THE ROSE 35 



enough left to strew the floors in the houses of the 

 wealthy. In old-time domestic accounts which have 

 been preserved we find the item " strewing Roses 

 and herbs " constantly recurring. When there was 

 a glut of Rose-leaves in the market they could be 

 purchased for sevenpence or eightpence a bushel, 

 but as a rule they realised considerably more than 

 this. 



For people who could not afford the luxury of 

 Rose-strewn floors there was a perfume sold "to 

 burn on coals to make the house as though full of 

 Roses." 



So we can picture the England of those days as 

 abounding in Roses. 



Under the Commonwealth, however, their popu- 

 larity received a temporary check. The craze for 

 Tulips spread from Holland, and was stimulated by 

 the Puritan prejudice against a flower which figured 

 largely in the revels of pagan Rome. That patriotic 

 divine, Thomas Fuller, issued a protest on behalf 

 of the national emblem. " There is a flower," he 

 wrote, " a Toolip, which hath engrafted the love 

 and affection of most people into it. And what is 

 the Toolip? A well-complexioned stink, an ill 

 flavour wrapped up in pleasant colours. Yet this 

 is that which filleth all gardens, hundreds of pounds 



