THE MOSS ROSE. 109 



The moss rose is m ide the emblem of voluptuous love, and tlie crea- 

 tive imagination of tlie poet thus pleasingly accounts for this rose 

 having clad itself in a mossy garment : — 



" The angel of the flowers, one day, 

 Beneath a rose-tree, sleeping lay. 

 That spirit — to whose charge is given, 

 To bathe young buds in dews from heaven. 

 Awaking from his light repose. 

 The angel whisper'd to the rose, — 

 ' O fondest object of my care. 

 Still fairest found where all are fair. 

 For tlie sweet shade thou'st given to me. 

 Ask what thou wilt, 'tis granted thee.' 

 ' Then,' said the rose, with deepened glow, 

 ' On me another grace bestow.' 

 The spirit paused in silent thought, 

 What grace was there that flower had not ? 

 'Twas but a moment — o'er the rose 

 A veil of moss the angel throws, 

 And, robed in nature's simplest weed. 

 Can there a flower that rose exceed ? 



M. Redote, the author of a French pictured work on roses, seems 

 displeased at our claiming the moss rose as originating in England ; he 

 says, " nous ferons observer qu'il n'est pas rare de voir les iconographes 

 Anglais considerer beaucoup de plantes comme indigenes au sol de leur 

 pays, toutes les fois que le lieu dans lequel elles vegetent naturellement 

 leur est inconnii, circonstance qui doit iaire rejeter toutes les assertions 

 de ce genre." 



Madame de Genlis tells us, that during her first visit to England, she 

 saw moss roses for the first time, and that she took to Paris a moss rose- 

 tree, which was the first tliat had been in that city ; and she says, 

 in 1810, "the cultivation of this superb flower is not yet known in 

 France." 



Madame de Latour endeavours to do away with this statement. In 

 a high strain of compliment, she says, " when ]\Iadame de Genlis re- 

 turned from London to Paris, she was become very celebrated, and the 

 crowds of people wiio went to her house imder the pretence of seeing 

 the moss rose, were attracted tliitlier by that lady's celebiity ; and the 

 modesty of Madame de Genlis alone could liave led her into this error ; 

 for this rose-tree," she adds, " which is originally from Provence, has 

 been" known to us for several ages." 



Mr. Rossig, who has lately published a work on roses, and with 

 good coloured figures, says, that the moss rose is found on the Alps. 

 But this information comes rather late, as it is improbable that a plant 

 of such a size and singular beauty should have escaped the penetrating 

 eyes of the various botanists who have herbalized so frequently on these 

 mountains, as not to have left a species of grass or even moss unre- 

 corded. 



The moss rose is propagated by layers or suckers, which it sends up 

 plentifidly when growing in rich light loam, that is ratiier moist than 

 over dry. It likes to have a free supply of well rotted cow-dung, which 

 is cooler than stalde-dung. AVhen the branches are laid down they 

 should be slightly slit, as carnations are, which will cause them to take 



