THE ROSE GARDEN. 3 



when they were merely valued as objects of natural history, or for their medicinal 

 properties. We may follow in imagination the busy doings of the plant-collector 

 in the earliest times ; we may fancy him gathering, and fixing in one spot, the 

 beautiful productions scattered around him ; and it is natural to suppose that the 

 most beautiful, or most useful, would be the first collected. This surely would 

 give an early date to the civilization of the Queen of Flowers. And doubtless the 

 Rose has a claim to our regard as well for its antiquity, as for its beauty, variety, 

 and fragrance. The famous gardens of Babylon, which are supposed to have 

 existed 2000 years before the Christian sera, would probably number it among 

 its treasures. This, of course, can be but conjecture ; though the probability is 

 increased when we consider that the neighbouring country, Persia, has ever been 

 famous for the Roses it naturally produces. In the Sacred Scriptures we read of 

 " him who was to make the wilderness be glad, and the desert to blossom as the 

 Rose" : we read also of " the Rose of Sharon," and " the Rose of Jericho." 



It has been questioned whether the flowers met with in translations of the 

 ancient writers are identical with those known under like names in the present 

 day. Indeed, what is commonly known as the Rose of Jericho, is a little cruci- 

 ferous plant, with white flowers, very different from our Roses. I do not feel 

 disposed to enter into this question ; indeed it would be out of place to do so here : 

 but I would remark, in passing, that the non-existence of the wild forms in those 

 countries, at the present time, is not conclusive evidence to me that they never 

 flourished there ; or even were it so, the productions of other countries might have 

 been introduced, to administer to the comforts and enjoyments of this people. 



In the Book of Wisdom (chap. ii. ver. 7, 8) the following passage occurs: — 

 " Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointment, and let no flower of the 

 spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with Rose-buds before they be 

 withered." Hence it is apparent that the practices so common with the Greeks 

 and Romans of crowning themselves with flowers at their Bacchanalian feasts, 

 and on various other occasions, were resorted to in these early times, and most 

 probably were borrowed from the Jews. Again, in the Book of Ecclesiasticus 

 (chap, xxxix. ver. 13) we find the following passage : — " Hearken unto me, ye 

 holy children, and bud forth as a Rose growing by the brook of the field." 

 Homer, the most ancient of all the profane writers, uses the Rose figuratively, 

 both in the Iliad and Odyssey ; and above 2000 years have rolled away since 

 Sappho christened it the " Queen of Flowers." Philostratus (Epistle 73), 

 writing of this lyric Poet, says, " Sappho was enamoured of the Rose, and 

 bestows upon it always some distinguished praise : she likens it to the most beau- 

 tiful of maidens." Such was the Rose then, and it still maintains as distinguished 

 a position. It were scarcely necessary to search the Greek authors for quotations 

 to shew in what esteem that people held our flower. Ancient history, by which 

 their customs are handed down to us, bears sufficient evidence of its popularity. 

 The Rose, with other flowers, was used by them in times of public rejoicings, in 

 their religious ceremonies, and the youth of both sexes wore them in the filtes. 



