370 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



No true poet can describe a garden or a bouquet, 

 without telling us that 



" There was the pouting rose, both red and white." 



Apollo would no longer acknowledge him if he overlooked 

 this flower. 



The reader will remember that the Red-Rose has, 

 from its long dwelling with us, been named the English- 

 Rose ; doubtless it is to this flower Brown alludes in the 

 following lines, where, speaking of the rivulets, he says, 



" Some running through the meadows, with them bring 

 Cowslip and mint : and 'tis another's lot 

 To light upon some gardener's curious knot 

 Whence she upon her breast (Love's sweet repose) 

 Doth bring the queen of flowers, the English-rose." 

 " The rose engrained in pure scarlet dye." 



The bed of roses is not altogether a fiction. " The 

 Roses of the Sinan Nile, or garden of the Nile, attached 

 to the emperor of Morocco's palace, are unequalled ; and 

 mattresses are made of their leaves, for men of rank to 

 recline upon*/ 1 



The Eastern Poets have united the Rose with the 

 nightingale; the Venus of flowers with the Apollo of 

 birds: the Rose is supposed to burst forth from its bud 

 at the song of the nightingale. 



" You may place a handful of fragrant herbs and 

 flowers before the nightingale; yet he wishes not in his 

 constant heart for more than the sweet breath of his beloved 

 Rose."" JAMI f. 



" Oh ! sooner shall the rose of May 

 Mistake her own sweet nightingale, 

 And to some meaner minstrel's lay 

 Open her bosom's glowing veil, 

 Than Love shall ever doubt a tone, 

 A breath of the beloved one." 



* See notes to Moore's Lalla Rookh. t Ibid. 



