ROSES 187 



not know why it should be so, but the sweet-brier is 

 seldom grown near the house, probably because it will 

 grow anywhere, and house-walls are valuable for more 

 tender plants. Bacon recommended it as ' very delight- 

 ful to set under a parlour or lower chamber window,' 

 and so I saw it once at Tintern — not under a window 

 only, but trained to the top of the house (a two-storied 

 one), and surrounding both upper and lower windows. 

 The effect Avas very charming, and I was told that 

 when once established it was very easily kept in 

 order. 



It would be inexcusable to omit all mention of the 

 musk rose among the single roses. Its native home 

 is the north of Africa, but it must have spread into 

 Europe in very early times, and it was brought into 

 England from Italy. So we are told by Hakluyt : 

 ' The artichowe was brought in time of King Henry the 

 Eight, and in later times was procured out of Italy the 

 Muske Eose plant.' As soon as it came it established 

 itself as a chief favoimte, and became the typical 

 emblem of floral beauty. Shakespeare makes it the 

 special rose of Queen Titania. Milton names it among 

 the choicest flowers to be strewn on Lycidas' hearse, 

 though perhaps he only uses the name in a general 

 way — his knowledge of flowers was very limited, — for 

 in Comus he makes the shepherd speak of ' musk roses 



