pfant ls>orc, ISegeT^ti/, an^ 'bijric/'. 525 



to it the legend that when the sacred drops of blood trickling from 

 the wounded Saviour fell to the ground, they blossomed into Roses. 



" Men saw the Thorns on Jesus' brow, 

 But angels saw the Roses." 



The Wild, or Dog, Rose, it has also been supposed, composed the 

 thicket in which Abraham caught the ram, as well as the bush in the 

 midst of which the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame 

 of fire, and from which God addressed him. It is probably the plant 

 alluded to in the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the desolation of 

 Jerusalem (v., 6) : "I will lay it waste ; it shall not be pruned or 

 digged ; but there shall come up Briars and Thorns." Chandler 

 tells us that he saw no other tree nor shrub within the walls 



of the Holy City when he visited it. The Rose-briar is con- 



ne(fted with an incident in the life of St. Benedi(ft, This godly 

 man, in his early life, lived for three years a solitary existence 

 among the rocks of Subiaco, a wilderness forty miles from Rome. 

 During this time he underwent many temptations, and on one 

 occasion was so disturbed by the recoUecTtion of a beautiful woman 

 whom he had seen in Rome, that he was well-nigh quitting his 

 retreat and returning to the city. He felt, however, that the temp- 

 tation proceeded from the devil, and, tormented by his distracting 

 desires, he rushed from his cave, and flinging himself into a thicket 

 of Briars, he rolled himself in them until tlie blood flowed freely 

 from his lacerated flesh ; then the fiends left him, and he was never 

 again assailed by the same temptation. In the garden of the 

 monastery at Subiaco they show the Rose-bushes which have been 

 propagated from those very briars. 



ROSEMARY. — Rosmannus, the botanical name of Rose- 

 mary, signifies the " dew of the sea," and has been applied to the 

 plant on account of its fondness for the sea-shore. Formerly it was 

 called Rosmarinus coronarius because of its use in chaplets and 

 garlands, with which the principal guests at feasts were crowned. 

 In place of more costly incense, the ancients often employed Rose- 

 mary in their religious ceremonies, and especially at funeral rites. 

 The Romans ornamented their Lares, or household gods, with this 

 plant, and at the Palilia, or festival held in honour of Pales, the 

 purification of the flocks was made with the smoke of Rosemary. 

 But the plant is essentially funereal in its charadler : its aroma 

 serves to preserve the corpse of the departed, and its leaves, ever 

 green, symbolise immortality : hence, like the Asphodel and Mallow, 

 it was frequently planted near tombs : — 



" Come funeral flower ! who lov'st to dwell, 

 With the pale corse in lonely tomb. 

 And throw across the desert gloom 



A sweet decaying smell." — Kirke While. 



In the Northern counties, mourners at funerals often carry a 

 branch of Rosemary, and it is still customary in some rural distri(fts 



