ATTRACTIONS OF THE ROSE. 22*7 



petals of these flagrant flowers, or sprinkled with its odorous oils. 

 At a feast which Cleopatra gave to Antony, the royal apartments 

 were covered with rose leaves to a considerable depth. 



" The triumvir, when dying, begged of the captivating queen that 

 she would scatter perfumes on his tomb, and cover it with roses. 



" In Turkey, a rose is sculptured on the monument of all ladies 

 that die unmarried ; and in Poland they cover the coffins of children 

 with roses, and when the funeral passes the streets, a number of 

 these roses are thrown from the windows. Camden tells us, t There 

 is a classical custom observed, time out of mind, at Oakley, in 

 Surrey, of planting a rose tree on the graves, especially of the young 

 men and maidens who have lost their lovers ; so that the church- 

 yard is full of them.' It is the more remarkable, since it was used 

 anciently both amongst the Greeks and Romans, who were so very 

 religious in it, that we find it often annexed as a codicil to their wills 

 (as appears by an old inscription at Ravenna, and another at Milan), 

 by which they ordered roses to be strewed and planted over their 

 graves. 



" This ancient custom of decorating graves with flowers, the sym- 

 bols of fleeting mortality, has almost passed from recollection in this 

 country, and is rapidly disappearing in most parts of Wales ; but we 

 read in the ' Beauties of England,' that Thomas Stevens, a poor and 

 aged man, who lies buried in the churchyard of the village of Stoken- 

 church, in Oxfordshire, left a request that his oldest son would 

 annually dress his grave with flowers on the recurrence of the wake 

 of St. Peter's. 



" The Mexicans, says the Abbe Clavigero, have from time imme- 

 morial studied the cultivation of flowers and odorous plants, which 

 they employ in the worship of their gods ; and in the temple of the 

 true God the high priest was formerly crowned with [roses. The 

 Catholic church has still preserved the use of these flowers in its 

 most sacred ceremonies, as it is always the rose that they strew before 

 the holy sacrament in solemn processions. 



" There is now to be seen at Rome, in the church of St. Susan, 

 an old Mosaic, which represents Charlemagne kneeling, receiving of 

 St. Peter a standard covered with roses. The custom of blessing the 

 rose is still preserved at Rome, and the day is called Dominica in 

 rosa. They make in that city artificial rose trees of pure gold, 



