hot-houses, 40s. by the year ;" and, " for digging and setting of roses in the spring gardens, 40s. by the year." It would seem, by these incidents, that previous to the seven- teenth century, roses were far from being abundant, and indeed were so rare, that a bottle of distilled water was a fit present for Royalty, and a few roses an amply sufficient rent for house and land. In the times of chivalry, the Rose was often an emblem that knights were fond of placing in their helmet or shield, implying that sweetness should always be the companion of courage, and that beauty was the only prize worthy of valor. It was not, however, always taken for such emblems, nor did it always bring to mind pleasant and agreeable images, but was often the signal for bloodshed in a desolating civil war which raged in England for more than thirty years. The rival factions of the White and the Red Rose arose in 1452, during the reign of Henry VI., between the houses of Lan- caster and of York. The Duke of York, a descendant of Edward III., claimed that his house possessed a nearer title to the crown than the reigning branch. He adopted a white rose on his shield, for his device, and the reigning monarch, Henry VI., of the house of Lancaster, carried the red rose. After sev- THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 31 eral furious civil wars, after having flooded the whole kingdom with blood, and after the tragical death of three kings, Henry VII., of the house of Lancaster, re-united, in 1486, the two fam- ilies by marrying Elizabeth, the heiress of the house of York. The adoption of the red rose, by the house of Lancaster, was at a period far prior to these civil wars. About 1277, the Count of Egrnont, son of the King of England, and who had taken the title of Count of Champagne, was sent by the King of France to Provence, with some troops, to avenge the murder of William Pentecote, mayor of the city, who had been killed in an insurrec- tion. When this prince returned into England, after executing his orders, he took for his device the red rose, that Thibaut, Count of Brie and of Champagne, had brought from Syria, on his re- turn from the crusade some years before. That Count of Eg- mont was the head of the house of Lancaster, who preserved the red rose on their arms, while the house of York, on the other hand, adopted the white rose as their device. An anecdote is told of the Prince of Beanie, afterwards Henry IV. of France, who was not 15 years of age whenjChaiies IX. came to Nerae, in 1566, to visit the court of Navarre. The fifteen days that he spent there, were marked by sports and fetes, of which, the young Henry was already the chief orna- ment. Charles IX. loved to practice archery ; in providing for him that amusement, they thought that none of his courtiers, not even the Duke of Guise, who excelled at this sport, would venture to prove himself more adroit than the monarch. The young Henry, however, advanced, and at the first shot, carried off the orange, which served for a mark. According to the rules of the sport, he wished, as victor, to shoot first in the next trial ; the King opposed it, and repulsed him with warmth ; Henry stepped back a little, drew his bow, and directed the arrow against the breast of his adversary ; the monarch quickly took shelter behind the largest of his courtiers, and requested them to take away "that dangerous little cousin." Peace being made, the same sport was continued on the following day ; Charles found an 32 THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. excuse for not coming. This lime the Duke of Guise carried away the orange, which he split in two, and no other could be found for a mark. The young prince perceived a Rose in the bosom of a young girl among the spectators, and seizing it, quickly placed it on the mark. The Duke shot first, and missed ; Henry succeeding him, placed his arrow in the middle of the flower, and returned it to the pretty villager with the victorious arrow which had pierced its stem. At Salency, a village of France, the Rose is the reward of ex- cellent traits of character ; they attribute the origin of the fete of La Rosiere, in that country, to Medard, bishop of Noyou, who lived at the end of the fifteenth, and beginning of the sixteenth century, during the reign of Clovis. That bishop, who was also Lord of Salency, had established a fund, giving a sum of twenty-five livres (five dollars), and a crown or hat of roses to the young girl on his estate, who enjoyed the greatest reputation for amiability and excellence of character. Tradition states that the prelate himself gave this desired prize to one of his sisters, whom the public voice had named to be Rosiere. Before the revolution of 1789, there could be seen, beneath the altar of the chapel of St. Medard, at Salency, a tablet, where that bishop was represented in pontifical dress, and placing a crown of roses on the head of his sister, who was on her knees, with her hair dressed. The bishop had set aside, on a part of his domain, since called the " Manor of the Rose," an annual rent of twenty-five livres, at that time a considerable sum, for paying all the expenses of this ceremony. It is stated that Louis XIIL, being at the chateau of Yarennes, nea* Salency, about the time of this ceremony, was desirous of adding to its eclat by his personal presence; but finding himself indisposed, he sent to La Rosiere, by a marquis of rank and first captain of his guards, a ring and his blue riband. " Go," said he to the marquis, " and present this riband to her who shall be crowned. It has been long the prize of honor ; it shall now become the reward of virtue." Since that time La THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 33 Rosiere has received a ring, and she and her companions have worn the blue riband. The Lord of Salency at one time enjoyed the right of choosing La Rosiere from three of the village girls, who were presented by the inhabitants. But in 1773 a new lord, who purchased the estate of Salency, wished to take away the right enjoyed by the inhabitants, of naming and presenting to him the three candi- dates for the Rose. He assumed the nomination of La Rosiere, without any assembling, election, or presentation, and suppressed entirely the pomp and ceremonies which until that time had always been observed. On the complaint of the inhabitants of Salency, the Court of Chancery at once set aside the pretensions of their lord ; but he, not wishing to yield them, instituted a civil process before the Parliament of Paris, which gave a decree in favor of the inhabitants of the place, by which it confirmed to them all the ancient customs of the fete of La Rosiere, of which the Lord of Salency was ordered to pay all the expenses. The ceremony of La Rosiere was suppressed during the ex- cesses of the Revolution, but was again re-established when the times had become more quiet. The celebration takes place in the first summer month, and would be well worthy the attend- ance of foreign travelers. We have mentioned this custom very much in detail, as it is one of the few ceremonies still existing, in which the Rose occu- pies a prominent position, and is made alone the reward of merit. Other festivals of the Rose, similar to those of Salency, were established in several other villages of France and the neighbor- ing countries. When Louis XYIII. was staying at Blakenbourg, in Germany, during the years of his exile, he was invited to assist a*t a festival of La Rosiere. When he had placed the crown on the head of the young girl who was designated as the most virtuous, she said to him, ingenuously, " My Prince, may your crown be restored you." There exists a touching custom in the valley of Engadine, in Switzerland. If a man accused of a crime is able to justify himself the same day on which he is liberated from prison, a 34 THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. young and beautiful girl offers him a white rose, called the Rose of Innocence. It is somewhat singular that, although the Rose was in these instances employed as the emblem of virtue and innocence, it has been considered, at other times and places, as a sign of dis- grace and dishonor. The synod held at Nismes, about the year 1284, ordered the Jews to wear on their breast a rose to distinguish them from Christians, in order that they might not receive the same atten- tions. At one time, in certain German provinces, a crown of red roses was the punishment of immorality. It appears that, in the middle ages, roses were much more abundantly cultivated in certain provinces than they have been since ; for the following passage is found in Marchangy's History of France in the 14th century : " For the ornament of certain festivals, they cultivate, in the vicinity of Rouen, fields of flowers of several roods ; and the annual sale of bouquets and wreaths of roses is valued at 50,000 francs. The business of maker of wreaths, and that of rose merchant, is in France very common and very profitable. The above sum will not seem surprising, when we think of the enormous consumption of rose-water at that time. In all family parties, companies and associations, many bouquets were presented ; at table, during festivals, they crowned themselves with flowers, and scattered them on the table-cloth and the floor." The Marquis de Chesnel, in his History of the Rose, mentions that, among the old customs of Auvergne, Anjou, Tours, Lodu- nois, and Maine, there was one in the noble families, that a father who had sons, frequently gave to his daughters, on their mar- riage, only a wreath of roses. In Normandy, also, the daughters received, for their legitimate portion, a hat adorned with the same flowers. Among the ancient seignorial rights in France, in the 14th century, was one by which each tenant was obliged to furnish a bushel of roses for the manufacture of rose-water for the lord of the soil. Madame de Genlis mentions, however, that about the same period, every one was not allowed to cultivate THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 35 these flowers ; but permission to do so was granted to privileged persons. Whether it was ever a royal monopoly she does not state ; but it would certainly be no more singular than the monopoly of the sale of butter by the King of Naples at the present day. We have already mentioned the wars of the White and Red Rose, which during so long a time deluged England with blood. There is also an instance in French history, where this flower, associated as it is with innocence and pleasant thoughts, served, under the reign of Charles VI., as the rallying sign of the faction of Burgundy against that of Armagnac. The Parisians, urged by the agents of the Duke of Burgundy, established the order of St. Andre for their partisans, in order to manage them more easily ; and the church of St. Eustache was chosen as their ren- dezvous. Each church member wore a crown of red roses, of which more than seven hundred were made in the space of twelve hours, and the flowers were sufficiently abundant to per- fume the whole church. According to an ancient custom, the dukes and peers of France were formerly obliged to present roses to the Parliament of Paris, at certain periods of its session. The peer who was chosen to do the honors of this ceremony, caused all the chambers of Par- liament to be scattered with roses, flowers, and fragrant herbs ; and entertained at a splendid breakfast the presidents, councilors, and even the notaries and door-keepers of the court. He after- wards went into each chamber, accompanied by a page with a large silver basin, which contained as many bouquets of roses and other flowers as there were public officers, with an equal number of crowns composed of the same flowers. The Parlia- ment also had its cultivator of roses, called the Rosier de la Cour, from whom the peers could obtain the roses for their presents. Under the reign of Francis I., in 1541, there was a dispute between the Due de Montpensier and the Due de Nevers respect- ing the presentage of the roses to Parliament. It was decided that the Due de Montpensier, from his rank as prince of the 36 THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. blood, should be entitled to the first presentage. Among the princes of the royal family who submitted to this ceremony at later periods, are numbered the dukes of Vendome, Beaumont, Angouleme, and several other distinguished names. Henry IV., while only King of Navarre, proved to the procureur-general that neither he nor his predecessors had ever failed to perform that duty. About the year 1631, there was published a very curious book on the Rose, by a German named Rosenberg. About 250 octavo pages are devoted entirely to the praise of the curative properties of the Rose in almost every known disease, making, in fact, this flower a universal panacea for the many ills to which flesh is heir. The author also claims for it supernatural qualities, particularly for driving away evil spirits. The work closes by asserting, as a positive fact, supported by several authorities which he quotes, the remarkable regeneration or resurrection of the Rose. He gives also the process of this reproduction, which is scarcely worth inserting here, being, like the story of the Phrenix, a fable engendered by superstition upon ignorance. It is somewhat surprising that this fable should have been very gravely reproduced, in a French work on the Rose, published in 1800. The author states that, " notwithstanding the many marvelous things which we already know respecting the im- proving, forcing, changing, and multiplying of roses, we have yet to describe the most surprising of all that of its regeneration ; or, in other words, the manner of reproducing that flower from its own ashes. This is called the imperial secret, because the Emperor Ferdinand III. purchased it of a foreign chemist, at a very high price." The conclusion is a rather amusing instance of Munchausenism in the 19th century. " Finally, all this material being placed in a glass vessel, with a certain quantity of pure dew, forms a blue powder, from which, when heat is applied, there springs a stem, leaves, and flowers, and a whole and perfect plant is formed from its own ashes." It is difficult to credit the fact that, in any part of this enlightened age, an author could be found who would gravely THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 37 and in sincerity advance such opinions and state such facts as the above ; and it is but an additional proof, if such were want- ing, that nothing can be advanced too monstrous or too incredi- ble to be entirely without believers. If the sight of roses, or their delicate fragrance, has been gene- rally delightful and pleasing, there have also been those who could not endure them. Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. ? of France, although otherwise very fond of perfumes, had such an antipathy to the rose, that she could not bear the sight of one even in a painting. The Duke of Guise had a still stronger dislike, for he always made his escape at the sight of a rose. Dr. Ladelius mentions a man who was obliged to become a re- cluse, and dared not leave his house, during the season of roses ; because, if he happened to imbibe their fragrance, he was imme- diately seized with a violent cold in his head. The odor of the rose, like that of many other flowers, has often occasioned serious injury, particularly in closed apartments ; and no one should venture to sleep with them in his chamber. Some authors of credibility mention instances of death caused by a large quantity of roses being left during the night in a sleeping apartment. Thus it is, that the most beautiful things in life contain the elements of death. 4 CHAPTER V. PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. T an early period in the cultivation of the Rose, and after its admission among the luxuries of the wealthy, human skill was exerted to extract its delightful per- fume. Several authors have considered the invention of the essence of the Rose very ancient, and have even traced it back as far as the siege of Troy. This however can scarcely be admitted, for nothing relating to the essence, or essential oil of roses can be found in Homer, or in any other author for many subsequent years. The discovery of these valuable articles of commerce was made at a much later period. If the essential oil of roses had been known to the ancient Greeks or Romans, it would probably have been more particularly mentioned by Pliny, and the mode of preparation even would have been described. In speaking, however, of vari- ous perfumes, he says nothing of any distillation from the petals of the Rose, but simply mentions that as early as the siege of Troy, the expressed juice of roses was known, and being mixed with a delicate oil, formed an agreeable perfume. In speaking of artificial oils in general, Pliny also observes that the oil of roses was made by simply steeping the rose-petals in oil. According to the same author, oil was the body of nearly all the perfumes used at that day, and for a perfuming substance PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 39 roses were most frequently used, because they grew everywhere in the greatest abundance. Perfumes of every kind were more abundantly used among the ancient Greeks and Romans, than at the present day. Athenseus, in his Feast of Wise Men, states that nearly all of these were drawn from the Rose, and says that the most sweet were those of Gyrene, while those of Naples, Capua, and Faseoli, were the best and most delightful of all. This agrees with the subsequent researches made on the same subject, by D'Orbessan. "The cities of Naples, Capua, and Pre- neste," says the latter, " obtained their roses from Campania, where there is yet a considerable tract of land, commonly called 11 maz- zone delle Rose. " This field is sometimes called Rosetinus, on account of the prodigious quantity of roses which grow there without culture, and in greater abundance than in any other section of that country." Athenseus states that the perfume of roses was frequently used in culinary preparations, and gives a curious receipt for a sort of pot-pourri, made by the cook of the King of Sicily. " This is what I call potted roses, and it is thus prepared : I first pound some of the most fragrant roses in a mortar ; then I take the brains of birds and pigs, well boiled and stripped of every particle of meat ; I then add the yolks of some eggs, some oil, a little cordial, some pepper, and some wine : after having beaten and mixed it well together, I throw it in a new pot, and place it over a slow, but steady fire." " As he said these things," so runs the story, "the cook uncovered the pot, and there issued forth a most delicious fragrance, perfuming the whole dining-hall and overcoming the guests with delight." This is a point in gastro- nomic luxury to which Americans have not yet attained. Although the perfume of roses was considered more choice than any other, it was frequently used when men were least in the state to enjoy it ; for D'Orbessan states that slaves were made to burn it around their masters while sleeping. If the essential oil of roses was known in the time of Pliny, 40 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. that author would have mentioned it among the most esteemed and precious perfumes. So far from this, however, he only speaks of the " Royal Perfume," so called because it was pre- pared expressly for the King of the Parthians. This was com- posed of the oil of Ben, an Arabian tree, with several aromatic substances. According to Langles, who has carefully examined a great number of oriental works, no writer previous to the 16th century has mentioned the essential oil of roses, although these flowers abounded at that time, and mention is made of rose- water as an agreeable perfume. Besides these negative proofs against the ancient existence of this perfume, Langles quotes several oriental historians, from which it seems evident that its discovery dates about the year 1612, and was owing entirely to accident. According to Father Catron, in his History of the Mogul Empire, in the fetes which the sultana Nourmahal gave to the great Mogul Jehan-guire, their chief pleasure was sailing together in a canal which Nourmahal had rilled with rose-water. One day that the Emperor was thus sailing with Nourmahal, they perceived a sort of froth forming and floating upon the water. They drew it out, and perceived that it was the essential oil , which the heat of the sun had disengaged from the water and collected together on the surface. The whole seraglio pro- nounced the perfume the most exquisite known in the Indies ; and they immediately endeavored to imitate by art that which nature had made. Thus was discovered the essence, essential oil, otto or attar of roses. According to Langles, the word A'ther, Athr or Othr, which the Arabs, Turks, and Persians use to designate the essential oil of Roses without adding the name of that flower, is Arabic, and signifies perfume. It is necessary, the same author states, to recollect the distinction between Ather or Aether gul and gu- lab, which is simply rose-water. From the very small quantity congealed on the surface of the water, the manufacture is limited and the cost of the arti- cle immense. Langles states that the rose-water is left ex PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 41 posed to the freshness of the night, and in the morning a very small quantity of attar is found collected on the surface. Dr. Monro, according