I30 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Golden Rose, blessed annually by the Pope 

 on 4th Sunday in Lent (Rose Sunday), and given in 

 these times to some august lady of known devotion, 

 is much prized and eagerly sought for. Among the 

 ladies who have been so honoured are the Queen of 

 Spain, who received it in 1S68, and the (^ueen of 

 Naples. It is said to be one of the many disap- 

 pointments of the life of the Empress Eugenie, that 

 she also has not been made a recipient. The 

 consecration of this rose or rose-tree, for such it 

 really is, having perfumes in one of its upper 

 blossoms, is thought to have been instituted by 

 Leo IX., although some believe the ceremony to 

 be of greater antiquity. A French writer says that 

 it w^as, in the first instance, sent to the Pope by the 

 grateful abbess of St. Croix, in acknowledgment of 

 the privilege he had granted to her order. In the 

 beginning it was merely carried through the streets 

 of Rome, and there deposited with the prefect ; 

 gradually the custom arose to present it to some 

 steady supporter of the papacy, and Falk, Count of 

 Anjou, in the Pontificate of Urban II., was the first 

 foreigner of importance who thus received it ; 

 ultimately its bestowal became a mere question of 

 policy, and it was given quite as much as a bribe as 

 a reward, as at first it was sent to our Henry VIII. 

 A Devonshire knight. Sir Reginald de Mohun, 

 founder of Newnham Abbey, received the rose from 

 Pope Innocent IV., and was at the same time 

 created Eai-1 of Somerset, because till then the rose 

 had not been given to any person under that rank. 

 Sir Reginald does not seem to have used the higher 

 title in England. The tribute of roses was in- 

 stituted by Blanche of Castille, widow of Louis VIII., 

 and consisted of the presentation of a basket of roses, 

 by the youngest peer, to the French Parliament on 

 May Day. The queen overheard a lady rebuking 

 her lover for singing love songs in the rose garden, 

 where he ought to have been devoting himself to a 

 cause in which he was interested. Stung by her 

 reproaches, the count left lady and roses, "read up" 

 most energetically, and of course gained the suit, a 

 wife, and the favour of the queen, who then in- 

 augurated the ceremony. The privilege of presenting 

 the roses was much prized, and led to a dispute in 

 1 541 between the Dukes of Montpensier and Nevers, 

 that took the most learned lawyers of the country 

 to decide — ultimately in favour of the Due de 

 Montpensier. The custom was abolished in 1589, 

 and although in the reign of Louis XIV. an attempt 

 was made to revive it, it was ineffectual. 



Besides being the national emblem (there is an 

 engraving of a shield where James I. had the rose 

 and thistle conjoined under a crown) the rose figures 

 in the arms of the dukes of St. Albans, the earls of 

 Rosse, and other families. The collar of the order of 

 St. Patrick is formed of roses and harps joined by 

 knots, and the rose is one of the adornments of the 

 collar of the Bath. 



Against the cathedral at Hildersheim grows the 

 oldest rose-tree known, tradition referring its origin 

 to the time of Ludwig, son of Charlemagne. In the 

 " Illustrated London News " of 1850 there is repre- 

 sented a large rose-tree, which was then to be seen 

 in the nursery grounds of Mr. Buckton in \Vands- 

 worth. It was 28 feet high, 20 feet in circumference, 

 and had 2000 roses in bloom ; is stated to have been 

 a standard of the species Fulgian, variety Hybrid, 

 China. 



For the title of Rose of Jericho (Anastatica hicro- 

 chuiiti)ia) Lycopodium involvens and Mescmhryaii- 

 ihennnii Tripoliuiii, which has capsules like a button 

 half an inch in diameter, that expand in water, are all 

 aspirants, but the first named has the support of the 

 chief botanists. It grows on sandy soils in Palestine 

 and Egypt, and its properties of shrivelling up when 

 dry, and uncoiling when placed in water, are well 

 known. The flower intended by the "rose of 

 Sharon" is also another matter of dispute among 

 learned men, some urging the claims of Polyanthus 

 narcissus to be so considered, and indeed the weight 

 of evidence seems to be in favour of this plant ; 

 whilst others name the crocus and "mallow." 



Instaiices of miraculous transformations into roses 

 are not unccmmon. St. Elizabeth of Thuringia was 

 generous as well as pious, and loved to supplement 

 her words of comfort with substantial aid, but in her 

 works of charity she was much hindered by her 

 husband, who did not share her views, and at last 

 peremptorily told his wife that there must be an end 

 to her almsgiving. When, therefore, some time after 

 whilst carrying supplies of food to a poor family, she 

 met the margrave, her heart failed her, and she 

 stood mute and trembling, as he asked what she had 

 in her basket. But when he raised the covering, lo ! 

 bread and meat had disappeared, and in their place 

 lay white lilies and clusters of fragrant dewy roses. 

 At the martyrdom of a maiden at Bethlehem, white 

 roses sprang from the unlighted wood piled round 

 her, and red ones from the quenched faggots. The 

 sacred fire of the Parsees takes its origin from the 

 attempted sacrifice of Zoroaster, when an infant. 

 The wood on which he was laid, at the moment of its 

 being lighted, was transformed into a heap of roses, 

 and a portion of this fire being saved, it was care- 

 fully tended and not allowed to die out. Some 

 Mohammedans aver that roses sprang from the blood 

 of Moliammed. Old legends also say that till sin and 

 sorrow came into the world, all roses were white and 

 without thorns, but Cary writes, that Eve, one day, 

 enchanted by the pure beauty of a rose, delightedly 

 kissed its leaves, when, " straight it drew, from 

 beauty's lip the vermeil hue." The gradual approach 

 of dawn has been compared to the unfolding of a 

 rose, and Keats described a sunset as "like arose 

 in vermeil tint and shape ; " but the poets have 

 chiefly used the red rose as an image of youth, 

 1)eauty, and swiftly-passing pleasures ! The white rose 



