( 212 ) 



OF THE ROSE. 



' Rosa mea.' PLAUTUS. 



' Rose thou art the sweetest flower 

 That ever drank the amber shower.' 

 T. MOORE. 



{ I know a hank whereon the wild Thyme blows, 

 Where Oxlip and the nodding Violet grows, 

 O'er-canopied with luscious Woodbine, 

 With sweet Musk Roses, and with Eglantine : 

 There sleeps Titania.' 



SHAKSPEAUE'S Midsummer Night's Dream. 



To say anything in praise of the attractive beauty 

 and sweetness of the Rose, would be not only to in- 

 sult the good sense and good taste of my readers, but 

 absolutely to imply the want of both ; suffice it then 

 to say, that the Rose is a universal favourite ; and 

 that in no part of the world, torrid, temperate, or 

 frigid, but e nascuntur rosae,' of some description or 

 other. Among the ancients the Rose was conse- 

 crated to Venus ' flos Veneri sacer' and was con- 

 sidered by them the harbinger of spring. 