to Loudon, gives the manner of making the attar in Cashmere, which is apparently more simple, without the tedious process of distilling. " The rose-petals are put into a wooden vessel with pure water, and exposed for several days to the heat of the sun. The oily particles being disengaged by the heat, float upon the surface of the water, whence they are taken up from time to time, by ap- plying to them some very fine dry cotton wool. From this wool the oil is pressed into little bottles, which are immediately after- wards sealed hermetically." Another method is, exposing the rose water to strong heat, then suddenly cooling it, and collecting the drops of congealed oil which float upon the surface. Bishop Heber describes the method used in India, which is very similar to that of Langles. The attar has the consistency of butter, and never becomes liquid except in the warmest weather. Loudon states that " a wretched substitute for otto of roses, is said to be formed by the apothecaries of Paris. The petals of Rosa damascena are boiled in a large caldron of water, along with as much hog's lard as will cover its surface with a thin stratum of grease. The oil of the rose-petals, on separating from them by boiling, unites with this grease, from which it is again separated by spirits of wine." A large portion of the attar im- ported into the United States is probably of this manufacture ; and the corn-fed animals of the West yield a part of their unctu- ous bodies to be sent to France, and returned to us in a shape fit for the lady's handkerchief or boudoir. The quantity of genuine attar produced from a given weight of rose-petals is not always the same ; it is very liable to vary according to the nature of the climate, the temperature of differ- ent seasons, the period of bloom at which the roses are picked, the process of manufacture, and the skill of the manufacturers. Generally a hundred pounds of roses will scarcely produce a drachm of attar, sometimes only half a drachm, and at others a 4* 42 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. drachm and a half. Bishop Heber states that in India, at Gha- zepoor, two hundred thousand well grown roses are required to produce one rupee's (165 grains) weight of attar. The calyx is sometimes used with the petal, but as the oil of that contains little or no perfume, although it may increase the quantity of attar, it must sensibly weaken its properties. The color of attar is generally green, sometimes lemon or rose color, and occasionally brownish. These differences in color are owing to the various processes of manufacture, and the different periods at which the roses are picked. The attar is prepared in Barbary, Syria, Arabia, Persia, India, in the island of Scio, at Payoum in Egypt, at Tunis, and many other places in the East. That made in Syria and Barbary is considered very inferior ; while the best is made in Chyraz, Kerman, and Cashmere. In some parts of France and Italy, it is also prepared, but in com- paratively small quantities. The attar is very costly, although not so dear as formerly. The French traveler Tavernier. who visited Ispahan about the year 1666, stated that the price of attar at Chyraz rose and fell every year, on account of the unequal produce of flowers ; and that an ounce of that article sold at one period for ten tomans (about 92 dollars). At the time another Frenchman, Chardin, traveled in Persia, some years after Tavernier, the attar was sometimes much higher. He states that forty pounds of rose-water were required to produce half a drachm of attar, an ounce of which some- times sold in India for 200 ecus. Langles states that in India, half an ounce of attar is worth about forty dollars. Bishop Heber also speaks of its enormous price at Ghazepoor, where the variation in price is also very great, being, according to Langles, sometimes as low as eight dollars an ounce. At one time, soon after its discovery, it was valued at about five times its weight in gold. Until quite recently it was worth its weight in gold, but now sells in Paris for about one quarter that value. Attar is rarely found pure in commerce : it is always more or PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 43 less adulterated. In the countries where it is manufactured, they frequently increase the quantity of the attar, by mixing scrapings of sandal-wood with the rose-petals during the process of distillation. Ksempfer, a German writer, states this mode of adulteration to have been known a long time, and adds that the sandal-wood gives additional strength to the attar ; but another author, who has also made some researches on the subject, asserts that the sandal-wood injures the delicacy of the attar, which is more sweet and agreeable when mild, than when strong. The quality, as well as the quantity of attar, which they ob- tain from roses, depends upon the proportion of aroma which they contain ; and this is found more developed at the south and in a warm climate. The kinds of roses used in distillation have also a great influence on the quality of the attar. In Persia and the East, the Musk Rose is generally used ; and the Damask is employed in France. Although roses are distilled in large quantities at Paris, for perfumery and for medical purposes, very little attar is made, because the proportion of the manufactured article to the roses required, is in that climate extremely small ; so small in fact, that, according to one writer, five thousand parts in weight of rose-petals, will scarcely produce one part of essential oil. This limited manufacture exists only at Grasse and Montpelier in France, and at Florence in Italy. Some years since, the adulteration of attar was successfully practised in the south of France, by mixing with it the essence distilled from the leaves of the Rose Geranium (Pelargonium odoratissimum). This adulteration is very difficult to detect, because, this last essence possesses the same properties as the attar; its odor is almost the same like that, it is of a lemon color, it chrystalizes at a lower temperature, and its density is very little greater. The attar, when pure, is, beyond comparison, the most sweet and agreeable of all perfumes. Its fragrance is the most delicate conceivable, and equals that of the freshly expanded Rose. It is 44 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. also so strong- and penetrating, that a single drop, or as much as will attach itself to the point of a needle, is sufficient to perfume an apartment for several days ; and if the small flask in which it is sold, although tightly corked and sealed, is placed in a drawer, it will perfume all the contents. When in a congealed or chrystalized state, the attar will liquify at a slight heat, and if the flask is merely held in the hand, a few minutes will suffice to render it liquid. In the East, much use is made of the attar, particularly in the harems. In Europe and America, it is employed in the manufacture of cordials and in the preparation of various kinds of perfumery. Rose-water, or the liquid obtained from rose-petals by distilla- tion, is very common, and is found in almost every country where the arts and luxuries of life have at all advanced. Pliny tells us, that rose-water was a favorite perfume of the Roman ladies; and the most luxurious used it even in their baths. This, however, must have been some preparation differ- ent from that now known as rose-water, and was probably a mere tincture of roses. The ancients could have known nothing of rose-water, for they were entirely ignorant of the art of distillation, which only came into practice after the invention of the alembic by the Arabs. Some attribute this discovery to Rhazes, an Arabian physician who lived in the early part of the tenth century ; and others attribute it to Avicenna, who lived at Chyraz, in the latter part of the same century. It is also attributed to Geber, a cele- brated Arabian alchemist, who lived in Mesopotamia in the eighth century. Subsequent, therefore, to this discovery of the alembic, we find, according to Gmelin, in his history of the pre- paration of distilled waters, that the first notice of rose-water is by Aben-Zohar, a Jewish physician, of Seville, in Spain, who recommends it for diseases of the eye. From the Arabs this in- vention passed among the Greeks and Romans, as we are in- formed by Actuarius, a writer of the eleventh or twelfth century. In France, the first distillation of rose-water appears to have PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 45 been made by Arnaud de Yilleneuve, a physician, who lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century. The Orientals made great use of this water in various ways in their houses, and in the purification of their temples, when they thought they had been profaned by any other worship than that of Mahomet. There are many anecdotes told by historians, of the use of rose-water by the Sultans on various occasions ; and several of these, as Chateaubriand remarks, are stories worthy of the East. It is related of Saladin, that when he took Jerusalem from the Crusaders, in 1187, he would not enter the Mosque of Omar, which had been converted into a church by the Christians, until the walls and courts had been thoroughly washed and purified with rose-water brought from Damascus. Five hundred camels, it is stated, were scarcely sufficient to convey all the rose-water used for this purpose. An Arabian writer tells us, that the princes of the family of Saladin, hasten- ing to Jerusalem to worship Allah, Malek- Abdul and his nephew, Taki-Eddin, distinguished themselves above all others. The latter repaired with all his followers to the " Chapel of the Holy Cross," and taking a broom himself, he swept all the dirt from the floor, \vashed the walls and the ceiling several times with pure water, and then washed them with rose-water; having thus cleansed and purified the place, he distributed large alms to the poor. Bibars, the fourth Sultan of the Mameluke dynasty, who reigned from 1260 to 1277, caused the Caaba of the temple of Mecca to be washed with rose-water. Mahomet II., after the capture of Constantinople, in 1453, would not enter the Mosque of St. Sophia, which had been for- merly used as a church, until he had caused it to be washed with rose-water. It is stated by a French historian, that the greatest display of gorgeous magnificence at that period, was made in 1611, by the Sultan Ahmed I., at the dedication of the new Caaba, which had been built or repaired at his expense ; amber and aloes were burnt in profusion, and, in the extravagance of eastern language, 46 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. oceans of rose-water were set afloat, for washing the courts and interior surface of the walls. Rose-water is by no means so generally used now, as for a few hundred years subsequent to its invention. In France, during the reign of Philip Augustus, it was a necessary article at court. It was formerly the custom to carry large vases, filled with rose-water, to baptisms. Illustrat- ing this custom, Bayle relates a story of Rousard, the French poet : " It nearly happened that the day of his birth was also that of his death ; for when he was carried from the Chateau de La Poissoniere to the church of the place, to be baptized, the nurse who carried him carelessly let him fall ; his fall, however, was upon the grass and flowers, which received him softly ; it so happened that a young lady, who carried a vase filled with rose water, and a collection of flowers, in her haste to aid in helping the child, overturned on his head a large part of the rose-water. This incident was considered a presage of the good odor with which France would one day be filled, by the flowers of his learned writings." At one time rose-water was largely consumed in the prepara- tion of food, and the seasoning of various dishes. In the "Pri- vate life of the French," it is mentioned that in the fourteenth century, the Cornte d'Etampes gave a feast, in which a large part of the dishes, and even the chestnuts were prepared with rose-water. It is still used to flavor various dishes, but its prin- cipal use is in affections of the eyelids, or as a perfume for the toilet. The principal consumption of rose-water is however in the East, where the inhabitants are very fond of perfumes. In Persia a very large quantity is made annually, for domestic use. They deem it an excellent beverage mixed with pure water. The Corinth Grape, mixed with rose-water, and a slight infu- sion of spices, is the nectar so much in vogue among the Greeks of Morea. The Persians, according to Lebruyn, sprinkle with rose-water those who visit them. They also make it an impor- tant article of commerce ; large quantities are sent to different parts of the East, and entire cargoes are sometimes shipped to India. PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 47 In Egypt, the nobles and wealthy inhabitants consume large quantities of rose-water ; they scatter it over their divans, and other places where they spend their time ; they also offer it with confectionary, to their visitors. The custom of offering rose-water to a guest, is alluded to by Shakspeare, who makes one of his characters in Padua say : " What is it your honor will command 1 Let one attend him with a silver bason Full of rose-water, and bestrewed with flowers." Almost all the rose-water used in this country is distilled in the province of Fayoum, from the pale rose. " About the mid- dle of February, in Fayoum," says a French writer, " they pluck the roses every morning before sunrise, while the dew is yet upon them ; they then place them immediately in the alembic, not allowing them to become dry or heated by remaining too long a time without distillation. This lucrative branch of manu- facture has not escaped the monopoly of Mehemet Ali. No private individual can now distil roses in Egypt, and those who cultivate them are obliged to sell the petals to government at a low price. The value of all the rose-water distilled in Fayoum, annually, is estimated at 50,000 or 60,000 francs." Of the pro- fusion with which rose-water is used in India, some idea may be formed from the narrative of Bishop Heber, who was shown, in the ruins of the palace of Ghazepoor, a deep trench round an octagonal platform of blue, red, and white mosaic pavement. This trench, he was told, was filled with rose-water when the Nawab and his friends were feasting in the middle. "The ancient oil of roses," according to Loudon, "is obtained by bruising fresh rose-petals, mixing them with four times their weight of olive oil, and leaving them in a sand -heat for two days. If the red Rose de Provins is used, the oil is said to imbibe no odor ; but if the petals of pale roses are employed, it becomes per- fumed. This preparation was celebrated among the ancients. Pliny says that, according to Homer, roses were macerated for their oil in the time of the Trojans. The oil is chiefly used for 48 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. the hair, and is generally sold in perfumers' shops, both in France and England, under the name of Vhuile antique de Rose" Spirit of roses is made by distilling rose-petals with a small quantity of spirits of wine, and forms an agreeable article for external applications. The green leaves of the sweet briar are sometimes, in France, steeped in spirits of wine, to impart a fra- grance ; and in England they are frequently used to flavor cow- slip wine. As the petals of the rose preserve their fragrance for a long time after being dried, many are in the habit of making annu- ally little bags filled with them. These, being placed in a drawer or wardrobe, impart an agreeable perfume to the linen or clothing with which they may come in contact. The petals can be obtained from almost any garden, in sufficient quantity for this purpose, and can be dried by the process mentioned here- after. The confectioners, distillers, and perfumers, of France, draw from the Rose the greater part of their perfumes, particu- larly from damascena and centifolia, in fixing their sweet odors in sugar-plums, creams, ices, oils, pomatum, essences, and fra- grant powders. The petals of the Rose, after being freshly picked and bruised in a marble mortar, until they are reduced to a sort of paste, are employed in the preparation of different kinds of confectionary. Of this paste the French also make little perfume balls, of the size of a pea. They are made round in the same manner as pills, and before becoming hard, they are pierced with a needle and thread on a piece of silk. In a little while they become hard like wood, assume a brownish color, and emit a delightful per- fume. This rose scent continues very long, and one writer re- marks, that he has known a necklace, made in this style, possess, at the end of 25 years, as strong a perfume as when first made. In Great Britain, in the vicinity of the large cities, and in many private gardens, the flowers are gathered for making rose-water or for drying as perfumes. In Holland, the Dutch hundred- leaved and common cabbage-rose are grown extensively at Noordwich, between Leyden and Haarlem, and the dried leaves PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. 49 are sent to Amsterdam and Constantinople. In France, the Provins Rose is extensively cultivated near the town of Provins, about 60 miles south-e$,st of Paris, and also at Fontenay aux Roses, near Paris, for the manufacture of rose-water, or for exportation in a dried state. The petals of the Provins Rose (Rosa gallica) are the only ones that are said to gain additional fragrance in drying ; all the other varieties losing in this process more or less of their perfume. A French writer states, that apothecaries employ both pale and red roses ; the pale give the most perfume, while the red keep the longest. Loudon states, that "the petals of roses ought always to be gathered as soon as the flower is fully expanded ; and the gath- ering should never be deferred until it has begun to fade ; be- cause, in the latter case, the petals are not only discolored, but weakened in their perfume and their medical properties. They should be immediately separated from the calyx, and the claws of the petals pinched off; they are then dried in the shade, if the weather is dry and warm, or by a stove in a room, if the season is humid ; care being taken, in either case, not to spread them on the ground, but on a platform raised two or three feet above it. The drying should be conducted expeditiously, because it has been found that slowly dried petals do not exhale near so much odor as those which have been dried quickly ; which is also the case with hay, sweet herbs, and odoriferous vegetables generally. After the petals are dried, they are free from any sand, dust, or eggs of insects, which may adhere to them, by shaking them and rubbing them gently in a fine seive. After this the petals are put into close vessels, from which the air is excluded, and which are kept in a dry, airy situation. " As it is extremely difficult to free the rose-petals entirely from the eggs of insects, they are taken out of these vessels two or three times a year, placed in seives, rubbed, cleaned, and replaced." I have been careful to give the details of the above process, because it may be useful to those who embark extensively in the cultivation of roses, for the exportation of petals in a dried in state. Judging from facts in vegetable physiology, we should 5 50 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE. suppose that rose-petals produced in this latitude, where the Rose has a long period of hibernation, would produce more perfume and be more valuable in a dried state than those grown under the tropics. The Provins and Damask Rose are both known to suc- ceed well here and to produce abundant flowers. Their fra- grance is unsurpassed, and our summer's sun would be abundantly sufficient to dry the petals without any artificial heat. It is not too much to hope that the attention of our cultivators may yet be directed to this subject, and that the manufacture of rose-water and the preparation of dried petals may yet be an important branch of domestic industry, and form an important addition to the list of exported articles. CHAPTER VI. THE MEDICAL PROPBRTIES OF THE ROSE. E have hitherto viewed the Rose as the chief ornament of our gardens, and if we have found it abounding with charms of fragrance and beauty, we shall now find it occupying a prominent place in materia medica. Some authors have, with a degree of exaggeration, endeavored to make its medical as brilliant as its floral reputa- tion. Rosenberg, in his work on the Rose, makes it a specific in every disease, and even attributes to it supernatural virtues. In the opinion of most medical men, the medical properties of the Rose are about the same in all the kinds, while some writers assert that the Rosa gallica is superior to all others in a greater or less degree. We will mention those principally used in medi- cine, and the properties which are especially attributed to each. The most valuable properties of the Rose reside in its petals, and in order to preserve these properties, it is highly essential that the petals should be quickly and perfectly dried. Those of the Provins Rose (Rosa gallica} have an astringent and some- what bitter taste, and are tonic and astringent in their effects. According to an analysis recently made in France, they con- tain, besides vegetable matter and essential oil, a portion of gallic acid, coloring matter, albumen, tannin, some salts, with a base