148 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



From this Rosa alba, Pliny says, the isle of Albion 

 derived its name a happy thought when we remem- 

 ber that the rose is still the national emblem of 

 England. 



MUSK-ROSE (Rosa moschata). Musk-roses and 

 eglantine mingled with honeysuckle formed the 

 canopy beneath which Titania slumbered on a bank 

 made soft and lovely with wild thyme, oxlips and 

 nodding violets. And in the "coronet of fresh and 

 fragrant flowers" that the dainty little fairy queen 

 placed upon the hairy temples of Bottom the 

 Weaver, musk- roses were conspicuous; and the 

 sweetness of these was intensified by "the round and 

 Orient pearls of dew" that swelled upon the petals, 

 as the "pretty flowerets bewailed their own dis- 

 grace." 



It is this delicious rose which Keats, when listen- 

 ing to the nightingale, sensed rather than visualized 

 in the twilight dimness : 



The coming musk-rose full of dewy wine, 

 The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 



The musk-rose was adored by the Elizabethans. 

 Lord Bacon considered its scent to come next to 

 that of the violet, and before all other flowers. 

 "You remember the great bush at the corner of 



