LEGENDS OF NATIONAL FLOWERS i6i 



the possibility of perfectly maintaining the health 

 by a morning diet of a salad of rose-leaves. 



Pliny mentions briar-rose root as a cure for hydro- 

 phobia, and affirms that men derived their knowledge 

 of it from a dream, of which he tells the story. 



With all these visible graces and invisible virtues, 

 is it any wonder that the rose of all flowers is the 

 queen, and reigns supreme as our national flower 

 and emblem ^ 



Ancient fable tells us that the rose was dedicated 

 to Venus, under the supposition that when Minerva 

 sprang from the brain of Jupiter, and Venus simul- 

 taneously rose from the waves, the earth brought 

 forth this flower, so much more beautiful than any- 

 thing that had been before produced, to celebrate 

 the double birth; and therefore, says Gerarde, " the 

 Easterns can by no means endure to see the leaves 

 of roses fall to the ground." 



The original rose was supposed to have been white, 

 and, the fable continues, the first red rose was that 

 upon whose thorns Venus trod, when flying to suc- 

 cour the wounded Adonis. 



A more beautiful legend is that related by Sir 

 John Mandeville, who tells us that the rose never 

 existed at all in the Garden of Eden, and that the 

 first of the species ever seen, sprang up in a field 

 called Floridus, on the eastern side of Ephrata. 

 For there a fair maid, unjustly accused, had been 

 condemned to be burnt; when, on the faggots being 

 lighted, she prayed aloud that God would, " as 

 truly as she was not guilty," make it known to all. 

 At the conclusion of her prayer she walked, in 

 the full confidence of innocence, into the midst 

 of the burning pile; upon which the raging fire 



II 