of potash or of chalk, silex and oxyde of iron. A small dose in pow- der strengthens the stomach and assists digestion. Their pro- 52 MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ROSE. longed use will sometimes cause a slight constipation of the bowels, while in a much stronger dose they act as purgatives. The conserve of the Provins Rose has much reputation in France, for the treatment of all chronics and affections of the bowels, caused by weakness and inactivity of the digestive organs ; it is also employed in colic, in diarrhoea, in cases of hemorrhage and leucorrhcea. The conserve of any variety of roses is considered excellent in cases of cold or catarrh. It is prepared by bruising in a mortar the petals with their weight in sugar, and moistening them with a little rose-water, until the whble forms a homogeneous mass. Some receipts prescribe powdered petals mixed with an equal part of sugar ; others direct to use two layers of sugar and only one layer of pulverized petals. Opoix, a physician of Provins, states that the true Rose of Pro- vins has a more sweet and penetrating fragrance than the same rose grown elsewhere, and even goes so far as to say that they have acquired properties which they do not possess in their native country, the Caucasus. On account of the supposed superior qualities of this rose, the citizens of Provins, in 1807, addressed a petition to government to encourage in their territory the culti- vation of the true Provins Rose, by giving it the preference in all the hospitals and military dispensaries. This gave rise to a dis- cussion between two French chemists, but without deciding the fact whether the Rosa gallica was superior in medical properties to any other rose. It seems to be acknowledged that those culti- vated at Provins were superior to the same kind grown else- where, and this superiority is attributed by some to the presence of iron in the soil about that city. It was probably owing also to the very careful cultivation practised there. The petals are used extensively in several medical preparations, as the sugar of roses, the ointment of roses, the treacle of roses, &c. Rose-water is, however, more extensively used in medicine than any other preparation of the rose. This water, when manufactured from the gallica or any other variety of the centifolice, is employed internally as an astringent, and is sometimes mixed with other MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ROSE. 53 medicines to destroy their disagreeable smell and taste. In exter- nal applications, it is used principally for affections of the eyes, either alone or with some ointment. The alcoholic tincture of roses, or spirit of roses before described, which was formerly given as a stimulus in many cases, has now fallen very much into disuse, medical opinion being very much against the employment of any alcoholic medicines excepting in very rare cases. The syrup of roses, manufactured from the pale or damask rose, is sometimes employed as a purgative, and was once highly esteemed and recommended as a mild laxative. It is now, how- ever, scarcely considered purgative, and its laxative properties are probably owing in a great measure to the senna and other arti- cles which enter into its preparation. The electuary of roses, which is now no longer used, was also probably indebted for its medical qualities to the addition of scammony, a very strong purgative. Vinegar of roses ^ made by simply infusing dried rose-petals in the best distilled vinegar, to which they communicate their perfume. It is used for cooking and for the toilet, and is valu- able for headaches when applied in the same way as common vinegar. The ancients prepared this vinegar, and also the wine and oil of roses, which are no longer used. Honey of roses is made by beating up rose-petals with a very small portion of boiling water ; the liquid, after being filtered, is boiled with honey. This is esteemed for sore throats, for ulcers in the mouth, and for anything that is benefited by the use of honey. The fruit of the rose is said also to possess some astringent properties ; the pulp of the fruit of the wild varieties, particularly of the dog-rose, after being separated from the seeds and beaten up in a mortar with sugar, makes a sort of conserve known in medicine under the name of Cynorrhodon. Children in the country sometimes eat these fruits after they have attained perfect maturity, and have been somewhat mel- lowed by the frost; they then lose their pungent taste and be- 5* 54 MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ROSE. come a little sweet. Belanger, a French writer who traveled in Persia in 1825, found in that country a rose whose fruit was very agreeably flavored. The apple-bearing rose (R. villosa pomifera) produces the largest fruit of all, and is the best adapted for pre- serving ; but an English writer remarks, that the fruit of R. sys- tyla and R. arvensis, although of a smaller size, bears a higher flavor than that of any other species. Rose-buds, like the fruit, are also frequently preserved in sugar, and pickled in vinegar. Tea is sometimes made of the leaves of the rose, which are also eaten readily by the domestic animals. The ends of the young shoots of the sweet briar, deprived of their bark and foliage, and cut into short pieces, are sometimes candied and sold by the confectioners. The Dog-Rose takes its name from the virtue which the an- cients attributed to its root, as a cure for hydrophobia. The heathen deities themselves, according to Pliny, revealed this marvelous property, in dream, to a mother whose son had been bitten by a dog affected with this terrij^le disease. The excrescences frequently found on the branches of the Rose, and particularly on those of the wild varieties, known to drug- gists by the Arabic name of bedeguar, and which resemble in form a little bunch of moss, partake equally of the astringent pro- perties of the Rose. These excrescences are caused by the punc- ture of a little insect, known to naturalists as the equips rosce, and occasionally nearly the same effects are produced by other insects. CHAPTEK VII. GENERAL REMARKS. HE name of the Rose is very similar in most languages, but of its primitive derivation very little or nothing is known. It is rhodon in Greek ; rhos, in Celtic ; rosa, in Latin, Ital- ian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, and Polish ; rose, in French, Saxon, and Eng- lish ; rosen, in German ; roose, in Dutch ; rhosha, in Sclavonic ; ros, in Irish ; ruoze, in Bohemian ; ouas- rath, in Arabic ; nisrin, in Turkish ; chabhatzeleth, in Hebrew ; and gul, in Persian. These are the various names by which the flower has been known from very early times, and a strong resemblance can be traced through all. The Latin name, rosa, also forms a component part of terms used to designate several other things. The name of rosary was given to a string of beads used in the Romish Church to represent a certain number of prayers ; it was instituted about the year 667, but was not much used until Peter the hermit excited the Christian nations to the Crusade, about 1096. Dominique, a Romish saint, established, in 1207, the brotherhood of the Rosary, and the festival of the Rose was in- stituted in 1571 by Pope Pius V., in thanksgiving for the victory gained by the Christians over the Turks at Lepante. Subse- 56 GENERAL REMARKS. quent popes gave to that ceremony more eclat, and caused it to be established in Spain. The name of rosary was formerly also given to the vessel used in distilling rose-water. This flower has also given the idea of new forms of beauty in architecture and the arts. A rose is sometimes sculptured in the centre of each face of a Corinthian capital. It is also frequently seen in iron castings for the banisters of the stone steps of a house, and it is sometimes displayed upon the pavement in front of some splendid mansion. This, however, is rare in the United States, although frequent in Europe. Among all the imitations of the Rose, none can compare with those painted on glass, some of which can be found in the win- dows of celebrated European Cathedrals in Canterbury, Cologne, Milan, Rheims, St. Denis and others. We can scarcely imagine anything more beautifully soft than these paintings on glass, as seen from the interior of a church, in the rich light of a glowing sun-set ; the Rose thus painted seems to possess all the freshness and beauty of the real flower. The nave of the Cathedral of Paris, besides twenty-four large windows, is lighted by three others, large and magnificent, in the shape of a Rose, which are each forty feet in diameter. The paintings on glass which ornament these windows were executed in the 13th century, and still retain their fresh and bright colors : that over the grand entrance represents the signs of the zodiac, and the agricultural labors of each month. In heraldry, the rose frequently forms part of a shield, in full bloom, with a bud in the centre, and with five points to imitate thorns ; it is an emblem of beauty and of nobility acquired with difficulty. The Golden Rose was considered so honorable a present, that none but monarchs were worthy to receive it. In the llth century, the Pope introduced the custom of bless- ing a golden Rose, which he presented to some church, or to some prince or princess, as an especial mark of his favor. In 1096, the Pope Urban II. gave a Golden Rose to the Comte d'Anjou. Alexander III. sent one to Louis, King of France, GENERAL REMARKS. 57 in acknowledgment of the attentions of that prince during the pope's visit to France, as stated in a letter which he wrote the king. " In accordance with the custom of our ancestors, in carrying a rose of gold in their hands on Dimanche Laetare, we do not think we can present it to one who merits it more than yourself, from your devotion to the Church and to ourselves." Pope John, in 1415, sent the Golden Rose to the Emperor Sigis- mund. Martin V., in 1418, sent another to the same prince. Pius- II., in 1461, sent one to Thomas Paleologue, emperor of Con- stantinople. Henry VIII., of England, before his separation from the Church of Rome, received- the Golden Rose twice ; the first from Julius II., and the second from Leo X. : and recently, in 1842, the Pope's Nuncio Capaccini presented it to Donna Maria, dueen of Portugal. The public ceremony of blessing the Rose was not instituted until 1366, by Urban V. : that pontiff, wishing to give a particu- lar mark of his esteem to Joanna, Q,ueen of Sicily, solemnly blessed a Golden Rose, which he sent her, and made at the same time a decree, that a similar one should be consecrated every year. For fifty or sixty years, the Pope gave the Rose to princes who came to Rome ; and it was the custom to give 500 louis to the officer who carried it for the Pope. The Rose, in its intrinsic value, was however sometimes worth double that sum. We have thus given all the information we have been able to collect respecting the history of the Rose. We shall feel abundantly gratified if the facts and anecdotes we have cited, shall tend to enhance the already growing interest in this flower ; and by thus connecting it with the lore of an- tiquity, cast around it a bright halo of pleasant associations. Among the various riches of the garden, there are many flowers of great attractions : some we admire for their beautiful forms, others for their brilliant colors ; and others again for their delight- ful fragrance : and we scarcely know which to pronounce the most pleasing. But whatever may be our feelings of admiration for these beautiful flowers, a desire for something still more GENERAL REMARKS. beautiful draws us to the Rose, and compels us to pronounce it superior to all its rivals. It is the Rose alone that never fatigues, that always exhibits some new beauty, and that is never affected by fashion ; for while Dahlias and other flowers have had their hour of favor, and have passed out of notice, the Rose has been a favorite for some three thousand years, and is still the first and most beautiful, the chef cPceuvre of the vegetable kingdom. The Rose is rendered a favorite by many pleasant associations. It has been, as we have shown, the cherished flower of the an- cient poets, and it will be shown again, that with modern poets, it has lost none of its charms, but is still apostrophized and made an object of frequent comparison. With the ancients, it was, as we have seen, the ornament of their festivals, their altars, and their tombs : it was the emblem of beauty, youth, modesty and innocence, and was full of tender sentiment and pleasant images. A French writer, in a somewhat more extravagant vein of lau- dation, says, " Its name alone gives birth in all sensible minds to a crowd of pleasant thoughts, while, at the same time, it excites a sensation of the most delightful pleasures, and the most sweet enjoyments." The name of " Queen of Flowers," has been given to the Rose, almost from time immemorial ; but this name is particularly applicable to the centifolia and the hybrids from it, among which the Rose figured in this work La Relne stands conspicuous. For size, form and brilliant color, it stands indeed the Queen among Roses. But the little, modest wild-rose, found only in woods and hedges, adorns the solitude where it grows, and possesses for many a charm not surpassed by that of any of the cultivated varieties : its regularly formed corolla, of a soft and delicate color, combines in its simplicity many an attraction not found in the most beautiful flowers of the garden ; and late in the season, when the fields are stripped of their verdure, the landscape is enlivened by the bright appearance of its red, coral- like fruit. The beauty of the Rose has preserved it and its reputation for many ages. The most populous nations, the largest cities, the most wealthy and powerful kingdoms, have disappeared from the earth, GENERAL REMARKS. 59 or have been involved in the revolutions and subversions of em- pires, while a simple flower has escaped them all, and still remains to tell its story. It has seen a hundred generations succeed each other, and pass away; it has traveled through ages without changing its destiny or losing its character : the homage ren- dered and the love borne it has been always the same : now, as in the earliest periods of the world's history, it is decreed the first place in the floral kingdom. In these days, as in those of an- tiquity, it is par excellence, the Q,ueen of flowers, because it is always the most beautiful, and because no other flower can fur- nish half its charms. To elegance and beauty of form it unites the freshness and brilliance of the most agreeable colors, and, as if nature had showered upon it all her most precious gifts, it adds to its other qualities a delightful perfume, wflich alone would suffice to entitle it to a distinguished place among the beautiful and pleasant things of the vegetable kingdom. POETEY OF THE ROSE. CHAPTER VIII. Round every flower there gleams a glory, Bequeathed by antique song or story; To each old legends give a name, And its peculiar charm proclaim. O'er smiling lawn, through shady grove, Our dreaming poets pensive rove, And strive to read their language rare, And learn the lesson latent there." OETRY has been defined to be that which suggests to the mind glowing thoughts and pleasant images. We have the poetry of mo- tion, whether displayed in the beautiful and bounding steps of a noble stag, the spirit-stir- ring course of the Arabs' favorite, or the grace- ful gait and winning gestures of a beautiful and highly cultivated woman. We have, too, the poetry of form, whether dwelling in the quiet beauty of Trinity spire, leaning against the clear, blue sky, or whether breathing in the many forms of natural beauty around us the ever-varying expression of an intellectual human face, the rippling course of flowing and shaded waters, the stately oak of the forest, the quivering leaf upon the tree, or the simple flower of the field. Willis dis- courses eloquently upon unwritten music and the various pleas- ant tones breathed by Nature into the ear of him whose spirit is attuned to their harmony. So, also, the world is full of unwrit- ten poetry ; it is everywhere around us, and always visible to the eye that is accustomed to look for its presence. There is poetry in the dreariness of winter, in the purity of the quiet- 6 62 POETRY OF THE ROSE. falling snow-flake, in the glittering splendor of a whole land- scape encased with ice, and the rose-bushes bending under the weight of their gem-like covering. And when the bonds of winter are loosened, and the plant, just awakening from its long sleep, begins to put forth its energies, it is poetry to watch the grad- ual swelling of the leaf-bud, the first appearance of the delicate leaflets, and the full development of the mature leaf and branch. And when the sun's rays are becoming more powerful, and the infant bud appears, it is poetry to watch the gradual unfolding of the flowers, the opening of the calyx to its ruby-pointed in- mate, the appearance of the beautifully formed bud, and the full expansion of the perfect flower. At midsummer, too, it is poetry to lie under the shade of a noble forest tree, and gaze upon the various forms of beauty displayed in the roses scattered about the lawn. " 'T is poetry to lie By the clear brook, where the long bennet dips : To press the rose-bud, in its purity, Unto the burning lips." It is this poetry, this appreciation of the various forms of natural beauty that are always around us, which tends, more than anything of earth, to elevate the mind and to improve the moral affections of him who yields himself to their influence. Its effect is truly conservative, and productive of the happiest results, when duly appreciated. This species of poetry cannot, however, be readily put upon paper ; it is too etherial to pass under the press. The poetry for our purpose we must define to be the graceful expression of a beautiful thought ; and these expressions and thoughts we have gathered from various fields into a bouquet, which we hope will present some features of beauty. Our selections have in some cases been made from collections of fugitive poetry, where the authors' names are not given, and we cannot therefore attach due credit. Our object in this work is to interest all ; and we hope that those whose ears are not open to pleasant sounds, will endure POETRY OF THE ROSE. 63 this chapter for the sake of the more practical matter contained elsewhere, while some will perhaps be attracted to other chapters by the pleasure they have derived from this. TO THE ROSE. Fruitless and endless were the task, I ween, With every flower to grace my votive lay ; And unto thee, their long acknowledged Queen, Fairest and loveliest ! and thy gentle sway, Beautiful Rose, my homage I must pay ; For how can minstrel leave thy charms unsung, Whose meek supremacy has been alway Confess'd, in many a clime and many a tongue, And in whose praise the harp of many a bard has sung ? Mine is unworthy such a lovely theme ; Yet, could I borrow of that tuneful bird Who sings thy praises by the moon's pale beam As fancy's graceful legends have averr'd-* Those thrilling harmonies at midnight heard, With sounds of flowing waters, not in vain Should the loose strings of my rude harp be stirr'd By inspiration's breath ; but one brief strain Should re-assert thy rights and celebrate thy reign. #****** I love the Rose it is a noble flower ; In color rich, and opulent of leaves : And when her summer garland Flora weaves, She sees no fairer beauty in her bower, None which, so redolent of perfume, flings A sweeter fragrance on the zephyr's wings. 64 POETRY OF THE ROSE. I love the Rose that simple, single one, Which decks the hedges delicately white ; Or, blushing like a maiden's cheek so slight, The eye looks anxious lest the tint be gone Ere it hath gazed enough, or ere the spray Can from the parent tree be slipp'd away. I love the Rose that monthly one, which blooms In cottage windows ; which is tended there With maiden constancy, by maiden care ; Which through all seasons decorates the rooms, Like her whose opening charms appear to be A lovely blowing bud on beauty's tree. I love the Rose nor least when I perceive The thistle's pride in Scotia's t>onnet worn ; The shamrock green on Erin's banner borne : O, then imagination loves to weave Of England's emblem flowers a garland meet To place on beauty's brow, or lay at valor's feet. I love the Rose its presence to my eye Like beauty, youth, like hope and health appears, Recalling the gay dreams of early years : And when I smell its fragrance wafted by, I think of virtue, love, benevolence, Which moral perfumes round life's paths dispense. I love the Rose for bards have ever loved The queen of flowers the flower of beauty's queen, When in the hedgerow or the garden seen, Or pluck'd and proffer'd, by some friend belov'd, To gentle lady, and by her caress'd, Then braided with her hair, or worn upon her breast. