CHAPTER XVIII 

 legends of national flowers 



The Rose, National Flower of England. 



*' If Zeus chose us a king of the flowers in his mirth, 



He would call to the rose, and would royally crown it; 

 For the rose, ho ! the rose, is the grace of the earth. 



Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it; 

 For the rose, ho ! the rose, is the eye of the flowers. 



Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves fair. 

 Is the lightning of beauty that strikes through the bowers 



On pale lovers who sit in the glow unaware. 

 Ho, the rose breathes of love ! ho, the rose lifts the cup 



To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest ! 

 Ho, the rose, having curled its sweet leaves for the world, 



Takes delight in the motion its petals keep up. 

 As they laugh to the wind as it laughs from the west !" 



Sappho. 



The rose has for many years held undisputed sway 

 as the emblematic flower of England, and historically 

 this fact seems to have originated at the time of the 

 Wars of the Roses, during the reign of Henry VI. 



Now, the House of Lancaster wore as its badge 

 the Red Rose, or the " Rose Gule," and the House 

 of York wore the White Rose, or the " Rose Argent." 



When they went into battle the soldiers all wore 

 either a red or white rose as an emblem in their 

 caps. There is a tradition that at the time when 

 Henry's marriage united the contending houses, 

 a rose with white and red flowers first blossomed, 



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