GARLANDS OF ROSES 99 



These hedges indicate the * Hortus Conclusus * 

 and identify the Virgin with the bride of the 

 Canticles by recalhng the verse, ' A garden en- 

 closed is my sister, my spouse.' This enclosure 

 is sometimes fenced merely by a row of flowers, 

 sometimes by a fortress-wall, and is often an 

 elaborate garden. An early instance by a master 

 of the Middle Rhine,' dating from about 1420, 

 gives eighteen recognizable species of flowers 

 and ten varieties of birds. The Madonna sits 

 reading beneath a tree. One saint gathers 

 cherries and another draws water from a foun- 

 tain. Saint George, Saint Michael and a young 

 man chat beneath a tree, and a pretty young 

 saint with flowers in her hair teaches the little 

 Christ to play the psaltery. Other gardens 

 contain no flowers but the various objects used 

 as similes of the Virgin — the Tower of Ivory, 

 the Closed Door, the Sealed Fountain, etc. 

 Very often there is merely a trellis with roses 

 climbing up it, and the flowers which express the 

 virtues of Mary, the lily, violet and strawberry, 

 grow at her feet. The thorns on the roses are 

 carefully drawn, even accentuated, illustrating 



J Town Museum, Frankfort-on-the-Maine. 