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 65 I love the Rose what time the smiling year Leads forth in summer glory Flora's train ; When orchard, garden, woodland, bower and plain, Dress'd in- their richest garments all appear ; Then then I love the humblest flower that blows, But chief of all the tribe I love the Rose. BERNARD BARTON. THE WILD ROSE, Welcome ! oh, welcome once again, ' Thou dearest of all the laughing flowers That open their odorous bosoms when The summer birds are in their bowers ! There is none that I love, sweet gem, like thee, So mildly through the green leaves stealing ; For I seem, as thy delicate flush I see, In the dewy haunts of my youth to be ; And a gladsome youthful feeling Springs to my heart, that not, all the glare Of the blossoming East could awaken there. Glorious and glad it were, no doubt, Over the billowy sea to sail, And to find every spot of the wide world out, So bright and fair in the minstrel's tale : To roam by old Tiber's classic tide At eve, when round the gushing waters Shades of renown will seem to glide, And amid the myrtle's flowery pride Walk Italy's soft daughters : Or to see Spain's haughtier damsels rove Through the delicious orange grove. 6* 66 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Glorious it were, where the bright heaven glows, To wander idly far away, And to scent the nmsk'd, voluptuous rose Of beauty, blest Circassia ! To spy some languid Indian maid, Wooing at noon the precious breeze, Beneath the proud magnolia's shade ; Or a Chilian girl at random laid On a couch of am ary Hides : To behold the cocoa-palm, so fair To the eye of the southern islander. Glorious Camellian blooms to find, In the jealous realms of far Japan, Or the epidendrum's garlands twiri'd Round the tall trees of Hindostan. All this were glad, and awhile to be Like a spirit wand'ring gaily ; But oh ! what souls, to whom these are free, Would give them all to share with me The joys that I gather daily, When, out in the morning's dewy spring, I mark the wild Rose blossoming ! When the footpath's winding track is lost Beneath the deep o'erhanging grass, And the golden pollen forth is tost Thickly upon me as I pass ; When England is paradise ^,11 over ; When flowers are breathing, birds are singing ; When the honeysuckle I first discover Balming the air, and in the clover The early scythe is ringing ; When gales in the billowy grass delight, And a silvery beauty tracks their flight ; POETRY OF THE ROSE. 67 And, more than all, the sweet, wild Rose, Starring each bush in lanes and glades, Smiles in each lovelier tint that glows On the cheeks of England's peerless maids : Some, with a deeper, fuller hue, Like lass o'er the foamy milk-pail chanting : Lighter are some, and gemm'd with dew, Like ladies whose lovers all are true, And nought on earth have wanting ; But their eyes on beauteous scenes are bent, That own them their chief ornament. And some alas ! that a British maid In beauty should ever resemble them ! Like damsel heart-broken and betray'd, Droop softly on their slender stem : Hid in the wild-wood's deepest shade, Flowers of such snowy loveliness, That almost without light fancy's aid, Seem they for touching emblems made, Of beauty smitten by distress. But enough the wild Rose is the queen of June. When flowers are abroad and birds in tune. MARY HOWITT. THE WILD ROSE. Gorgeous and bright is the garden, I ween, Where thousand-leaved roses are richest in sheen ; But, lady, the plain little wild Rose for me, That blooms in the shade of the tall forest-tree. The proud multi flora, so vain of its charms, Flaunts wide in the sunshine its broad-spreading arms ; 68 POETRY OF -THE ROSE. But give me the wild Rose, ashamed to be seen, That blushes and hides in its mantle of green. The Rose of the garden may boast its perfume, And true it smells sweetly while lingers its bloom ; But give me the Eglantine, blushing alone, That still scents the gale when its blossoms are gone. Let others encircle their brows with the flowers By culture made bright for a few fleeting hours ; Far dearer to me is the wild flower that grows Unseen, by the brook where in shadow it flows. There hie, gentle maid, where the wild blossoms grow, And cull me a wreath to encircle my brow : One sweet little Rose for my bosom shall be ; And, lady, that sweet little Rose shall be thee. THE CHILD AND THE ROSE, When stirring bud and songful bird Brought gladness to the earth, And spring-time voices first were heard In low, sweet sounds of mirth ; A little child, with pleasant eyes. Reclined in tranquil thought. And, half communing with the skies, His pretty fancies wrought. He turned where, cased in robe of green. A rose-bud met his eye, And one faint streak the leaves between. Rich in its crimson dye. POETRY OP THE ROSE. 09 The warm light gathereth in the sky, The bland air stirreth round, And yet the child is lingering by, Half-kneeling on the ground : For broader grew that crimson streak, Back folds the leaf of green, And he in wonder, still and meek, Watch'd all its opening sheen. "'Tis done, 'tis done !" at length he cried, With glad amazement wild ; The Rose, in new-created pride, Had opened for the child. O, had we hearts like thine, sweet boy, To watch creative power, We, too, should thrill with kindred joy At every opening flower. E. OAKES SMITH. THE ROSE GIRL'S SONG, Come, buy my sweet Roses, ye fair ladies all, And bless my poor mother and I ; Nor fresher, nor sweeter, boasts basket or stall : Come, buy my sweet Roses, come, buy. Here are scarlet, and damask, and delicate white, And some with a blush's sweet dye ; With beautiful moss'd ones, the lover's delight : Come, buy my fine Roses, come, buy. 70 POETRY OF THE ROSE. These buds for your bosoms, these blown for your rooms. Were nursed in warm smiles of July ; These posies are all of the loveliest blooms : Come buy my nice Roses, come, buy. All fresh as the morning, and fragrant as May, And bright as a young lover's eye, We gather'd them all at the dawning of day : Come, buy my fresh Roses, come buy. THE ROSE-BUD. When nature tries her finest touch, Weaving her vernal wreath, Mark ye how close she veils her round, Not to be traced by sight or sound, Nor soil'd by ruder breath ? Whoever saw the earliest Rose First open her sweet breast ? Or, when the summer sun goes down, The first, soft star in evening's crown Light up her gleaming crest ? Fondly we seek the dawning bloom On features wan and fair ; The gazing eye no change can trace. But look away a little space, Then turn, and lo ! 'tis there. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 71 But there's a sweeter flower than e'er Blush'd on the rosy spray A brighter star, a richer bloom, Than e'er did western heaven illume At close of summer day. 'T is love, the last best gift of heaven Love gentle, holy, pure ; But tenderer than a dove's soft eye : The searching sun, the open sky, She never could endure. Even human love will shrink from sight Here in the coarse, rude earth : How then should rash, intruding glance Break in upon her sacred trance, Who boasts a heavenly birth ! So still and secret is her growth, Ever the truest heart, Where deepest strikes her kindly root For hope or joy, for flower or fruit, Least known its happy part. God only and good angels look Behind the blissful screen As when, triumphant o'er his woes, The Son of God by moonlight rose, By all but heaven unseen : As when the Holy Maid beheld Her risen Son and Lord : Thought has not colors half so fail- That she to paint that hour may dare, In silence best adored. 72 POETRY OF THE ROSE. The gracious dove, that brought from heaven The earnest of our bliss, Of many a chosen witness' telling, On many a happy vision dwelling, Sings not a note of this. So, truest image of the Christ, Old Israel's long-lost son, What time, with sweet forgiving cheer, He called his conscious brethren near, Would weep with them alone. He could not trust his melting soul But in his Maker's sight ; Then why should gentle hearts and true Bare to the rude world's withering view Their treasures of delight? No let the dainty Rose awhile Her bashful fragrance hide Rend not her silken veil too soon, But leave her, in her own soft noon, To flourish and abide. THE SUMMER ROSE, O, nowhere blooms so bright the Summer Rose, As where youth cropt it from the valley's breast ; O, nowhere are the downs so soft as those That pillow'd infancy's unbroken rest. PROM THE DANISH OF AFZELIU.S. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 73 TO THE SWEET-BRIER. Our sweet autumnal western-scented wind Robs of its odors none so sweet a flower, In all the blooming waste it left behind, As that the sweet-brier yields it ; and the shower Wets not a rose that buds in beauty's bower One half so lovely ; yet it grows along The poor girl's pathway by the poor man's door. Such are the simple folks it dwells among ; And humble as the bud, so humble be the song. I love it, for it takes its untouch'd stand Not in the vase that sculptors decorate ; Its sweetness all is of my native land ; And e'en its fragrant leaf has not its mate Among the perfumes which the rich and great Bring from the odors of the spicy East. You love your flowers. and plants, and will you hate The little four-leaved Rose that I love best, That freshest will awake, and sweetest go to rest ? J. G. C. BRAINARD. THE TULIP AND EGLANTINE, The Tulip called to the Eglantine ; " Good neighbor, I hope you see How the throngs that visit the garden come To pay their respects to me. " The florist admires my elegant robe, And praises its rainbow ray, Till it seems as if, through his raptured eyes He was gazing his soul away." 7 74 POETRY OP THE ROSE. " It may be so," said the Eglantine ; " In a humble nook I dwell, And what is passing among the great I cannot know so well. But they speak of me as the flower of love, And that low-whispered name Is dearer to me, and my infant buds, Than the loudest breath of fame." THE ROSE. How beautiful the Rose, as it unfolds its vernal dyes And breathes a holy fragrance round, like incense from the skies ; Casts to the breeze the sparkling dews that glitter on its stem, And wreaths around its blushing brows a crystal diadem. But while the bee, with honey'd lip, salutes the vernal flower That 's daily brightened by the sun and cherished by the shower, The blast of desolation comes and sweeps it to the dust, When all its beauties perish, as all mortal beauties must. Behold that gentle maiden, in the fair, fresh morn of youth ! Upon her cheek the holy glow of innocence and truth ; The sudden shock of sorrow strikes the blush no longer glows, But verifies the fate of her fragile type, the Rose. Destruction comes alike to all, the meanest and the best, ? T is oft the harbinger of wo, as suffering is to rest ; Here beauty is the sure but smiling herald of decay, As oftentimes the darkest night succeeds the brightest day. ROBERT GAUNTER. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 75 THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS, Most glorious Rose ! You are the queenly belle. On you all eyes Admiring turn. Doubtless you might indite Romances from your own sweet history. They 're all the fashion now, and crowd the page Of many a periodical. Wilt tell None of your heart adventures ? Never mind ! All can detect the Zephyr's stolen kiss In your deep blush ; so, where's the use to seal Your lips so cunningly, when all the world Call you the flower of love ? And now good-bye ; A pleasant gossip have I had with you, Ohlig-ingf visitants, but. must, away To graver toils. Still keep your incense fresh And free to rise to Him who tints your brows, Bidding the brown mould and unsightly stem Put forth such blaze of beauty as translates To dullest hearts His dialect of love. FROM " GOSSIP WITH A BOUQUET." A THOUGHT OF THE ROSE. How much of memory dwells amid thy bloom. Rose ! ever wearing beauty for thy dower ! The bridal day the festival the tomb, Thou hast thy part in each, thou stateliest flower ; Therefore with thy soft breath come floating by A thousand images of love and grief Dreams, filled with tokens of mortality, Deep thoughts of all things beautiful and brief. 76 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Not such thy spells o'er those that -hailed thee first, In the clear light of Eden's golden day ! There thy rich leaves to crimson glory burst, Link'd with no dim remembrance of decay. Rose ! for the banquet gathered and the bier ! Rose ! colored now by human hope or pain ; Surely where death is not nor change, nor fear, Yet may we meet thee, 'Joy's own flower, again. FELICIA HEMANS. A SONG OF THE ROSE, Rose ! what dost thou here ? Bridal, royal Rose ! How, 'midst grief and fear, Canst ihou thus disolusc That fervid hue of love which to thy heart-leaf glows ? Rose ! too much array'd For triumphal hours, Look'st thou through the shade Of these mortal bowers, Not to disturb my soul, thou crown'd one of all flowers ! As an eagle soaring Through a sunny sky, As a clarion pouring Notes of victory, So dost thou kindle thoughts for earthly life too high Thoughts of rapture flushing Youthful poet's cheek, Thoughts of glory rushing Forth in song to break, But finding the spring-tide of rapid song too weak. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 77 Yet, oh, festal Rose ! I have seen thee lying In thy bright repose, Pillow'd with the dying ; Thy crimson by the life's quick blood was flying. Summer, hope, and love O'er that bed of pain, Meet in thee, yet wove Too, too frail a chain In its embracing links the lovely to detain. Smilest thou, gorgeous flower ? Oh ! within the spells Of thy beauty's power Something dimly dwells, At variance with a world of sorrows and farewells. All the soul forth flowing In that rich perfume, All the proud life glowing In that radiant bloom, Have they no place but here, beneath th' o'ershadowing tomb? Crown'st thou but the daughters Of our tearful race ? Heaven's own purest waters Well might bear the trace Of thy consummate form, melting to softer grace. Will that clime enfold thee With immortal air ? Shall we not behold thee Bright and deathless there, In spirit-lustre clothed, transcendently more fair ? 7* POETRY OF THE ROSE. Yes ! my fancy sees thee In that light disclose, And its dream thus frees thee From the midst of woes. Darkening thine earthly bowers, O bridal, royal Rose. FELICIA HEMANS. THE ROSE. Of all flowers, Methinks a Rose is best It is the very emblem of a maid ; For when the west wind courts her gently, How modestly she blows and paints the sun With her chaste blushes ! When the north comes near her, Rude and impatient, then, like chastity, She locks her beauties in her bud again, And leaves him to base briers. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. THE MOSS ROSE O, I love the sweet-blooming, the pretty moss-rose, 7 T is the type of true pleasure and perfected joy ; O, I envy each insect that dares to repose 'Midst its leaves, or among its soft beauties to toy. I love the sweet lily, so pure and so pale, With a bosom as fair as the new fallen snows ; Her luxuriant odors she spreads through the vale, Yet e'en she must yield to my pretty moss-rose. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 79 O, I love the gay heart's-ease and violet blue. The sun-flower and blue-bell, each flowret that blows ; The fir tree, the pine tree, acacia, and yew, Yet e'en these must yield to my pretty moss-rose. Yes, I love iny moss-rose, for it ne'er had a thorn, 'T is the type of life's pleasures, unmixed with its woes ; 'T is more gay and more bright than the opening morn Yes, all things must yield to my pretty moss-rose. ANON. THE NK SS-ROSE. Mossy rose on most stone, Flowering 'mid the ITIK ' lone, I have learnt, beholding ti* , Youth and Age may well agree. Baby germ of freshest hue, Out of ruin issuing new ; Moss a long laborious growth, And one stalk supporting both : Thus may still, while fades the past. Life come forth again as fast ; Happy if the relics sere Deck a cradle, not a bier. Tear the garb, the spirit flies, And the heart, unshelter'd, dies ; Kill within the nursling flower, Scarce the green survives an hour. 80 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Ever thus together live, And to man a lesson give, Moss, the work of vanished years, Rose, that but to-day appears. Moss, that covers dateless tombs ; Bud, with early sweet that blooms ; Childhood thus, in happy rest, Lies on ancient Wisdom's breast. Moss and Rose, and Age and Youth, Flush and Verdure, Hope and Truth, Yours be peace that knows not strife, One the root and one the life. JOHN STERLING. LEGEND OF THE ROSE. - Ah, lady ! list my tale, I was the summer's fairest pride, The nightingale's betrothed bride ; In Shiraz's bowers I sprung to birth When Love first lighted on the earth ; And then my pure, inodorous bosom, Blooming on its thorny tree, Was snowy as its mother's blossom, Rising from the emerald sea. Young Love rambling through the wood, Found me in my solitude, Bright with dew and freshly blown, And trembling to the zephyr's sighs. But as he stood, to gaze upon The living gem with raptured eyes, It chanced a bee was busy there, Searching for its fragrant fare ; POETRY OF THE ROSE. SI And Cupid stooping 1 , too, to sip, The angry insect stung his lip And gushing from the ambrosial cell. One bright drop on my bosom fell ! Weeping, to his mother he Told the tale of treachery ; And she, her vengeful boy to please, Strung his bow with captive bees ; But placed upon my slender stem The poisoned sting she plucked from them : And none since that eventful morn Have found the flower without a thorn. FLOWER FANTASIES. Oh, there is music to the spirit's ear In every sigh Heaved by the Rose's bosom to the air That winnows by ; And there is poetry in every leaf, Whose blush speaks pleasure, or whose tears tell There is romance in every stem that bends In motion soft Beneath the wind that rustles in the tall Tree-tops aloft, And 'mid their branches whistlingly doth blow, While it but fans the flowers that sleep below. The fragrance is the spirit of the flower, E'en as the soul Is our ethereal portion. We can ne'er Hold or control One more than other. Passing sweet must be The visions, gentle things, that visit ye ! 82 POETRY OF THE ROSE. How happily ye live in the pure light Of loveliness ! Do ye not feel how deeply wondrously Ye cheer and bless Our checker'd sojourn on this weary earth, Whose wildest, dreariest spots to Flowers have given birth ? Do not ye joy to know the pure delight With which we gaze Upon your glorious forms ? Are ye not glad, E'en in the praise Which our enraptured wonder ever tells, While poring o'er the wealth that in ye dwells : That wealth of thought, of beauty, and of love, Which may be found In each small common herb that springs from out The teeming ground ? Do not ye feel that ye do deeply bless Our harsher souls by your dear loveliness ? Oh, if 'tis given unto ye to know The thrilling power Of memories and thoughts that can be read E'en in a flower, How ye must all rejoice beneath each look Which reads your beauty, like an open book ! We love its silent language : strong, though still, Is that unheard But all-pervading harmony : it breathes No utter'd word, But floats around us, as, in happy dream, We feel the soft sigh of a waveless stream. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 83 So, love of nature's harmony can bless And gladden ever The heart and fancy, as pellucid wave Of fount or river Flings back more bright what bright doth on it fall, And its own radiance lends where else were none at all. LOUISA ANN TWAMLEY. THE ROSES. I saw them once blowing, While morning was glowing ; But now are their withered leaves strew'd o'er the ground. For tempests to play on, For cold worms to prey on, The shame of the garden that triumphs around. Their buds which then flourished, With dew-drops were nourish'd, Which turn'd into pearls as they fell from on high ; Their hues are all banish'd, Their fragrance all vanish'd, Ere evening a shadow has cast from the sky. I saw, too, whole races Of glories and graces Thus open and blossom, but quickly decay ; And smiling and gladness, In sorrow and sadness, Ere life reach'd its twilight, fade dimly away. 84 POETRY OP THE ROSE. Joy's light-hearted dances, And melody's glances, Are rays of a moment are dying when born And pleasure's best dower Is nought but a flower, A vanishing dew-drop a gem of the morn. The bright eye is clouded, Its brilliancy shrouded, Our strength disappears, we are helpless and lone ; No reason avails us, And intellect fails us ; Life's spirit is wasted, and darkness comes on. BOWRINO. THE ROSE. Loved daughter of the laughing May The light of all that's pure is thine ; The rosy beams that wake the day, Upon thy cheeks of velvet shine. Thy beauty paints the evening skies It mingles with the rainbow's dyes : In love's own light its blushes speak On ruby lip and vermeil cheek. No wooing zephyrs ever strayed To whisper love or steal a kiss, Or dancing sunbeam ever played Upon a sweeter flower than this. The night fays o'er thy bosom strew The sparklet of the nectar dew ; And on their shrine the pearls have slept Like tears the dying stars have wept. