THE ROSE. 219 



ceded him or her to the tomb. And the legacy of 

 Edward Barnes, " citizen of London/' who died in 

 the year 1653, still sustains this pleasant custom in 

 at least one place in the same county : for the good 

 old man, desirous to keep his memory fragrant in 

 some quiet country spot, left the sum of 20. to be 

 laid out in the purchase of an acre of land for the 

 poor of the village of Barnes, for ever, or at least 

 for so long a time as they should keep rose-trees 

 fresh and flourishing on his grave. 



But the most touching instance of this applica- 

 tion of the rose is yet to be seen* on the battle-field 

 of Towton, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where, 

 on March 29, 1461, the armies of the Yorkist 

 and Lancastrian factions met in deadly strife. It 

 is well known that the white and the red rose were 

 the respective badges of the opposing parties in 

 those disastrous " wars of the roses/' wars which 

 certainly had more of the thorn than the flower in 

 their character, and their consequences. On that 

 field, where fellow-countrymen refused to each other 

 all quarter, and where thirty-six thousand men fell 

 by the hands of their brothers, the roses which 

 were planted by the survivors on their sepulchral 

 mounds still grow and bloom, breathing out, un- 

 t ended and unheeded, silent lessons never yet taught 

 by the blazoned shields and marble trophies which 

 mark the conqueror's tomb. We might almost fancy 



* For this circumstance, as well as for the lines suggested 

 by it, I am indebted to Miss Jane Williams, the author and 

 editor of the " Life and Eemains of the Eev. Thomas Price," 

 &c. &c. (see the Appendix). 



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