SUMMER MEETING. 61 



The Feast of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, the first Sunday 

 in October, was instituted in commemoration of the successes of the 

 Christian arms against the forces of Solyman the Magnificent, espe- 

 cially of the battle of Lepanto. Though all Europe was thrilled by the 

 great naval victory, it has come down to us mainly as associated with 

 the most picturesque figure of that age, the unhappy Don John, of 

 Austria, and its greatest literary light, Cervantes. It was by this bat- 

 tle that the great Spanish romancist lost a hand, and the world, per- 

 haps, gained a " Don Quixote." The Feast of the Rosary was named 

 from the Virgin Mary, the " mystical rose " of the Catholic church. 

 The name has been transferred to the chaplet of beads, by which, 

 without the necessary interruption to devotion which counting would 

 create, the sayer of the one hundred and fifty prayers can keep record 

 of their number : ten Ave Marias, and after each ten a Pater Nostery 

 marked in the rosary by a large bead. 



Roses have been borne on the escutcheons of certain noble houses 

 from the remotest time. They were bestowed upon Roman generals 

 as marks of honor, and so descended in the family coat-of-arms. 

 Luther adopted the rose as his device and had it engraved upon his 

 signet. The Free Masons, evidently from its associations with secrecy, 

 also use it. 



The best-known use of the rose in this way is as the national em- 

 blem of England, perhaps from the union of the red and white roses 

 of the houses of Lancaster and York. 



When royal honors were being shifted back and forth between 

 Henry VI, of the house of Lancaster, and Edward IV, Duke of York, 

 the two roses, the insignia of the rival claimants to the throne, came 

 prominently to the fore, and gave the name to the wars of that miser- 

 able, confused portion of England's history. The origin of the red 

 rose of Lancaster lies far back in history; the white rose of York was 

 chosen in contradistinction to the insignia of the rival house. 



In the reign of Edward I, of Englaad, his son, the Count of Eg- 

 mont, had taken as vassal to the French King the title of Count Cham- 

 pagne. His predecessor in this title was the celebrated Thibaut, whose 

 name was so closely associated with that of Blanche of Castile, the 

 mother of Louis IX. The feeling was so strong against him after the 

 death of Louis VIII, that he was forced by public opinion to go on 

 a crusade. From the East he brought back the rose of Damascus on 

 his shield as insignia ; the rose itself was brought back from Syria by 

 one of the yreux chevaliers of that time, and domesticated in Europe. 

 When the English prince came back from service under the French 