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 85 Many a pouting lip has flush'd In rival beauty by thy side ; Many a maiden cheek has blush'd In vain to match thy crimson pride. The pink may burst its varied hue, The violet its azure blue, The lily claim the snow its own ; But still thou reign'stj.undimmed, alone. Thou hast the tale of love express'd, In words the faltering tongue forebore ; And answering from the heart confess'd, What eye and cheek had told before. Young hearts have whisper'd to thy ears The secret of their hopes and fears ; When, nestled in a gentle breast, Thou had'st thy tender folds carest. Ah ! anxious hope long watch has kept, Despairingly beneath thy cover; While fond heart sighed and bright eye wept The absence of a faithless lover. And many a vow of love is made, And fond heart pledged beneath thy shade ; While friendly moonbeams light thy bower, And glides too soon the stolen hour. I love thee, emblem of my youth ! Thou bring'st to mind fond memories When fancy wore the garb of truth, And love made earth a paradise. But as those dreamy hours have fled Before the light stern truth has shed So will thy fleeting beauty fade, And join the wreck that time has made. D. EVERETT ROSE. 86 POETRY OF THE ROSE. CUPID AND THE DIAL, One day, young frolic Cupid tried To scatter roses o'er the hours, And on the dial's face to hide The course of time with many flowers. By chance, his rosy wreaths had wound Upon the hands, and forced them on ; And when he look'd again, he found The hours had pass'd, the time was done. " Alas !" said Love, and dropp'd his flowers, " I've lost my time in idle play ; The sweeter I would make the hours, The quicker they are pass'd away." ANACREON TO THE ROSE. While we invoke the wreathed spring, Resplendent Rose ! to thee we'll sing, Resplendent Rose ! the flower of flowers, Whose breath perfumes Olympus' bowers ; Whose virgin blush, of chasten'd dye, Enchants so much our mortal eye : Oft has the poet's magic tongue The Rose's fair luxuriance sung ; And long the Muses, heavenly maids, Have rear'd it in their tuneful shades. When, at the early glance of morn, It sleeps upon the glittering thorn, 'Tis sweet to dare the tangled fence, To cull the timid floweret thence, POETRY OF THE ROSE. 87 And wipe, with tender hand, away The tear that on its blushes lay ! 'Tis sweet to hold the infant stems. Yet dropping with Aurora's gems, And fresh inhale the spicy sighs That from the weeping buds arise. When revel reigns, when mirth is high, And Bacchus beams in every eye, Our rosy fillets scent exhale, And fill with balm the fainting gale ! Oh, there is naught in nature bright, Where Roses do not shed their light ! Where morning paints the orient skies, Her fingers burn with roseate dyes ! And when, at length, with pale decline, Its florid beauties fade and pine, Sweet, as in youth, its balmy breath Diffuses odors e'en in death ! Oh, whence could such a plant have sprung ? Attend for thus the tale is sung : When humid from the silvery stream, Effusing beauty's warmest beam, Venus appeared in flushing hues, Mellowed by Ocean's briny dews ; When, in the starry courts above, The pregnant brain of mighty Jove Disclosed the nymph of azure glance ! The nymph who shakes the martial lance ! Then, then, in strange, eventful hour, The earth produced an infant flower, Which sprung with blushing tinctures dress'd, And wanton'd o'er its parent breast. The gods beheld this brilliant birth, And hail'd the Rose, the born of earth ! With nectar drops, a ruby tide, The sweetly orient buds they dyed, 88 POETRY OF THE ROSE. And bade them bloom, the flowers divine Of him who sheds the teeming vine ; And bade them on the spangled thorn Expand their bosoms to the morn. THE QUEEN OF THE GARDEN. If Jove would give the leafy bowers A queen for all their world of flowers, The Rose would be the choice of Jove, And reign the queen of every grove. Sweetest child of weeping morning, Gem, the vest of earth adorning, Eye of flowerets, glow of lawns, Bud of beauty, nursed by dawns ; Soft the soul of love it breathes Cypria's brow with magic wreathes, And to the zephyr's warm caresses Diffuses all its verdant tresses, Till, glowing with the wanton's play, It blushes a diviner ray ! ANACREON. THE THORNS OF THE ROSE, Where grew the Rose, Eve often sped To gather fresh supplies, And daily from their mossy bed The new-blown beauties rise. One morn a sad and luckless morn She hither bent her way ; But ah ! less heedful of return, Her wishes went astray. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 89 Her eye the tree of knowledge caught, With golden fruitage crown'd ; But when a free access she sought, No free access she found. For shrub and flower there thickly sprung, To check her wayward foot, And in deep file their branches flung Around the sacred fruit. Yet, urged by Satan's false pretence, Prime source of all our woes - She dared to break the blooming fence, And trampled on the Rose. Unmov'd, she stretch'd the impious hand, The alluring sweets to prove, Regardless of her LORD'S command, Regardless of His love. The injured flower beheld the theft, And, wounded, hung its head ; The native white its petals left, Which blushing, chang'd to red. Its foliage wept a dewy shower, And mourn'd the strange event ; Eve turn'd and saw the impassion'd flower, And marvel'd what it meant. Awhile she stood and gazed thereon, Till, trembling, she withdrew, Unconscious she had trampled oh The fairest flower that grew. Ere this event of sin and shame, No prickly thorns were found ; But now they burst from every stem, And with the rose abound. J. WILLIAMS. 90 POETRY OF THE ROSE. TO THE ROSE. Rose of my heart ! I've raised for thee a bower For thee have bent the pliant osier round, For thee have carpeted with earth the ground, And trained a canopy to shield thy flower, So that the warmest sun can have no power To dry the dew from off thy leaf, and pale Thy living carmine, but a woven ve^l Of full-green vines shall guard from heat and showei. Rose of my heart ! here, in this dim alcove, No worm shall nestle, and no wandering bee Shall suck thy sweets no blights shall wither thee ; But thou shalt show the freshest hue of love. Like the red stream that from Adonis flow'd, And made the snow carnation, thou shalt blush, And fays shall wander from their bright abode To flit enchanted round thy loaded bush. Bowed with thy fragrant burden, thou shalt bend Thy slender twigs and thorny branches low ; Vermillion and the purest foam shall blend ; These shall be pale, and those in youth's first glow Their tints shall form one sweetest harmony, ' And on some leaves the damask shall prevail, Whose colors melt like the soft symphony Of flutes and voices in the distant dale. The bosom of that flower shall be as white As hearts that love, and love alone, are pure ; Its tip shall blush as beautiful and bright As are the gayest streaks of dawning light, Or rubies set within a brimming ewer. Rose of my heart ! there shalt thou ever bloom, Safe in the shelter of my perfect love ; And, when they lay thee in the dark, cold tomb, I'll find thee out a better bower above. PERCIVAL. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 91 TO A WITHERED ROSE, Pale flower pale, fragile, faded flower ; What tender recollections swell, What thoughts of deep and thrilling power Are kindled in thy mystic spell ! A charm is in thy faint perfume, To call up visions of the past, Which, through my mind's o'ershadowing gloom, " Rush like the rare stars, dim and fast." And loveliest shines that evening hour, More dear by time and sorrow made, When thou wert cull'd ('love's token flower !') And on my throbbing bosom laid. On eve's pale brow one star burned bright, Like heavenward hope, whose soothing dream Is veiled from pleasure's dazzled sight, To shine on sorrow's diadem. Bright as the tears thy beauty wept, The dewdrops on thy petals lay, Till evening's silver winds had swept Thy cheek, and kissed them all away. WHITMAN. TO THE ROSE, Dear flower of heaven and love ! thou glorious thing That lookest out the garden nooks among ; Rose, that art ever fair and ever young ; Was it some angel or invisible wing Hover'd around thy fragrant sleep, to fling 92 POETRY OF THE ROSE. His glowing mantle of warm sunset hues O'er thy unfolding petals, wet with dews Such as the flower-fays to Titania bring? flower of thousand memories and dreams, That take the heart with faintness, while we gaze On the rich depths of thy inwoven maze ; From the green banks of Eden's blessed streams 1 dream'd thee brought, of brighter days to tell, Long pass'd, but promised yet with us to dwell. C. P. CRANCH. THE BRIDAL FLOWER. The married are compared by the Italian poet to the young Rose, which the lover places in the bosom of his betrothed, first stripped of thorns. Thou virgin Rose ! whose opening leaves, so fair, The dawn has nourish'd with her balmy dews ; While softest whispers of the morning air Call'd forth the blushes of thy vermeil hues. That cautious hand which cropt thy youthful pride, Transplants thy honors, where from hurt secure, Stript of each thorn offensive to thy side, Thy nobler part alone shall bloom mature. Thus thou, a flower, exempt from change of skies, By storms and torrents unassail'd shalt rise, And scorn the winter colds and summer heats ; A guard more faithful then thy growth shall tend, By whom thou mayest in tranquil union blend Eternal beauties with eternal sweets. FROM METASTASIO. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 93 THE VIRGIN ROSE. Ah ! see, deep-blushing in her green recess, The bashful virgin Rose, that, half revealing, And half within herself herself concealing, Is lovelier for her hidden loveliness. Lo ! soon her glorious beauty she discovers ; Soon droops, and sheds her leaves of faded hue : Can this be she the flower erewhile that drew The hearts of thousand maids of thousand longing lovers ? So fleeteth in the fleeting of a day Of mortal life, the green leaf and the flower, And not, though spring return to every bower, Buds forth again soft leaf or blossom gay. Gather the Rose ! beneath the beauteous morning Of this bright day that soon will over-cast ; Oh, gather the sweet Rose, that yet doth last ! FROM TASSO. THE LITTLE RED ROSE. A boy caught sight of a rose in a bower A little rose, slily hiding Among the boughs ; Oh, the rose was bright And young, and it glimmer'd like morning light; The urchin sought it with haste ; 'twas a flower A child indeed might take pride in A little rose, little rose, little red rose, Among the bushes hiding. 94 POETRY OP THE ROSE. The wild boy shouted " I'll pluck thee, rose, Little rose vainly hiding Among the boughs ;" but the little rose spoke " I'll prick thee, and that will prove no joke ; Unhurt, O then will I mock thy woes, Whilst thou thy folly art chiding." Little rose, little rose, little red rose, Among the bushes hiding ! But the rude boy laid his hands on the flower, The little rose vainly hiding Among the boughs ; Oh, the rose was caught ! But it turned again, and pricked and fought, And left with its spoiler a smart from that hour, A pain for ever abiding ; Little rose, little rose, little red rose, Among the bushes hiding ! FROM GOETHE. THE VOICE OF THE FLOWERS. . Blossoms that lowly bend, Shutting your leaves from evening's chilly dew, While your rich odors heavily ascend, The flitting winds to woo ! I walk at silent eve, When scarce a breath is in the garden bowers, And many a vision and wild fancy weave, 'Midst ye, ye lovely flowers : Beneath the cool green boughs, And perfumed bells of the fresh-blossom'd lime, That stoop and gently touch my feverish brow, Fresh in their summer prime ; POETRY OF THE ROSE. 95 Or in the mossy dell, Where the pale primrose trembles at a breath ; Or where the lily, by the silent well, Beholds her form beneath ; Or where the rich queen-rose Sits, throned and blushing, 'midst her leaves and moss ; Or where the wind-flower, pale and fragile, blows ; Or violets banks emboss. MARY ANNE BROWNE. THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER, 'Tis the last Rose of summer, Left blooming alone ; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone : No flower of her kindred, No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes And give sigh for sigh. I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, To pine on the stem ; Since the lovely are sleeping, Go sleep thou with them. Thus kindly I scatter Thy leaves on the bed, Where thy mates of the garden Lie scentless and dead. So soon may I follow When friendships decay, And from love's shining circle The gems drop away. 9b POETRY OF THE ROSE. When true hearts lie wither'd And fond ones are flown, Oh, who would inhabit This cold world alone ? T. MOORE. WHITE ROSES, They were gather'd for a bridal ! I knew it by their hue : Fair as the summer moonlight Upon the sleeping dew. From their fair and fairy sisters They were borne, without a sigh, For one remember'd evening To blossom and to die. They were gather'd for a bridal ! And fasten'd in a wreath ; But purer were the roses Than the heart that lay beneath ; Yet the beaming eye was lovely, And the coral lip was fair, And the gazer look'd and ask'd not For the secret hidden there. They were gather'd for a bridal ! Where a thousand torches glisten'd, When the holy words were spoken, And the false and faithless listen'd And answered to the vow Which another heart had taken ; Yet he was present then The once loved, the forsaken. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 97 They were gather'd for a bridal ! And now, now they are dying, And young Love at the altar Of broken faith is sighing. Their summer life was stainless, And not like her's who wore them ; They are faded, and the farewell Of beauty lingers o'er them ! SARAH LOUISA P. SMITH. THE DESOLATE ONE. As wandering, I found on my ruinous walk, By the dial-stone aged and green, One rose of the wilderness left on its stalk. To mark where a garden had been ; Like a brotherless hermit, the last of its race, All wild in the silence of nature, it drew From each wandering sunbeam a lovely embrace, For the nightweed and thorn overshadowed the place Where the flower of my forefathers grew. Sweet bud of the wilderness ! emblem of all That survives in this desolate heart ! The fabric of bliss to its centre may fall, But patience shall never depart ; Though the wilds of enchantment, all vernal and bright. In the days of delusion by fancy combined With the vanishing phantoms of wo and delight, Abandon my soul like a dream of the night, And leave but a desert behind. CAMPBELL. 9 98 POETRY OF THE ROSE. ROSES. We are blushing roses, Bending with our fullness, 'Midst our close-capp'd sister buds, Warming the green coolness. Whatsoe'er of beauty Yearns and yet reposes, Blush, and bosom, and sweet breath, Took a shape in roses. Hold one of us lightly : See from what a slender Stalk we bower in heavy blooms, And roundness rich and tender. Know you not our only Rival flower the human ? Loveliest weight on lightest foot Joy-abundant woman ? LEIGH HUNT. THE LILY AND THE ROSE. The nymph must lose her female friend, If more admired than she ; But where will fierce contention end, If flowers can disagree ? Within the garden's peaceful scene Appeared two lovely foes, Aspiring to the rank of queen : The Lily and the Rose. POETRY OP THE ROSE. 99 The Rose soon redden'd into rage, And, swelling with disdain, Appeal'd to many a poet's page To prove her right to reign. The Lily's height bespoke command, A fair, imperial flower ; She seemed designed for Flora's hand, The sceptre of her power. This civil bickering and debate The goddess chanced to hear ; And flew to save, ere yet too late, The pride of the parterre. " Yours is," she said, " the noblest hue, And yours the statelier mien ; And till a third surpasses you, Let each be deem'd a queen." Thus soothed and reconciled, both seek The fairest British fair ; The seat of empire is her cheek, They reign united there. COWPER. THE ROSES. Two Roses on one slender stem In sweet communion grew, Together hail'd the morning ray, And drank the evening dew ; While, sweetly wreath'd in mossy green, There sprang a little bud between. 100 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Through clouds and sunshine, storms and showers. They open'd into bloom, Mingling their foliage and their flowers, Their beauty and perfume ; While foster'd on its rising stem, The bud became a purple gem. But soon their summer splendor pass'd, They faded in the wind ; Yet were these Roses, to the last, The loveliest of their kind Whose crimson leaves, in falling round, Adorn'd and sanctified the ground. When thus were all their honors shorn. The bud-unfolding rose, And blush'd and brighten'd, as the morn Prom dawn to sunrise glows ; Till o'er each parent's drooping head The daughter's crowning glory spread. My friends, in youth's romantic prime, The golden age of man, Like these twin Roses spend your time, Life's little less'ning span ; Then be your breast as free from cares, Your hours as innocent as theirs. And in the infant bud that blows In your encircling arms, Mark the dear promise of a Rose, The pledge of future charms, That o'er your withering hours shall shine, Fair and more fair as you decline : POETRY OF THE ROSE. 101 Till, planted in that realm of rest Where Roses never die, Amid the gardens of the blest. Beneath a stormless sky, You flower afresh, like Aaron's rod, That blossom'd at the sight of God. MONTGOMERY. THE AUTUMN ROSES. " My brother had a beautiful Rose-tree, standing directly under the window of his study, which he cultivated with great care, and which rewarded him every Spring with a large number of the loveliest white roses I ever saw. On the Spring, however, preceding his decease, it did not blossom ; but in the Fall, when every- thing else was going to decay, how were we surprised to behold this sweet tree drooping beneath an unusual quantity of snow-white flowers. We did not allow one of them to be plucked until my poor brother's death, when we strewed them over his grave." Gently looked the morning sun Into a quiet room ; Softly, through a broken pane, Stole a rich perfume : " Is not that the Rose's scent ?" A dying sufferer said ; And a fair one o'er his pillow leant, And raised his feeble head, Whispering, the while, a few low words But they soothed not the spirit's vibrating chords ; For the pallid cheek of the student flushed, And a flood of tears from his dim eyes gushed. " Roses on my beauteous tree ? Roses, didst thou say ? Roses, when all sights and sounds Whisper but decay ? 102 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Quickly, quickly, sister dear, Lead my footsteps where These un trusting eyes may feast On a sight so rare." And they made him a seat by the window's side, Where the bright flowers clung in their dewy pride, Smiling above the unburied leaves Which the frost had cast from the vine-wreathed eaves. " Wherefore, children of the light," (Whisper'd he again,) " Come ye, in these gloomy days, Near the couch of pain ? Would ye mock the fading flower Of a human tree. Boasting for its deathless root Immortality ? Would ye mock with your purity the heart Whence sinful passions so wildly start ? Or bring ye the hope of a cleansing power For the sin-dyed soul in its parting hour ? " Ye are emblems, lovely flowers, Of unnumber'd things Emblems of unsullied hopes, With their airy wings Emblems of the love which burns With a hueless ray, , Spreading o'er the lamb-like mind An eternal day ; Also of hearts where a living faith Rises up coldly, 'mid fields of scathe, Startling the eye in a wintry hour With its healing fruit and its fragrant flower. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 103 " Autumn flowers ! ye come to me As a voice might come To the wave-toss'd manner From his mountain home : Bringing all sweet summer sounds From the forests deep, And the music low which makes his heart With a mournful joy to weep : Ye come to me as the star-lit eves To the exile lone, when his spirit grieves, Kindling a thought with your tender light, Which guides me on through the closing night. " Ye are spirits of the blest, Gentle, gentle flowers ! Spirits of that sweet-voiced land, Missed in all our bowers : They who pass'd like twilight gleams On a summer sea, Leaving the wail of a billowy grief For their heavenward minstrelsy : O come ye not, with your music breath, Beautiful ones, to wrest from death This soul's dim germ, and plant it where It may gather strength from a purer air ?" Softly shone the morning sun On a new-made grave ; Slowly o'er a marblo fresh Did a willow wave ; Faintly stole the southern breeze Through the dewy grass, Scarcely stirring the tall blades As its wings did pass : 104 POETRY OF THE ROSE. When a frail and drooping form drew near. And strew'd fresh roses beside the bier ; Murmuring, as each pale offering fell, " Brother ! thou lovedst them passing well !" J. H. S. FROM SHAK8PEARE, Emil. Of all flowers, Methinks the Rose is best. Serv. Why, gentle madam ? Emil. It is the very emblem of a maid ; For, when the west wind courts her gently, How modestly she blows and paints the sun With her chaste blushes ! When the north comes near her, Rude and impatient, then, like Chastity, She locks her beauties in her bud again, And leaves him to base briars. ********** O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem By that sweet ornament which truth doth give ! The Rose looks fair ; but fairer we it deem For that sweet odor which doth in it live. The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye As the perfumed tincture of the Roses ; Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly, When summer's breath their masked buds discloses ; But, for their virtue only is their show, They live unwoo'd, and uninspected fade ; Die to themselves. Sweet Roses do not so ; Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odors made : And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, When that shall fade, my verse distils your truth. POETRY OP THE ROSE. 105 To endure the livery of a nun ; For aye to be in shady cloister mewed To undergo such maiden pilgrimage : But earthlier happy is the Rose distill'd Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn, Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness. ******* Some to kill cankers in the Musk Rose-buds. ******* Why should I joy in an abortive birth ? At Christmas I no more desire a Rose Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows. FROM THE PERSIAN OF HAFIZ. When the young Rose, in rimson gay, Expands her beauties to the day, And foliage fresh her leafless boughs o'erspread ; In homage to her sovereign power, Bright regent of each subject flower, Low at her feet the violet bends its head. ODE IX. See where the Rose and Spring to mirth awake ! So cheerful looks the Rose, 'twere wisdom's part To tear the root of sorrow from the heart. Soft comes the morning wind ; the wanton Rose Bursts from its cup to kiss the gale that blows ; Its silken garment wounds in tender play, And leaves its body naked to the day. ODE XIV. 106 POETRY OF THE ROSE. O cease with delight to survey the proud Rose, Whose soft leaves must too soon feel decay ; For, ah ! the dark wind, as it churlishly blows, At our feet all its honors shall lay. ODE XVI. The youthful season's wonted bloom Renews the beauty of each bower, And to the sweet-song'd bird is come, Glad welcome from its darling flower. ODE VIII. The love-struck nightingale's delightful strain, The lark's resounding note, are heard again ; Again the Rose, to hail Spring's festive day, From the cold house of sorrow hastes away. ODE XIII. AN IDEAL FLOWER. So when the nightingale, in eastern bowers, On quivering pinions woos the queen of flowers, Inhales her fragrarTce as he hangs in air, And melts with melody the blushing fair ; Half Rose, half bird, a beauteous, monster springs, Waves his thin leaves aiid claps his glossy wings : Long horrent thorns his mossy legs surround, And tendril talons root him to the ground ; Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o'erspread, And crimson petals crest his curled head ; Soft-warbling beaks in each bright blossom move, And vocal rose-buds fill th' enchanted grove. Admiring Evening stays her beamy star And still Night listens from his ebon car ; While on white wings descending houris throng, And drink the floods of odor and of song. DR. DARWIN. