216 WILD FLOWERS. 



their words and actions would not be made public, 

 it naturally became the representative of secrecy ; 

 and the story that the god of love made a present 

 of the hitherto unknown rose to Harpocrates, the 

 reputed god of silence, in order to induce him to 

 keep the secrets of his mother, Venus, points to 

 the same idea ; though it is not so happy an expla- 

 nation of the origin of the expression " under the 

 rose." 



It is curiously opposed to the Persian saying, 

 " gul sukuft," " the rose (or the flower) has opened/' 

 applied to the detection of a secret, or to the occur- 

 rence of some novelty ; reminding us of the French 

 expression " decouvrir le pot aux roses/' signifying, 

 to disclose anything intended to be concealed. The 

 expression in Welsh, illustrative of secrecy, is of 

 another kind, being " dan gel," that is, as a leech 

 ("he did such and such a thing dan gel;"} but 

 the simile is very apposite, as few animals have a 

 more mysteriously noiseless mode of progression 

 than the leech. 



The rose, as is well known, is the emblem of love, 

 on which account it was formerly woven into the 

 bridal wreath (and not, as some grave philosopher 

 suggests, in order to imitate the ordinary decora- 

 tions of an animal when led to the Greek or Roman 

 altar at which it was to be sacrificed), white roses 

 being more especially chosen, because, like other white 

 garments of the bride, they symbolised purity. But 

 they had yet a deeper and a more beautiful signifi- 

 cation even than that of love ; for it was certainly 

 intended that the sweetness which remains in their 



