36 BRITISH FLORAL DECORATION 



being given for the root thereof, whilst I, the 

 Rose, am neglected and contemned, and conceived 

 beneath the honour of noble hands." The fashion, 

 apparently, did not last long ; for Sorbieres, who 

 visited England soon after the Restoration, dwells 

 enthusiastically on the Rose-bedecked gardens 

 which he found everywhere in Kent. 



In the eighteenth century popular appreciation 

 of Roses began to show itself in a less prosaic form. 

 They no longer figured as an ingredient of cookery, 

 and Rosa Solis went out of fashion among drinking 

 men; but the pot-pourri jar made its appearance, 

 and was soon to be found in every self-respecting 

 household. 



Other flowers of the garden perish, 



Sweet Roses do not so : 

 Of their sweet death are sweetest odours made. 



A delicate fragrance of Roses seems to have 

 haunted all the primly furnished parlours of the 

 days of the Georges. 



As England extended her dominions the fitness 

 of the Rose as a national emblem became more and 

 more apparent. Like the British flag, it is at home 

 in all parts of the globe. From Central Asia, its 

 place of origin, it has expanded its paradise of 