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 107 REMEMBRANCE. I turn to the cot where roses bloom In beauty rare, and with rich perfume ; Where they raise their heads at dawning light, Sparkling with gems of the dewy night ; And I think of the days, when a merry boy, I pluck'd the fairest with gleesome joy, And wished how vain ! that its blushing hues Might never change ;' but, like early dews, They faded, while yet with care 'twas prest As a matchless rose to my youthful breast. My wish was cross'd, and the tear-drop fell On the faded rose I loved so well. It taught my heart, what I since have found, That the dearest thing to affection bound, Like the sweet rose pluck'd 'neath the summer sky, Is sure to wither, and fade, and die. FROM "FLORA'S PARTY." There were Myrtles and Roses from garden and plain, And Venus's Fly-Trap they brought in their train ; So the beaux cluster'd round them, they hardly knew why, At each smile of the lip, or each glance of the eye. Madame Damask a robe had from Paris brought out, The envy of all who attended the rout ; Its drapery was folded her form to adorn, And clasp'd at the breast with a diamond-set thorn. Yet she, quite unconscious, 't would seem, of the grace That enchanted all groups who frequented the place, Introduced, with the sweetest of words in her mouth, The young Multiflora her guest from the south ! 108 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Neighbor Cinnamon prated of household and care How she seldom went out, e'en to breathe the fresh air ; There were so many young ones and servants to stray, And the thorns grew so fast if her eye was away. "Cousin Moss-Rose," she said, "you who live like a queen. And ne'er wet your fingers, scarce know what I mean." So that notable lady went on with her lay, 'Till the auditors yawned and stole softly away. ROSE-BUDS IN HER HAND. " How beautiful those rose-buds are !" The happy brother said, Whose hopeful heart could have no thought That sister could be dead : " I'll pluck them for sweet sister now, And take them where she lies ; I know she '11 love to see them there, When open are her eyes." He pluck'd them for his sister dear, And bore them to her hand ; But to his trustful soul there came No dark and shadowy band, As to the eye so often comes Around the form of Death, To bring but sorrow when at last Is breathed the parting breath. O beautiful those buds appear'd, Sweet types of childhood's trust, That opens only to give sweets To breathe o'er human dust ! POETRY OF THE ROSE. 109 And from my fervent soul went up "O Father! list to me ! Let to his soul all thoughts of death Like those sweet rose-buds be !" O let us, with the youthful dead, Unite the budding flowers, That while we weep the faded eye And love's entrancing flowers, He on the beautiful may gaze Beyond the changes here, And let the smiles of angels play Through every falling tear : Bright rainbow of the Christian sky, That tends to hallow earth, And wake in storm-bound souls again The music of its mirth, And give to thought a holy way To tread unto the skies To see the joyof ransom'd souls With hope-anointed eyes. THE ROSE. Ah, see the virgin Rose ! how sweetly she Doth first peep forth with bashful modesty, That fairer seems the less ye see her way ! Lo ! see soon after, how more bold and free Her bared bosom she doth broad display ! Lo ! see soon after, how she fades away and falls ! SPENSER, 10 110 POETRY OF THE ROSE. FLORA'S CHOICE. When Flora, from her azure home, Came gently down to grace the earth, She called around her every sprite To which the sunny air gives birth, And bade them search each distant realm Of tropic heat or temperate clime, Prom cold New England's rocky hills To Santa Crusian groves of lime, And bring each floweret, rich and rare, For her to choose her favorite there. Q,uick flew the sprites o'er land and sea, Through cloud, and mist, and storm afar, Catching, with rapid, eagle glance, The beauties of each opening flower : From Alpine heights they bore a prize, From Persia and from Hindostan ; For many a bud of beauty rare They searched the central, flowery land, And, filled with treasures rich and sweet, They hasten'd to their mistress' feet. Camellia, with its lustrous white And glossy leaves of emerald hue ; Verbena, with its brilliant red. And Heath just touch'd with mountain dew ; Azalea, whose aerial form Seems scarcely of terrestrial birth ; And Cinerara's purple star, Gracing full well its mother earth ; And many a flower from tropic skies Strove mingled there to gain the prize : POETRY OF THE ROSE. But not the richest tropic blooms, Cull'd from the fairest climes on earth, Could vie with nature's fairest flower, Of Iran's sun-clad soil the birth ; Though clothed in rich and gorgeous hues, They bore no charm of fragrance there, In form and color, sweetness, grace None with the Rose could once compare : She bore the palm in Flora's eyes, Who to the Rose adjudged the prize. S. B. P. A FABLE, Once, in the heart of a desert, Blossomed a rose-bush unseen : Only the sands were around it ; Nought but its leaf was there green. Ever, at evening and morning, Trickled its flowers with dew ; And then, in light circles, around it Fondly a nightingale flew. Over the sands strayed a pilgrim, Lost in the midst of the wild, When on his faint eyes, at evening, Sweetly the rose-blossom smiled ; Sweetly the nightingale wooed him, Under its shade to repose ; There his song charmed him to slumber. Wet by the dew of the Rose. Freshly he rose in the morning Dug in the sand by the flower, And a bright fountain upsparkled, Welling with bubbling shower : 1.12 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Over the sands as it murmured, Green sprung the grass by its side ; Round it a garden soon blossom'd, Fed by its life-giving tide. There, too, a wild vine up-started Under its shelter he dwelt : Morning and evening, yet ever Low by the rose-bush he knelt. So in the far waste forgotten, Still flowed his pure life along, Soothed by the rose-blossom's fragrance, Charmed by the nightingale's song. THE FEAST OF ROSES. Who has not heard of the Yale of Cashmere, With its Roses, the brightest that earth ever gave. Its temples and grottos, and fountains as clear As the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave ? ******* But never yet, by night or day, In dew of spring or summer's ray, Did the sweet Valley shine so gay As now it shines all love and light, Visions by day and feasts by night ! A happier smile illumes each brow, With quicker spread each heart uncloses, And all is extasy, for now The Valley holds its Feast of Roses. That joyous time, when pleasures pour Profusely round, and in their shower POETRY OF THE ROSE. 113 Hearts open, like the Season's Rose, The flow'ret of a hundred leaves, Expanding while the dew-fall flows, And every leaf its balm receives ! # * * * # A thousand restless torches play'd Through every grove and island shade ; A thousand sparkling lamps were set On every dome and minaret ; And fields and pathways, far and near, Were lighted by a blaze so clear, That you could see, in wandering round, The smallest rose-leaf on the ground. * * * * * And all exclaim'd, to all they met, That never did the summer bring So gay a feast of Roses yet ; The moon had never shed a light So clear as that which bless'd them there ; The Roses ne'er shone half so bright, Nor they themselves look'd half so fair. And what a wilderness of flowers ! It seem'd as though from all the bowers And fairest fields of all the year, The mingled spoil were scatter'd here. The Lake, too, like a garden breathes, With the rich buds that o'er it lie, As if a shower of fairy wreaths Had fall'n upon it from the sky ! And then the sounds of joy the beat Of tabors and of dancing feet ; The merry laughter echoing From gardens, where the silken swing Wafts some delighted girl above The top leaves of the orange grove ; 10* 114 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Or, from those infant groups at play Among the tents that line the way, Flinging, unaw'd by slave or mother, Handfuls of Roses at each other ! FROM "L.ALLA ROOKH.' THE ROSE AND THE TOMB, " Thou that dwell'st within my shadow :" To the Rose thus said the Tomb : " Love's flower ! that here in freshness Bloom'st alone amid the gloom : Thou that clingest to the sepulchre, Like a fadeless memory ; . What dost thou with the early tears That the morning sheds on thee ? " Then the Rose, low breathing, answered : " I distil a perfume here ; And I give its honied fragrance forth To the solemn atmosphere. And thou, dark Tomb ! discover What dost thou, amid thy walls, With the pale and silent guests that throng Thy ever-opening halls ?" And the Tomb said, " Of the beautiful That to mine abode are given, For each pulseless form I yield, O Rose ! An angel soul to Heaven !" M. E. HEWITT. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 115 THE DYING ROSE-.BUD'S LAMENT. Ah me ! ah ! wo is me ! That I should perish now. With the dear sunlight just let in Upon my balmy brow ! My leaves, instinct with glowing- life, Were quivering to unclose ! My happy heart with love was rife ! I was almost a Rose ! Nerved by a hope, warm, rich, intense, Already I had risen Above my cage's curving fence, My green and graceful prison ! My pouting lips, by Zephyr press'd, Were just prepared to part, And whisper to the wooing wind The rapture of my heart ! In new-born fancies reveling, My mossy cell half riven, Each thrilling leaflet seemed a wing To bear me into heaven. How oft, while yet an infant flower, My crimson cheek I've laid Against the green bars of my bower, Impatient of the shade ! And pressing up and peeping through Its small but precious vistas, Sighed for the lovely light and dew That blessed my elder sisters ! 116 POETRY OF THE ROSE. I saw the sweet breeze rippling o'er Their leaves that loved the play, Though the light thief stole all their store Of dew-drop gems away. I thought how happy I should be Such diamond wreaths to wear, And frolic with a Rose's glee, With sunbeam, bird, and air ! Ah me ! ah ! wo is me ! that I, Ere yet my leaves unclose, With all my wealth of sweets, must die Before I am a Rose ! FRANCES S. OSGOOD. THE HALF-BLOWN ROSE. SUGGESTED BY A PORTRAIT. 'Tis just the flower she ought to wear The simple flower the painter chose ; And are they not a charming pair The modest girl the half-blown Rose ? The glowing bud has stolen up, With tender smile and blushing grace, And o'er its mossy, clasping cup In bashful pride reveals its face. The maiden too, with timid feet. Has sprung from childhood's verdant bower. And lightly left its limit sweet, For woman's lot of shine and shower. POETRY OF THE ROSE. See ! from its veil of silken hair. That bathes her cheek in clusters bright, Her sweet face, like a blossom fair, Reveals its wealth of bloom and light. How softly blends with childhood's smile That maiden mien of pure repose ! Oh, seems she not herself the while A breathing flower a half-blown Rose ? F. S. OSGOOD. THE MOSS-ROSE. " I've a call to make," said the rich Moss-Rose, " At the house of a lady fair ; Cousin China-Rose, if you'll go with me, I'll introduce you there. " 'Tis New Year's day ; come, do not stay, But get on your cloak and hood ; You've moped so long by the green-house fire, That a walk will do you good." Then China's Yellow Rose replied, " You've a terrible climate, dear ; It has made me old before my time, And bilious too, I fear ! " But I'll put my muff and tippet on, Since you needs must have me go ; And yet I'm sure I heard a blast, And saw a flake of snow." 118 POETRY OF THE ROSE. The Moss-Rose wrapped her damask robe Close round her queenly form, And led her nervous friend along, Who trembled at the storm. But the beautiful lady welcomed them With such a radiant eye, That they fancied summer had come again, And winter was quite gone by. They took their India-rubbers off, And laid their hoods away. And whisper'd in each other's ear, " We should like to spend the day." She charmed them with her tuneful voice, Till both were unable to stir So there they staid, and the flowers of love Have found their home with her. L. H. SlGOURNEY. THE ROSE. Its velvet lips the bashful Rose begun To show, and catch the kisses of the sun : Some fuller blown, their crimson honors shed ; Sweet smelt the golden chives that graced their head. PAWKES. And first of all, the Rose ; because its breath Is rich beyond the rest ; and when it dies, It doth bequeath a charm to sweeten death. BARRY CORNWALL. His queen, the garden-queen, his Rose, Unbent by winds, unchiil'd by snows, POETRY OF THE ROSE. 119 Far from the winters of the west, By every breeze and season blest, Returns the sweets by Nature given, In softest incense back to heaven, And grateful yields that smiling sky Her fairest hue and fragrant sigh. LORD BYRON. A single Rose is shedding there Its lonely lustre, meek and pale : It looks as planted by despair r So white, so faint, the slightest gale Might whirl the leaves on high ; And yet, though storms and blasts assail, And hands more rude than wintry sky, May wring it from the stem in vain To-morrow sees it bloom again ! The stalk some spirit quickly rears, And waters with celestial tears ; For well may maids of Helle deem That this can be no earthly flower, Which mocks the tempest's withering hour, And buds unshelter'd by a bower ; Nor droops though Spring refuse her shower, Nor woos the Summer beam : To it the livelong night there sings A bird unseen, but not remote ; Invisible his airy wings, But soft as harp that Houri strings, His lone, entrancing note. BRIDE OF ABYDOS. Wound in the hedge-rows' oaken boughs The woodbine's tassels float in air, And, blushing, the uncultured Rose Hangs high her beauteous blossoms there. SMITH. 120 POETRY OF THE ROSE. THE MOSS-ROSE. The Angel of the flowers, one day, Beneath a Rose-tree sleeping lay- That spirit to whom charge is given To bathe young buds in dews of heaven ; Awaking from his light repose, The Angel whisper'd to the Ro$e : " O fondest object of my care, Still fairest found where all are fair, For the sweet shade thou giv'st to me ; Ask what thou wilt, 7 t is granted thee !' ; " Then," said the Rose, with deepen'd glow, " On me another grace bestow !" The spirit paused in silent thought What grace was there that flower had not ? 'T was but a moment o'er the Rose A veil of moss the angel throws ; And, robed in Nature's simplest weed, Could there a flower that Rose exceed ? FROM THE GERMAN. SHARON'S ROSE. Go, Warrior, pluck the laurel bough, And bind it round thy reeking brow ; Ye sons of pleasure blithely twine A chaplet of the purple vine ; And Beauty cull each blushing flower That ever deck'd the sylvan bower; No wreath is bright, no garland fair, Unless sweet Sharon's Rose be there. POETRY OF THE ROSE. The laurel branch will droop and die, The vine its purple fruit deny, The wreath that smiling beauty twined Will leave no lingering bud behind j For beauty's wreath and beauty's bloom In vain would shun the withering tomb, Where nought is bright and nought is fair, Unless sweet Sharon's Rose be there. Bright blossom ! of immortal bloom, Of fadeless hue, and sweet perfume, Far in the desert's dreary waste, In lone neglected beauty placed : Let others seek the blushing bower, And cull the frail and fading flower, But I'll to dreariest wilds repair, If Sharon's deathless Rose be there. When Nature's hand, with cunning care, No more the opening bud shall rear, But, hurled by heaven's avenging Sire, Descends the earth- consuming fire, And desolation's hurrying blast, O'er all the sadden'd scene has past, There is a clime for ever fair, And Sharon's Rose shall flourish there. AN EXTRACT. This mighty oak By whose immovable stem I stand, and seem Almost annihilated not a prince, In all the proud old world beyond the deep, E'er wore his crown as loftily as he I 11 122 POETRY OF THE ROSE. Wears the green coronal of leaves with which Thy hand has graced him. Nestled at his root Is beauty, such as blossoms not in the glare Of the broad sun. That delicate forest Rose, With scented breath, and look so like a smile, Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould, An emanation of the indwelling Life, A visible token of the upholding Love, That are the soul of this wide universe. WHY WILL A ROSE-BUD BLOW? I wish the bud would never blow, 'Tis prettier and purer so ; It blushes through its bower of green, And peeps above the mossy screen So timidly, I cannot bear To have it open to the air. I kissed it o'er and o'er again, As if my kisses were a chain, To close the quivering leaflets fast, And make for once a rose-bud last ! But kisses are but feeble links For changeful things, like flowers, methinks ; The wayward rose-leaves, one by one. Uncurl'd and look'd up to the sun, With their sweet flushes fainter growing, I could not keep my bud from blowing ! Ah ! there upon my hand it lay, And faded, faded fast away ; You might have thought you heard it sighing, It look'd so mournfully in dying. