178 ON THE HOSE. 



the season of blooming alike, will justify my requesting their im- 

 mediate insertion. 



The rose which is the emblem of beauty and the pride of Flora, 

 reigns queen of the flowers in every part of the globe ; and the 

 bards of all nations have sung its praises. Yet what poet has 

 been able, or language sufficient, to do justice to a plant that has 

 been denominated the daughter of heaven, the glory of the spring, 

 and the ornament of the earth. 



As it is the most common of all that compose the garland of 

 Flora, so it is the most delightful. Every country boasts of it, 

 and every beholder admires it; poets have celebrated its charms 

 without exhausting its eulogiums, for its allurements increase upon 

 a familiarity, and every fresh view presents new beauties, and 

 gives additional delight. Hence it renovates the imagination of 

 the bard, and the very name of the flower gives harmony to his 

 numbers, as its odours give sweetness to the air. 



To paint this universal emblem of delicate splendor in its own 

 hues, the pencil should be dipped in the tints of Aurora, when 

 arising amidst her aerial glory. Human art can neither colour 

 nor describe so fair a flower. Venus herself finds a rival in the 

 rose, whose beauty is composed of all that is exquisite and grace- 

 ful. 



It has been made the symbol of sentiments as opposite as va- 

 rious. Piety seized it to decorate her temples, whilst Love ex- 

 pressed its tenderness by wreaths, and Jollity, revelled adorned 

 with crowns of roses. Grief strews it on the tomb and luxury 

 spreads it on the couch. It is mingled with our tears, and spread 

 in our gayest walks ; in epitaphs it expresses youthful modesty 

 and chastity, whilst in the songs of the Bacchanalians their god 

 is compared to this flower. The beauty of the morning is allego- 

 rically represented by this flower, and Aurora is depictured 

 strewing roses before the chariot of Phoebus. 



" When morning paints the orient skies, 

 Her fingers burn with roseate dyes." 



It is thought to have given name to the Holy Land, where So- 

 lomon sung its praise, as Syria appears to be derived from Suri, 

 a delicate species of rose, for which that beautiful country has 

 always been famous; and hence called Suristan, the land of lksef-, 



