" UNDER THE ROSE." 231 



MBS. P. 



A rose was the seal of Luther, and a golden rose was often 

 tin; present of the popes to a favoured sovereign. 



ESTHER. 



Yes; I recollect reading that one was sent by Alexander 

 III, to William King of Scotland; another by Alexander VI, 

 to Henry VIII.* 



MRS. r. 



And another by Innocent X, in 1651, to Louisa of Gonza- 

 gua, the queen of John Casimir, King of Poland, at the same 

 time that he presented the king with a consecrated sword and 

 banner,f The rose was considered as an emblem of the 

 mortality of the body, the gold of which it was made, of the 

 immortality of the soul. 



FREDERICK. 



The rose was dedicated to Aurora, as an emblem of 

 youth. 



MRS. v. 



And to Cupid, because of its fugacity, as Tasso expresses 

 it: 



" Cosi trapasta al trapatwr d'ungiorno 

 Delia vita mortale, it fior e '1 verde." 



G. L. c. XTI. 13. 



But did you ever hear the origin of the term " under the 

 rose" as an indication of secrecy 1 It is an expression 

 you may probably never have heard, but I allude to it on ac- 

 count of the custom which gave rise to it. Cupid is said to 

 have given a rose as a bribe to Harpocrates, God of Silence; 

 from this originated a practice which prevailed among the 



* Clark'* Travel* in the Holy Land, 

 f Salvaudy, Hirtoire de Pologrie, vol. i. 