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 123 I wish it were a rose-bud now, I wish 'twere only hiding yet, With timid grace its blushing brow, Behind the green that shelter'd it. I had not written were it so ; Why would the silly rose-bud blow 1 FRANQES S. OSGOOD. THE ROSE, Though many a flower has graced the lay And formed the theme of poets' song Has gently flowed in Gi^cian phrase. Or tripped upon the Roman's tongue ; Yet, still, in ancient song and story The Rose shines forth in beauty rare, Enveloped with a halo bright, And made so glorious, rich, and fair, That all the flowers must yield their seat, And lay their beauty at its feet. Anacreon sang its primal birth, Old Homer praised its form of grace, Catullus boasted of its charms, Horace, its richly tinted face : In fair Italia glowing words, Tasso and Metastasio sang ; And 'mong the groves of far Cathay The Persian Hafiz' accents rang. The flowing tones of old Castile, Prom Camoens and Sannazar, And in our own pure English tongue It was the signal note of war ; In many a poet's verse its beauty shone, Milton, the Bard of Avon and the Great Unknown. High valued were its flowers bright 124 POETRY OP THE ROSE. By Helle's maids of yore ; It graced their scenes of festive glee In the classic vales of Arcady, And all the honors bore ; And shed its fragrance on the breeze That swept through academic grove, Where sages with their scholars rove The land of Pericles. In the sunny clime of Suristan, On India's burning shore, Amid the Brahmin's sacred shades, Or in the wreaths that Persian maids, Sporting in bright and sunny glades, In graceful beauty 1pore ; Upon the banks of Jordan's stream, Still flowing softly on, Where Judah's maidens once did lave, Or where the lofty cedars wave, On time-worn Lebanon ; The Rose is still most rich and sweet, And wears the crown for beauty meet. I have basked in the beauty of southern climes, And wandered through groves of palm and limes, Where dark-eyed Spanish girls Would linger in their myrtle bowers, With garlands rich of orange flowers Would weave their raven curls, And fasten 'mid their lustrous hair The fire-fly's glittering light, Which, brighter than the diamond's sheen, Bursts on the dazzled sight. But yet I would not give for these, Produce of tropic sun and breeze For all the flowers in beauty there The Rose our northern maidens wear. POETRY OF THE ROSE. 125 I've crossed the Andes' lofty height, Its mountains, forest-crowned, And 'mong the devious, tangled paths Of tropic thickets wound. In fair Aragua's fertile vale, In Hayti's fields of bloom, I've marked the prickly Cactus tribe Its richest tints assume. I've passed through fragrant Coffee groves, By the tall Bucara tree, And by the Cocoa and the Palm, With the Trupeol warbling free ; Upon the flower-clad turf, and where The rich Orchidia climbs in air. But not mid all this gorgeous bloom, By tropic climate wove, Nor Florida's rich Magnolia And fragrant Orange grove ; Nor the graceful vines of southern France, Nor Italy's fair bowers, Nor England's lofty domes of glass All filled with gorgeous flowers ; Nor in our own wide prairie land, With bud and bloom on every hand, Is there a single flower that grows Can vie in beauty with the Rose. Then seek, in southern, tropic air, And in our northern glade, And in the bright and gay parterre, And by the forest shade, Where every flower, and leaf, and tree, In graceful blending met, Presents new beauty to the eye, Of azure or of jet ; 11 126 POETRY OF THE ROSE. And take each blossom, rich and rare, Which thou may'st find in beauty there j Combine their color, form, and grace, And each unpleasant tint erase ; Then recreate the loveliest flower That e'er shed fragrance in a bower ; Let all its sweets and charms unclose ; It cannot equal yet the Rose. S. B. P. CULTURE OF THE ROSE. CHAPTER IX. GENERAL CULTURE OP THE ROSE. S before stated, the Rose was the theme of the earliest poets of antiquity ; and it was doubtless one of the first plants se- lected to. adorn the gardens which were laid out around the new habitations constructed upon the exchange of the wandering for a civilized mode of life. The most ancient authors upon husbandry whose works are extant, have all treated of the culture of Roses. Theophrastus among the Greeks ; and among the Romans, Varro, Columella, Palladius, and Pliny. To Pliny are we specially indebted for information on this subject, as the entire fourth chapter of the twentieth book of his Natural History is devoted to Roses ; and they are also occasionally mentioned in other parts of the work. But after all the information thus obtained, much yet remains to be desired ; and although we find in other ancient authors some curious facts bearing upon other points in the history of the Rose, they are mostly so general in their character as to give us very little insight into the actual culture of the Rose at those periods. The profuseness with which they were used among the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, and other ancient nations, in their religious solemnities, their public ceremonies, and even in the 128 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. ordinary customs of private life, would lead us to suppose, and with some degree of correctness, that roses were very abundantly cultivated by them all ; and we are inclined to think that their cultivation was then far more general than at the present time, although the art of producing them was in its infancy. However surprising in other respects may have been the progress of the culture of roses within forty years, particularly in France, Holland, and Belgium, there can be little doubt that, although the Romans were acquainted with a much smaller number of varieties than the moderns, yet flowers of those varieties were far more abundant than the aggregate quantity of flowers of all the varieties of roses cultivated at the present day. It cannot be positively asserted, that the Hybrid Perpetual Roses of the present day were unknown at Rome, since the gardeners of that city practised sowing the seeds of the Rose, by which mode many of the most remarkable varieties of that class have been obtained by modern cultivators. The Romans, however, prefer- red to propagate by cuttings, which produced flowers much soon- er than the seed-bed. But, though the Romans may have had roses of the same spe- cies with some of those which we now cultivate, it is scarcely prob- able that these species could have continued until this period, and escaped the devastation attendant on the revolutions of empire, or the more desolating invasions of the Huns and Goths. Thus it is, that those roses of Peestum to which allusion is so frequently made by ancient writers, and which, according to Virgil and Pliny, bloomed semi-annually, and were common in the gardens of that city, are not now to be found. Jussieu and Laudresse, two French gentlemen, successively visited Italy, with the express object of finding this twice-bearing Rose in Paestum or its environs, yet, notwithstanding their carefully prosecuted researches, they could find no traces of it whatever. Although the number of varieties known to the Romans was very limited, they had discovered a method of making the bloom- ing season continue many months. According to Pliny, the roses of Carthage, in Spain, came forward early and bloomed in CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 129 winter ; those of Campania bloomed next in order ; then those of Malta ; and lastly those of Paestum, which flowered in the Spring and Autumn. It was probably the blooming of this last species, which the gardeners of Rome discovered (in Seneca's time) the secret of retarding by a certain process, or of hastening by means of their warm green-houses. In the first part of this work, we have cited many passages from ancient authors, which show to what enormous extent was carried the use of roses by the Romans on certain occasions. It is difficult to credit, at this day, the relation of Nero's extrava- gance (which is however attested by Suetonius), when it is told that in one fete alone he expended in roses only more than four millions of sesterces, or one hundred thousand dollars. It would be no easy matter, even at the present period of abundant cultivation of roses, to obtain from all the nurseries of England, France, and America together, roses sufficient to amount to so large a sum. The Romans derived the use of this flower from the Greeks. In Greece, and throughout the East, roses were cultivated, not only for the various purposes we have mentioned, but also for the extraction of their perfumes. Among the many plans which they adopted for preserving the flower, was that of cutting off the top of a reed, splitting it down a short distance, and enclos- ing in it a number of rose-buds, which, being bound around with papyrus, prevented their fragrance from escaping. The Greeks also deemed it a great addition to the fragrance of the Rose, to plant garlic near its roots. The island of Rhodes, which has successively borne many names, was particularly indebted to the culture of roses for that which it bears at this day. It was the Isle of Roses, the Greek for Rose being Podov, Rodon. Medals of Rhodes, whose reverse impressions present a rose in bloom on one side and the sunflower on the other, are to be found even now in cabinets of curiosities. Extravagance in roses, among the Romans, kept pace with the increase of their power, until they at length desired them at all seasons. At first they procured their winter's supply from 130 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. Egypt, but subsequently attained themselves such skill in their culture as to produce them in abundance, even at the coldest season of the year ; and, according to Seneca, by means of green- houses, heated by pipes filled with hot water. During the reign of Domitian, the forcing of roses was carried to such perfection, and flowers produced in winter in so great abundance, that those brought from Egypt, as before mentioned, excited only the con- tempt of the citizens of the world's metropolis. This fact, as also handed down to us by the epigram of Mar- tial, is of great assistance in estimating the importance of rose- culture at that period, and in showing how the art of cultivating this plant had spread, and how it was already far advanced among the ancient Romans and their contemporaries. If the Egyptians cultivated roses for transportation to Rome during the winter, they must have had very extensive planta- tions for the purpose. The exportation could not have been of loose flowers, for they would have been withered long before the termination of the voyage ; neither could it have been of rooted plants in a dormant state, as nurserymen now send them to every part of the world, because the Romans had at that time no means of causing them to vegetate and bloom in the winter. On the contrary, the cultivators at Alexandria and Memphis must, of necessity, have sent them away in the vases and boxes in which they had planted them with that object, and when they were just beginning to break from the bud, in order that they might arrive at Rome at the moment they commenced expand- ing. At that remote period, when navigation was far behind its present state of perfection, the voyage from the mouth of the Nile to the coast of Italy occupied more than twenty days. When this long voyage is considered, and also the quantity of roses re- quired by the Romans to enwreath their crowns and garlands, to cover their tables and couches, and the pavements of their fes- tive halls, and to surround the urns which contained the ashes of their dead, it is evident that the Egyptians, who traded in roses, in order to satisfy the prodigality of the Romans, would be CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 131 compelled to keep in readiness a certain number of vessels to be laden with boxes or vases of rose-plants, so prepared as not to bloom before their delivery at Rome. The cost of roses thus * delivered in Rome must have been immense, but we do not find a single passage in ancient authors which can give any light on this point ; they only tell us that nothing for the gratification of luxury was considered too costly by the wealthy Roman citi- zens. Nor do they afford more positive information as to the species of Rose cultivated on the borders of the Nile, to gratify this taste of the Romans. According to Delile, there were found in Egypt, at the time of the French expedition into that country, only the White Rose and the Centifolia or hundred-leafed two species not very susceptible of either a forcing or retarding culture. The only Rose known at that time, which bloomed in the winter, was the Rose of Paestum, referred to by Virgil, as " biferique rosaria Pcesti" and which was probably the same as our monthly Damask Rose, and which produced in Egypt and Rome flowers at all seasons, as the Damask does now with us, under a proper mode of culture. The extent to which the culture and commerce of roses was carried among the Romans, is shown by the fact, that, although they had confounded the tree and its flowers under one name that of Rosa, they, nevertheless, gave particular appellations to the gardens, or ground planted with rose-bushes. They were termed a Rosarium, or a Rosetum. Ovid says, " Quot amcena Rosaria flores. The dealer in roses was also designated by the distinctive appellation of Rosarius. In the latter part of the decline of the Roman Empire, when paganism still existed to a great degree, there arose a people, who formed as it were the connecting-link between the ancient and modern world a people who acknowledged but one Su- preme Ruler, and his sole vicegerent Mahomet ; a people whose origin was among the wildest tribes of Ishmael's descendants, who possessed in a great degree the luxuries of civilized life, and among whom the arts, sciences, and agriculture were very flour- 132 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. ishing for many ages. Among the Moors of Spain, the culture of the Rose was pursued with as much scientific and practical method as at the present day, but with somewhat less happy results. When in Paris, some two years since, we became ac- quainted with M. Hardy, the chief director of the Luxembourg gardens, and who is well known to rose growers, by the many beautiful varieties which he has originated. His interest in this subject was very great, and in 1828 he published, in the Journal des Jardins, some interesting observations which he had ex- tracted from a manuscript of M. de la Neuville. The latter hav- ing been employed as military superintendent in Spain, during the war of 1823, translated from a Spanish version some parts of an Arabian work upon culture in general, in which that of the Rose was mentioned, with some important particulars. It stated that the Moors, who formerly conquered Spain, attached the highest value to this most beautiful of their flowers, and cultiva- ted it with as much care as ourselves. " According to Abu-el- Ja'ir," says the translation, " there are roses of many colors car- nation white fallow or yellow lapis-lazuli, or sky-blue. Some are of this last color on the outside, and yellow within. In the East they are acquainted with roses which are variegated with yellow and sky-blue, the inside of the corolla being of the one color, and the outside the other. The yellow-heart is very com- mon in Tripoli and Syria, and the blue-heart is found on the coast of Alexandria." To us, at the present day, this relation may with reason seem incredible, since amid the numerous vari- eties now existing, and the skill of their cultivators, we have in no instance been able to obtain a blue Rose. Abu-el- Jair, may have ventured to state it as a fact, without proper authority, for, according to M. de la Neuville, Abu-Abdallah-ebu-el-Fazel, an- other nearly contemporaneous author, enumerated a variety of roses without mentioning the blue. " There are," says this last author, " four varieties of roses : the first is named the Double White ; it has an exquisite odor, and its cup unites more than a hundred petals : the second is the Yellow, which is of a golden color and bright as the jonquil ; then the Purple, and lastly the CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 133 flesh-colored, which is the most common of them all." Farther on the same author adds : "The number of species is supposed to be large : the Mountain or Wild ; the Double, which is varie- gated with red and white shades ; and the Chinese. The Double, however, is the most beautiful, and is composed of 40 to 50 petals." The Moors multiplied roses by all the various methods which are employed at this day : by suckers from the root, by cuttings, by budding, and by grafting. The pruning-knife was also freely used, in order to form regular heads. There is a farther translation of De la Neuville, from a Span- ish version of the "Book of Agriculture," written by Ebu-Al- wan, who lived in the 12th century, and who, in addition to his own experience, quoted largely from some Chaldaic and Arabic writers. He states that the Moors practised two methods of sowing the seeds of the Rose. The first was in earthen pans a mode adapted to delicate plants ; they were watered immediately after being sown, and afterward twice a week until autumn, when such care became unnecessary. The other method was sowing broadcast as grain is sown, then cover- ing the seed-beds an inch deep with carefully sifted manure or fine mould, and giving them the requisite watering. The plants from these seed-beds did not produce flowers until the third year after their being thus prepared, and until they had been transplanted into squares or borders ; such is still the case with nearly all our summer roses, the only kind the Moors appear to have possessed. They also understood the art of forcing roses. " If you wish," says Haj, another author, " the Rose tree to bloom in autumn, you must choose one that has been accustomed to periodical waterings ; you must deprive it of water entirely dur- ing the heat of summer until August, and then give it an abund- ance of moisture ; this will hasten its growth, and cause the ex- pansion of its flowers in great profusion, without impairing its ability to bloom the ensuing spring, as usual." " Or else," adds the same author, "in the month of October, burn the old branch- es to the level of the earth, moisten the soil for eight consecutive days, and then suspend the watering ; alternate these periods of 12 134 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. moisture and drought as many as five times, and probably in about sixty days, or before the end of autumn, the roots will have thrown out vigorous branches, which will in due time be loaded with flowers, without destroying the ability of the plant to bloom again the following spring." The climate in which the Moors lived that of Cordova, Grenada, and Seville, where the winter is very much like our weather in mid-autumn w r as very favorable to the cultivation of the Rose. In this country the same results could doubtless be obtained in the Carolinas, and the experiment would be well worth trying, even in the lat- itude of New York. It would be no small triumph to obtain an autumnal bloom of the many beautiful varieties of French, Moss, or Provence Roses. Haj has also given the method of keeping the Rose in bud, in order to prolong its period of blooming. His process, however, is of so uncertain a character as scarcely to merit an insertion here. The manuscript of De la Neuville also contains particular directions for propagating roses, and for plant- ing hedges of the Eglantine to protect the vineyards and gar- dens, and at the same time to serve as stocks for grafting. No- thing is omitted in the Arabian treatise which pertains to the management of this shrub ; the manner of cultivating, weeding, transplanting, watering, &c., are all particularly explained. Among a variety of curious matters, it contains the process by which, for the purpose of embellishing their gardens, they pro- duced the appearance of trees whose tops are loaded with roses. A hollow pipe, four feet long, or more if the top was to be large, was obtained, of a well-proportioned diameter, set upright to re- semble the trunk of a tree, and filled with earth or sand in a suit- able state of moisture. In the top of this pipe were planted seve- ral varieties of roses, of different colors, which rooting freely in the earth around them, soon formed a bushy head and represented a third-class tree, clothed with rich foliage and beautiful flowers. This plan could still be practised with success ; and we can scarcely imagine more beautiful objects in a lawn than a num- ber of these pipes, of various heights, single and in groups, some low with the small heads of the China or Tea roses, others high CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 135 and with the large robust branches of the La Reine and other Perpetuals, and others again planted with some delicate climb- ing roses, whose branches falling down, would form a weeping tree of a most unique, graceful, and showy character. The pipes could be made of earthenware, tin or wood, and be painted in imitation of the bark of a tree. Still better would be the trunk of a small tree, hollowed out for the purpose, which, with the bark on, would puzzle many a close observer, and which could show a luxuriant head of leaves and flowers on the most sterile soil that ever formed a lawn. From what has been said on the culture of roses among the Moors in Spain, there can be no doubt that they had made great progress therein ; and with the exception of a few statements, evidently unfounded in fact, as the grafting of the Rose on the almond, the apple, the jujube, and other trees, the little treatise translated by De la Neuville certainly contains most excellent remarks upon the culture of roses, whether we compare them with what the ancients have left us, or even with those of the various writers on Rose culture in Europe and America within the last half century. As roses were so frequently propagated from the seed by the Moors, they must have known quite a number of varieties, ex- clusive of all those they had brought or obtained from the East. The Yellow Rose, unknown to us until recently, was apparently familiar to them ; and the Blue Rose, of which their manuscripts speak, is now extinct, if it indeed ever existed ; for amid the infi- nite variety of roses, of every color and shade, produced from seed in modern times, no one has yet obtained a purely Blue Rose, and its former existence may well seem to us incredible. The Marquis d'Orbessan, in an essay on Roses, read before the French Academy of Sciences at Toulouse, in 1752, stated that he had seen blue roses growing wild near Turin, and that they were moreover quite common there. After this testimony, therefore, and that of the Arabian author, blue roses can scarcely be considered impossible, but only a very rare production a sort of lusus natures. 