78 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



garden. * They worship here always alone, 

 though there is no gate to the garden ; the angels 

 have relinquished high Heaven for these de- 

 lights; for the scent of these roses which they 

 pluck, and the Child has relinquished Heaven 

 for these roses, and the thorns which he shall 

 gather from them . . . the season of their 

 thorns is never over, and whilst it is the time of 

 roses in this picture, there is the forecast of 

 their thorns in it.' ' 



In the Speculum HumancB Salvationis, a MS. 

 of the fourteenth century,'' the Holy Dove is 

 depicted upon a rose. From the bosom of a 

 seated figure, which represents David or Jesse, 

 a rose tree issues. At the summit of the tree 

 there is a five-petalled rose, in the centre of 

 which, as in a nest, sits a dove, which represents 

 the Holy Ghost. 



The design is founded upon the text of 

 Isaiah which has been paraphrased by Pope: 



' From Jesse's root behold a branch arise, 

 Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies ; 

 Th' getherial Spirit o'er its leaves shall move 

 And on its top descends the sacred Dove.' 



' Robert de la Condamine, The Upper Garden. 

 ^ In the Bibliotheque de 1' Arsenal, Paris. 



