310 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



says that it was brought out of Italy, and Redoute* de- 

 clares it to be a native of North Africa. It is a loose 

 grower, making large, straggling bushes, and bearing 

 white flowers. It has no value as a garden plant, but its 

 scent is highly agreeable. 



Shakespeare made several references to Musk Roses 



" Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed 



While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, 

 And stick Musk Roses in thy sleek smooth head, 

 And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy." 



A Midsummer Nights Dream. 



Literary flower-lovers may trip in deciding that the 

 Provincial referred to in " Hamlet " is the Provence 

 Rose " Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers, if 

 the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me, with two 

 provincial Roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship 

 in a cry of players, sir ? " as it probably referred to 

 ribbons. The Provence Rose may be the same as the 

 Cabbage Rose the Rose of Lancaster. Certainly the 

 Rosa provincialis of the old writer Philip Miller is the 

 same as the Rosa centifolia of Linnaeus, and the " hundred- 

 leaved" Rose is also the Cabbage Rose. This richly 

 coloured, strongly scented Rose came from Asia (the 

 botanists say from Mount Caucasus), but it has long 

 been grown in southern Europe. Chaucer probably 

 had the Provence Rose in his mind when he wrote 



" Of Roses there were grete wone, 

 ** So fair were never in Rone " ; 



for " Rone " would mean the Rhone, at the mouth of 

 which river Provence lies. 



The " canker-Rose " of Shakespeare 



" The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 

 As the perfumed tincture of the Roses," 



