THE KOSE. 231 



be curious to ascertain what effect the scent of 

 this rose would have on a person subject to " hay- 

 fever ; " whether in this instance, as in other cases, 

 his greater sensitiveness of organization would 

 increase in proportion to that of persons who, 

 under ordinary circumstances, are so affected by 

 this rose ? 



Sir R K. Porter observes that some of the ancient 

 sculptures at Persepolis have fillets of roses around 

 the necks of the figures ; a circumstance which 

 scarcely appears to require the additional fact that 

 headings of the same flower decorate some of the 

 friezes, and other architectural ornaments, in order 

 to shew that the Persians of old had the same love 

 for the rose, as that which distinguishes their de- 

 scendants. Yet learned men have perplexed them- 

 selves, and their readers, in the endeavour to ac- 

 count for the origin of what one of them has 

 actually termed, "so singular an emblem !" 



Even the Persian, in his mild and fertile clime, 

 might envy the roses of our English gardens ; since 

 the recent extraordinary improvements in their 

 propagation and culture have given us such endless 

 and exquisite varieties, many of which really merit 

 their appellation of " perpetual," and which, instead 

 of confining our enjoyment of the rose to a single 

 month, or, at most, six weeks in the summer time, 

 as was the case in the days of our grandfathers 

 extend it to a period embracing the whole of the 

 spring, summer, and autumn ; and even, now and 

 then, enliven the gloomy days of winter : bidding 

 fair, in short, to falsify the oft-quoted couplet : 



