FLORA DOMESTICA. 



But knoppis wollin freshe be 

 Two daies at lest, or ellis thre ; 

 The knoppis gretely likid me, 

 For fairer maie there no man se ; 

 Who so might hav in one of all, 

 It ought him hen full lefe withall : 

 Might I garlonde of 'hem getten 

 For no richesse I wolde it letten. 



" Amonges the knoppis I chese one 

 So faire, that of the remenaunt none 

 Ne preise I half so well as it 

 Whan I avisin in my wit, 

 It so well was enluminid 

 With color red, as well as finid 

 As nature Couth it makin faire, 

 And it hath levis wel foure paire 

 That kind hath set through his knowing : 

 Ahout the redde roses springing 

 The stalke was as rishe right, 

 And thereon stood the knop upright, 

 That it ne howed upon no side . 

 The sote smel ysprong se wide 

 That it died all the place about. 



," I sawe the rose when 1 was nigh, 

 Was greater woxin, and more high, 

 Freshe and roddy, and faire of hewe, 

 Of colour ever iliche newe : 

 And when I had it longe sene, 

 I sawe that through the levis grene, 

 The rose spred to spannishing, 

 To sene it was a godely thing ; 

 But it ne was so sprede on brede 

 That men within might know the sede, 

 For it coverte ywas and close 

 Both with the leves, and with the rose ; 

 The stalke was even and grene upright, 

 It was thereon a godely sight." 



The short-lived beauty of the Rose has given rise to many 

 reflections and comparisons ; as in Crashaw's lines on the 

 death of Mr. Herrys: an instance occurs also in Mr. 

 Bowring^s translation from the Russian of Kostrov : 