136 CULTURE OP THE ROSE. The Moorish treatise translated by De la Neuville also describes a process for changing the color of roses, which, though ex- tremely doubtful, may be worthy of insertion here, and may in- duce some curious experiments. "They dig," says the author, "around the plant in December, and leave it standing in the earth in its vertical position. Then the black pellicle which covers the principal roots is stripped off, without detaching it from the base of the plant. This can be performed by a longi- tudinal incision with a knife, which raises the pellicle delicately to the right and left, without cutting it above or below. The space between the pellicle and the root itself is then filled with strongly-scented saffron, reduced to an impalpable powder. The root thus stuffed, should be wrapped with a piece of linen secure- ly tied, then surrounded with an oily clay, and finally covered over with earth. The plant will then produce roses of a saffron color. I recommend this process," continues the author, "be- cause I have tried it myself, and obtained roses of a rich, agree- able color. If deep blue roses are wanted, falch, a brilliant in- digo, should be used." " A citizen of Damascus informs me," wrote Ebu-Alwan, "that he dissolved indigo in common water, and with the tincture assiduously watered a plant from the first of October till the commencement of active vegetation, and that the roses which it produced were of a very agreeable deep blue." Haj says that he thinks this story was made for amusement. Respecting the first process, there is no doubt that the absorb- ent powers of the plant would be quite sufficient to take up a large portion of the indigo thus applied to the roots, and the solu- tion would no doubt pass into the branches ; and the question can only be whether, when so absorbed, its properties remain sufficiently unchanged to affect the color of the leaf or flower. The experiment is a curious one, and would be well worth the trial. Some singular result might possibly be attained. It is only by frequent experiment, and by a bold travel on the untrod- den fields of what may be deemed the wildest conjecture, that any new and singular result can be attained. Ten years ago, CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 137 the man who should have foretold that the flickering shadow would be made to stand still, and that intelligence would be sent a thousand miles with the quickness of the lightning's flash, would have subjected himself to the strongest ridicule ; yet these results have both been obtained one by Daguerre, and the other by one of our own countrymen. No one, then, should be deter- red from experiments of the nature above cited, from the dread of ridicule ; but when such fear is upon him, let him recollect, that after the invention of the Daguerreotype and the Magnetic Telegraph, nothing can be deemed impossible or incredible, re- specting the natural agents which have been placed by Supreme Wisdom in the hands of man. If it is found by actual and repeated experiment, that the Ara- bian process will not produce blue roses, may there not be some other mode to attain that result ? It is well known that the color of the flowers of the Hydrangea frequently passes from a light rose into a deep blue. This is generally attributed to the presence in the soil of some peculiar chemical substance. It may be possible to ascertain this substance by careful and repeat- ed analyses of the soil ; and if obtained, and placed in the soil in which the Rose is grown, it would very probably produce the result that we observe in the Hydrangea. This also is an interesting experiment, and would be well worth the trial. It is true that the Hydrangeas, in a part of our grounds, have the past year been nearly all blue without any care of our own, while roses grown within a few feet of them have been unchanged. This peculiarity, therefore, in the Hydrangea, may be owing to the presence in its roots of some chemical substance, which, combining with another in the soil, produces the unique result which we observe in this plant alone. These two chemical substances could also probably be discovered, if the subject were taken up by some skilful chemist and carefully investigated, with the assistance of an intelligent and practical horticulturist. With- out absolutely asserting that such will be the results, I think we need not despair of obtaining roses of various singular sKades, by cultivating them in soil with whose constituent elements we 12* 138 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. have made ourselves familiar. We may also hope to obtain happy results by sowing seeds in the same soil, or the effect may be still farther assisted by watering the plants with a solution of certain chemical substances. If, by any of the above processes the desired result should at some future time be fortunately at- tained, the plant could probably not be placed again in ordinary soil without losing its color, but would need that particular earth which has power to preserve its acquired hue-- as the Hydran- gea, when taken from this peculiar soil, will lose its blue and resume the natural pink of its species. Besides the Moorish cultivation in Spain, the Rose has been an object of culture to a great extent in other countries. It has been cultivated principally for the beauty of its flowers, but in many parts of Europe and Asia, and in the north of Africa, its culture has been pursued for commercial purposes. Of its abundance in Palestine, some conception may be formed from the statement of travelers, that they have not only seen them wild and in great profusion in the vicinity of Jerusalem, but have found them in hedges, intermingled with pomegranate trees. Doubday states that, when the Eastern Christians made one of their processions in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, which continued some two hours, many persons were present with sacks full of rose-petals, which they threw by hand- fuls on the people, and in such immense quantities, that many were covered with them, and they were scattered all over the pavement. In Syria and Persia it has been cultivated from a very early period, and the ancient name of the former, Suristan, is said to signify the land of roses. Damascus, Cashmere, Bar- bary, and Fayoum in Egypt, all cultivated the Rose extensively for its distilled oil or essence. Very little is extant respecting the culture of the Rose in the middle ages, but that it was cultivated and valued, is known by its having been worn by knights at the tournament, as an emblem of their devotion to grace and beauty. According to Loudon, " Ludovico Yerthema, who' traveled in the East in 1503, observed that Tsessa was particularly celebrated for roses, and that he saw a great quantity CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 139 of these flowers at Calicut." The Rose is to this day also ex- tensively cultivated in India, and for commercial purposes per- haps in greater abundance than is now known in any other country. Bishop Heber states that "Ghazepoor is celebrated throughout India for the wholesomness of its air and the beauty and extent of its rose gardens. The Rose-fields, which occupy many hundred acres in the neighborhood, are described as, at the proper season, extremely beautiful. They are cultivated for dis- tillation and for making 'Attar of Roses.'" He states also, that " many roses were growing in the garden of the palace of Delhi, and the fountain pipes were carved with images of roses." An- other writer describes in glowing colors the beauty of Ghazepoor, the Gul-istan (the rosebeds) of Bengal. " In the spring of the year, an extent of miles around the town presents to the eye a continual garden of roses, than which nothing can be more beau- tiful and fragrant. The sight is perfectly dazzling ; the plain, as far as the eye can reach, extending in the same bespangled carpet of red and green. The breezes too are loaded with the sweet odor which is wafted far across the river Ganges." These statements sufficiently evince that the Rose was not only valued by the Hindoos as an article of commerce, but was intimately associated with their ideas of pleasure and enjoyment. Persia, however, was above all other countries pre-eminent for roses. "Sir John Chardin, in 1686, found the gardens of the Persians without parterres, labyrinths, and other ornaments of European gardens, but filled with lilies, peach trees, and roses ; and all modern travelers bear testimony to the esteem in which this flower is held in the East." Sir Wm. Ousley tells us, in his travels in Persia, in 1819, that when he entered the flower garden belonging to the Governor of the Castle, near Farso, he was over- whelmed with roses ; and Jackson, in his Journey, simply serrated, smooth above, but hairy on the ribs beneath. Sepals doubly pinnate. Fruit elliptical, smooth, like the aggregate flower stalks. A native of Europe, in hedges ; plentiful in England. Flowers pale red. A shrub, growing to the height of from 6 Ft. to 8 ft. ; flow- ering in June and July. 59. R. DUMETO X RUM Ttiuill. The Thicket Dog Rose. Identification,. Thuil. Fl. Par., 250; Bor. in Eng. Bot. SuppL, t. 2610; Don's Mill., 2, p. 580. Synonymes. R. leucantha /? acutifolia Bast, in Dec. Fl. Fr., 5, p. 535 ; R. sepium Borkh. ex Ran. Enum., 79; R. solstitialis Bess. Prim. Fl. Gall., 324; R. corymbifera Gmel. FL. Bad. Als., 2, p. 427. Spec. Char., rt. Sub. Lond. ; R. indica fragrans Red. Ros., i., p, b. 1. 19 ; the sweetest, or tea-scented, China Rose; Rose a Odeur de The, Fr. ; has semi- BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION. 231 double flowers, of a most delicious fragrance, strongly resembling the scent of the finest green tea. There are numerous subvarieties. G6. R. SEMPERFLO V REN3 Curf. The ever-flowering China Rose. Identification. Curt. Bot. Mag., t. 284 ; Smith Exot. Bot. 2, p. 91 ; Jacq. Schonbr., 3, p. 281 ; Don's Mill., 2, p. 582. Synonytnes. R. diversifulia Vent. Cels., t. 35 ; R. bengalensis Pers. Enck., 2, p. 50 ; R. indica Red. Ros., 1, p. 49, t. 13, p. 123, t. 46, and 2, p. 37, t. 16. Spec. Char., fyc. Branches dark green, armed with scattered, compressed, hooked prickles, and a very few glands. Leaflets 35, ovate-lanceolate, crenate- serratcd, shining above, but glaucous and slightly setigerous beneath. Sepals compound, narrow. Fruit spherical. Native of China. Flowers solitary, single, or semi-double, deep crimson. There are some very splendid varieties of this species, with semi-double crimson flowers, in our gardens; and the French appear to have some others still more beautiful, which have not yet been imported. A shrub, growing from 8 ft. to 10 ft. in height, and flowering throughout the year. For this beautiful rose we are indebted to Gilbert Slater, Low-Layton, Essex, a gentleman to whose memory a genus has not yet been devoted, though he was the means of introducing several of our finest plants. 67. R. LAWRENCEA V NA Swt. Lawrence's China Rose. Identification. Sweet Hort. Suburb ; Lindl. Ros., p. 110 ; Don's Mill., 2, p. 532. Synonymes. R. samperflorens minima Sims Bot. Mag., t. 1762 ; R. indica var. a acu- minata Red. Ros., 1, p. 53 ; R. indica Lawrence^no Red. Ros., 2, p. 38. Spec. Char., fyc. Dwarf. Prickles large, stout, nearly straight. Leaflets ovate, acute, finely serrated. Petals acuminated. Native of China. Flowers small, single or semi-double, pale blush. A shrub, 1 ft. in height, which flowers throughout the year. The beautiful little plants called fairy roses are nearly all varieties of R. Lawrenceo?ia; and they are well worthy of culture, from their extreme dwarfness (often flowering when not more than six inches high), and the beautiful color of their miniature rose-buds, the petals of which appear of a much darker hue than those of the expanded flower. IX. SY'STYLr^J Lindl. Derivation. From sun, together, and stulos, a style ; in reference to the styles being connected. Sect. Char. Styles cohering together into an elongated column. Stipules adnate. The habit of this section is nearly the same as that of the last division. The leaves are frequently permanent. 68. R. SY'STYLA Bat. The connate-style Rose. Identification. Bat. Fl. Main, et Loir. Suppl., 31 ; Don's Mill., 2, p. 582. Synonymes. R. collina Smith in Eng. Bot., t. 1895; R. stylosa Desv. Journ. Bot., 2, p. 317 ; R. brevistyla Dec. Fl. Fr. Suppl, p. 537 ; R. bibracteata Dec., 1 c. ; R. sy'styla a ovata Lindl. Ros., p. 111. Spec. Char., fyc. Shoots assurgent. Prickles strong, hooked. Peduncles glandular. Sepals pinnate, deciduous. Styles smooth. Floral receptacle conical. Native of France and England, in hedges and thickets ; common in Sussex; at Walthamstow, duendon, and Clapton, near London ; at Dunnington Castle. Berkshire ; near Penshurst, Kent; and Hornsey, Middlesex; hills in the south of Scotland. Flowers fragrant, pink or almost white. Fruit ovate-oblons:. A shrub, growing from 8 ft. to 12 ft. in height, and flowering from May to July. There are several varieties, but they do not differ materially in appearance from the species. 69. R. ARVE'NSIS Buds. The Field Rose. Identification. Huds. Fl. Angl., ed. 1, p. 192, according to Lindl. Ros., Mon ; Lin. Mant., p. 245; Dec. Prod., 2, p. 596. Synonymes. R. sylvestris Hem. Diss., p. 10 ; R. scandens Mcench Weiss. PL, p. 118; R. herperhodon Ekrh. Beitr., 2, p. 69 ; A'. Hdlleri Krok. Siles,2,p. 150; R. fiisca Mcench Met'i., p. 688; R. serpens Ehrh. Arbor., p. 35; R. semnervircns Rossig. Ros; R. ripens Gmel Pi. Bad. Als. 2, p. 418, Jacq. Fragm., p. 69, t. 104 ; R. nimpans Reyn. Mem. Laus. 1, p. 69, t. 5. 232 BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION. Spec. Char., fyc. Shoots cord-like. Prickles unequal and falcate. Leaves deciduous, and composed of 5 7 glabrous, or indistinctly ciliated, leaflets, glau- cescent beneath. Stipules diverging at the tip. Flowers solitary or globose. Sepals almost entire, short. Styles cohering into an elongated glabrous column. Fruit ovate, or ovate-globose, coriaceous, crimson, glabrous, or a little hispid, as well as the peduncles. In open situations, a trailing plant, sometimes rooting at the joints; but, in hedges, and among bushes, a climber by elongation ; reaching to their tops, and covering them with tufts of foliage and flowers ; the leaves re- maining on late in the season ; and the fruit often remaining on all the winter. The shoots are, in general, feeble, much divided, and entangled; and they gener- ally produce, here and there, rugged excrescences, which readily take root. Hence by budding the more rare sorts on the shoots, a little above these excrescences, and, after the buds have united, cutting off a portion of the shoot containing the excrescence at one end, and the inoculated bud at the other, and putting in these portions as cuttings, different varieties may be propagated with expedition and ease. R. a. 2 ayreshirea Ser. R. capreolata Neill in Edin. Phil. Journ., No. 3, p. 102. Cultivated in British gardens under the name of the Ayrshire Rose. Prickles slender, very acute. Leaflets ovate, sharply serrate, thin, nearly of the same color-on both surfaces. Peduncles hispid with glanded hairs, or wrinkled. A vigorous-growing climber, producing shoots sometimes 20 ft. in length in one season, and flowering profusely from the middle of May to the middle of Septem- ber. One of the hardiest of climbing roses, and particularly useful for covering naked walls, or unsightly roofs. It is supposed by some to be of American origin, and to have been introduced into Ayrshire by the Earl of Loudon. 70. JR. (A.) SEMPERVI X RENS Liti. The evergreen (Field) Rose. Identification. Lin. Sp., 704; Dec. Prod., 2, p. 597 ; Don's Mill., 2, p. 583. Synonymes. R. scandens Mill. Diet., No. 8 ; R. balearica Desf. Cat. Pers. Ench., 2, p. 49 ; R. atrovirens Viv. PL Ital., 4, t. 6 ; R. sempervirens globosa Red. Ros., 2, with a fig. ; R. sempervirens var. scandens Dec. Fl. Fr., 5, p. 533. Spec. Char., fyc. Evergreen. Shoots climbing. Prickles pretty equal, falcate. Leaves of 5 7 leaflets, that are green on both sides, coriaceous. Flowers almost solitary, or in corymbs, Sepals nearly entire, longish. Styles cohering into an elongate pilose column. Fruit ovate or ovate-globose, orange-colored. Pedun- cles mostly hispid with glanded hairs. Closely allied to R. arvensis, but differ- ing in its being evergreen, in its leaves being coriaceous, and in its stipules being subfalcate, and more acute at the tip. Native of France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the Balearic Islands. A climbing shrub, flowering from June to August. Used for the same purposes as the Ayrshire rose ; from which it differs in retain- ing its leaves the greater part of the winter, and in its less vigorous shoots. This species is well adapted for rose carpets made by pegging down its long flexile shoots. It glossy, rich foliage Arms, in this way, a beautilul carpet of verdure en- ameled with flowers. 71. R. MULTIFLO X RA Thunb. The many-flowered Rose. Identification. Thunb. Fl. Jap., 214 ; Dec. Prod., 2, p. 598 ; Don's Mill., 2, p. 583. Synonyme. R. flava Donn. Hort. Cant., ed. 4, p. 121 ; R. florida Pair. Suppl. ; R. diffusa Roxb. Spec. Char., fyc. Branches, peduncles, and calyxes tornentose. Shoots very long. Prickles slender, scattered. Leaflets 57, ovate-lanceolate soft, finely wrinkled. Stipules pectinate. Flowers in corymbs, and, in many instances, very numerous. Buds ovate globose. Sepals short. Styles protruded, incom- pletely grown together into a long hairy column. A climbing shrub, a native of Japan and China; and producing a profusion of clustered heads of single, semi- double, or double, white, pale red, or red flowers in June and July. It is one of the most ornamental of climbing roses; but, to succeed, even in the climate of London, it requires a wall. The flowers continue to expand one after another during nearly two months. R. m. 2 GrcvUlei Hort. R. Roxbiirghu Hort. ; R. platyphy'lla Red. Ros., p. 69. The Seven Sisters Rose. A beautiful variety of this sort, with much larger and BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION. 233 more double flowers, of a purplish color ; and no climbing rose better deserves cul- tivation against a wall. It is easily known from R. multiflora by the fringed edge of the stipules; while those of the common R. multiflora have much less fringe, and the leaves are smaller, with the leaflets much less rugose. The form of the blossoms and corymbs is pretty nearly the same in both. A plant of this variety on the gable end of R. Donald's house, in the Goldworth Nursery, in 1826, covered above 100 square feet, and had more than 100 corymbs of bloom. Some of the co- rymbs had more than 50 buds in a cluster ; and the whole a veraged about 30 in each corymb ; so that the amount of flower buds was about 3000. The variety of color produced by the buds at first opening was not less astonishing than their number. White, light blush, deeper blush, light red, darker red, scarlet, and purple flow- ers, all appeared in the same corymb ; and the production of these seven colors at once is said to be the reason why this plant is called the seven sisters rose. This tree produced a shoot the same year which grew 18 ft. in length in two or three weeks. This variety, when in a deep free soil, and an airy situation, is of very vigorous growth, and a free flowerer ; but the shoots are of a bramble-like texture, and the plant, in consequence, is but of temporary duration. R. Donald's R. Grevillei died in three or ibur years. R. m. 3 Russellisina. is a variety differing considerably, in flowers and foliage, from the species, but retaining the fringed loot-stalk; and is, hence, quite distinct from R. sempervirens RusselHtma. R. m. 4 Boursaulli Hort., DoursauWs Rose, is placed, in Don's Miller, under this species ; though it differs more from the preceding variety than many species do from each other. It is comparatively a hard-wooded, durable rose, and valua- ble for flowering early and freely. This is a very remarkable rose, from its pe- tals having a reticulated appearance. 72. R. BRUNO V NII Lindl. Brown's Rose. Identification. Lindl. Ros.'Monog., p. 120, t. 14; Dec. Prod., 2, p. 598. Synonyme. R. Bruwnii Spreng. Syst., 2, p. 556. Spec. Char., r immorality, nor hardness of heart, nor disregard of the feelings and welfare of others, can readily exist where the mind is thoroughly imbued with a love for trees and flowers, and with a full appreciation of the many sources of delight bountifully be- stowed upon man in the various objects of exquisite beauty in the vegetable world. We have wandered somewhat from our subject, but we would gladly write still more, if we could only convince our readers of the great importance of this love for trees and plants and for roses among them and of its highly conservative influ- 280 GARDEN CLASSIFICATION. ence. Let every man, therefore, that feels convinced of the truth of our remarks, plant a tree or a rose, and let his children care for it as for an old and intimate friend ; and they may rest assured that either mentally or morally they will be none the worse, but all the better for the pleasant associations connected with its form, for the joyous hope springing with its leaf, and for the serious reflection accompanying its fall ; when bud and bloom and decay fill the mind with pure and pleasant thoughts of the past and hopeful anticipations of the future. THE END. COMMERCIAL GARDEN AND NURSERY, OF PARSONS & CO., FLUSHING,'NEAR NEW YORK. THE Proprietors of this establishment invite attention to their large stock of TREES AND PLANTS, comprising all the desirable vrieties of APPLES, PEARS, CHERRIES, PLUMS, PEACHES, APRICOTS, NECTA- RINES, QUINCES, FIGS, ALMONDS, RASPBERRIES. STRAWBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES, CURRANTS, ES- CULENT ROOTS, &c. Their personal attention to the propagating department en- ables them to ensure the correctness of every variety they send out. They invite particular attention to their large collection of thrifty CHERRIES, and also to their fine stock of FOR- EIGN GRAPES, in pots, produced from bearing vines. Their stock of ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, VINES, c., is annually enriched by new varieties from Europe, and their ROSES comprise all the finest kinds, in large quantities. Catalogues furnished gratis, on application to the Proprietors by mail and orders forwarded in the same manner will receive prompt attention. Owing to the approach of the business season it was found impos- sible tojinish the General Descriptive List of some 3000 Roses in HTM for this edition. It will be published during the ensuing winter. RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (415)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW MAY 2 1991 APR 23 NOV 1 * 1998 APR 1 2000 Berkeley B00013130M . ,,.6678S3 SB* UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY