412 The Garden of pleafant Flowers. 



CHAP. CIX. 

 Rofa. The Rofe tree or bufh. 



THe great varietie of Rofes is much to be admired, beeing more then is to bee 

 feene in any other fhrubby plant that I know, both for colour, forme and fmell. 

 I haue to furnifh this garden thirty forts at the leaft, euery one notably diffe- 

 ring from the other, and all fit to be here entertained : for there are fome other, that 

 being wilde and of no beautie or fmell, we forbeare, and leaue to their wilde habita- 

 tions. To diftinguifh them by their colours, as white, red, incarnate, and yellow, were 

 a way that many might take, but I hold it not fo conuenient for diuers refpecls : for fo 

 I fhould confound thofe of diuers forts one among another, and I fhould not keepe 

 that methode which to me feemeth moft conuenient, which is, to place and ranke e- 

 uery kinde, whether fingle or double, one next vnto the other, that fo you may the bet- 

 ter vnderftand their varieties and differences : I will therefore beginne with the moft 

 ancient, and knowne Rofes to our Countrey, whether naturall or no I know not, but 

 aflumed by our precedent Kings of all others, to bee cognifances of their dignitie, 

 the white Rofe and the red, whom fhall follow the damaske, of the fineft fent, and moft 

 vfe of all the other forts, and the reft in their order. 



i. Rofa Anglica alba. The Englifh white Rofe. 



The white Rofe is of two kindes, the one more thicke and double then the other : 

 The one rifeth vp in fome fhadowie places, vnto eight or ten foote high, with a ftocke 

 of a great bignefle for a Rofe. The other growing feldome higher then a Damaske 

 Rofe. Some doe iudge both thefe to be but one kinde, the diuerfitie happening by the 

 ayre, or ground, or both. Both thefe Rofes haue fomewhat fmaller and whiter greene 

 leaues then in many other Rofes, fiue moft vfually fet on a ftalke, and more white vnder- 

 neath, as alfo a whiter greene barke, armed with fharpe thornes or prickles, whereby 

 they are foone known from other Rofes, although the one not fo eafily from the other : 

 the flowers in the one are whitifh, with an eye or fliew of a blufh, efpecially towards 

 the ground or bottome of the flower, very thicke double, and clofe fet together, and for 

 the moft part not opening it felfe fo largely and fully as eyther the Red or Damaske 

 Rofe. The other more white, lefTe thicke and double, and opening it felfe more, and 

 fome fo little double as but of two or three rowes, that they might be held to be fingle, 

 yet all of little or no fmell at all. To defcribe you all the feuerall parts of the Rofe, as 

 the bud, the beards, the threds &c. were needleffe, they are fo conuerfant in euery ones 

 hand, that I fhall not neede but to touch the moft fpeciall parts of the varieties of them, 

 and leaue a more exacT: relation of all things incident vnto them, vnto a generall worke. 



2. Rofa Incarnata. The Carnation Rofe. 



The Carnation Rofe is in moft things like vnto the lefler white rofe, both for the 

 growing of the ftocke, and bigneffe of the flower, but that it is more fpreade abroade 

 when it is blown then the white is, and is of a pale blufh colour all the flower thorough- 

 out, of as fmall a fent as the white one is almoft. 



Rofa Belgica This kinde of Rofe is not very great, but very thicke and double, and is very variable 

 in the flowers, in that they will be fo different one from another : fome being paler then 

 others, and fome as it were blafted, which commeth not cafually, but naturally to this 

 rofe : but the beft flowers (whereof there will bee ftill fome) will be of a bright pale 

 murrey colour, neere vnto the Veluet rofe, but nothing fo darke a colour. 



3. Rofa Anglica rubra. The Englim red Rofe. 



The red Rofe (which I call Englim, not only for the reafon before exprefled, but be- 



caufe 



