ON ROSES 313 



practically evergreen, is a valuable plant for covering a 

 rustic fence. It blooms abundantly in June. 



The Noisette Rose (Rosa Noisettiand) is a hybrid 

 between the China (indica) and the Musk (moschata). 

 Several important cluster-flowered Roses belong to the 

 Noisette group, notably Mardchal Niel and William 

 Allen Richardson. 



It is pleasant to make acquaintance with Roses, and 

 to reflect on the part that they have played in national 

 life. They have been known for many centuries in 

 British gardens, and were used in heraldry at a very 

 early period. The " rose gules barbed vert and seeded 

 or " of the heralds would be a flower with green sepals 

 and golden stamens. There were Roses on the Great 

 Seal as early as 1340. 



Employed as a badge, the Rose was also used by the 

 herbalists. It was made into Rose water and pot-pourri 



" Let one attend him with a silver basin 

 Full of Rose-water and bestrewed with flowers." 



Taming of the Shrew. 



It was doubtless the use of the dried petals which 

 Shakespeare referred to in " Romeo and Juliet " : 



" A beggarly account of empty boxes, 

 Green earthern bladders and musty seeds, 

 Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of Roses 

 Were thinly scattered to make up a show." 



The phrase sub rosa, or under the Rose, reminds us 

 that the Rose is the flower consecrated to Harpocrates, 

 the God of Silence, by Cupid ; and that it was worn as 

 a chaplet at gatherings where the conversation was to 

 be regarded as confidential. Chaplets of white Roses, 

 with kid gloves attached, were once carried before the 

 funerals of virgins in England. 



