524 pfarit bore, Tsegef^t)/, dn^ Isijric/. 



an evil omen if its leaves perchance fall to the ground. In Ire- 

 land, there is a legend of a sick man who saw a Rose pass across 

 the panes of the window of his room: it was a death warning, and 

 the man died. Roses not only act as portents of death, but in some 

 cases they spring up as memorials of the dead. Thus, at Ronce- 

 valles, where Roland and the doiize pairs stained the soil with their 

 blood, Roses are popularly believed to have sprung up : — 



" When Roland brave and Olivier, 

 And every paladin and peer, 

 On Roncevalles died " 



And again, in our own country, a tradition relates that after the battle 

 of Towton, there sprang up in the field where the Yorkists and 

 Lancastrians fell, a peculiar kind of wild Rose, only there to be 

 found, and which will not bear being transplanted from " the 



bloody meadow." 



" There still wild Roses growing, 

 Frail tokens of the fray ; 

 And the hedgerow green bears witness 

 Of Towton field that day." 



A white Provins Rose was the emblem of the Stuarts upon 

 the accession of the Duke of York to the throne of England as 

 James II. It was said to come into flower on the lOth of June, a 

 day interesting to Jacobites, as being the birthday of the Chevalier 



St. George. 



" Of all the days that's in the year, 

 The tenth of June I love most dear, 

 When sweet White Roses do appear, 

 For the sake of James the Rover." 



Under the title of Roisin dubh, the " Little Black Rose," we 

 find Ireland symbolised in a song composed in the reign of Queen 

 Elizabeth. 



" There's no flower that e'er bloomed can my Rose excel. 

 There's no tongue that e'er moved half my love can tell. 

 Had I strength, had I skill the wide world to subdue, 

 Oh, the queen of that wide world should be Roisin dubh ! " 



Dream oracles tell us that nothing can be more favourable 

 than to dream of Roses, as they are certain emblems of happiness, 

 prosperity, and long life. To a lover, they foretell he will marry 

 the object of his choice, and that happiness and joy will result 

 from the union. To the farmer and sailor, the appearance of these 

 flowers in a dream is said to predidl great prosperity and ultimate 

 independence. To dream of withered Roses, however, is ominous 

 of decay of fortune and disappointment. 



Astrologers state that red Roses are under the government of 

 Jupiter, Damask Roses under Venus, and white Roses under the 

 rule of the Moon. 



ROSE-BRIAR. — The Rose-briar, or Rosa canina, according 

 to tradition, is the plant from which was formed the crown of Thorns 

 placed on our Saviour's brow at the Crucifixion. It has attached 



