442 



and though there was a great profusion of meat and fruit 

 at this entertainment, 'it might,' he says, 'have been 

 styled the Feast of Roses, for the floor of the great hall, 

 or open-fronted talar, was spread in the middle, and in the 

 recess, with Roses forming the figures of cypress-trees ; 

 Roses decorated all the candle-sticks, which were very 

 numerous. The surface of the hawz, or reservoir of wa- 

 ter, was completely covered with rose-leaves, which also 

 were scattered on the principal walks leading to the man- 

 sion.' 



" He says that the surface of this reservoir was so en- 

 tirely covered with rose-leaves, that the water was^visible 

 only when stirred by the air, and that the servants, during 

 the entertainment, were continually scattering fresh Roses 

 both upon the waters and the floor of the hall.* 



"We must not dismiss the subject of the Rose, without 

 recalling to the minds of our readers those beautiful lines 

 from Milton : 



Eve separate he spies, 



Veiled in a cloud of fragrance where she stood, 

 Half spied, so thick the Roses blushing round 

 About her glowed ; oft stooping 10 support 

 Each flower of tender stalk, whose head, though gay 

 Carnation, purple, azure, or spcck'd with gold, 

 Hung drooping unsustained ; them she npstays 

 Gently with myrtle band, mindless 1he while 

 Herself, though fairest unsupported flower, 

 From her be t prop so far, and storm so nigh.' 



" In two different poems, where Venus is represented, 

 she has a crown of white and red flowers : 



' 1 saw anone right her figure 

 Nakid yfletyng in a se, 



And also on her hedde parde 



Her rosy garland white and redde. 1 



1 Then father Anohises decked a oanacious bowl with garlands, and filled U 

 up witli wine.' (Davidson's Translation.) 



* See Sir W. Ouseley's Travels in the East, vol. iii., pp. 352 and 353. 



