§& The Old looses f% 



Blush des Anglais,' is, I think, the rose Kneller depicted 

 in his portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria, now at Munich. 

 The Queen, who wears a beautiful silk robe, and has 

 pearls round her neck and on her hair, holds this rose in 

 her lap. A fitting symbol ; for was she not known as ' the 

 rose and lily queen ' ? 



The musk rose (R. moschata), immortalized by Bacon, 

 Shakespeare and Keats, was apparently first introduced 

 into England in the first half of the sixteenth century, 

 for Hakluyt says, * Of later times the Musk Rose was 

 procured out of Italy.' Bacon describes the musk rose 

 as flowering in July. * In July come gilliflowers of all 

 varieties ; musk roses ; the lime tree in blossom ; early 

 pears and plums in fruit, genitings, codlins ' ; in Mid- 

 summer Night's Dream it was in bloom on that night, and 

 Keats describes the rose as * mid May's eldest child.' It 

 was R. moschata crossed with R. indica which gave us the 

 Noisette rose, named after M. Philippe Noisette, who 

 raised it in America in 1 817. Although of American origin 

 the best known of the Noisette roses is the French rose, 

 Aimee Vibert, raised at Angers by the famous French 

 grower, J. P. Vibert, who named it after his daughter. 

 R. moschata is also a parent, or rather, grandparent, of such 

 famous roses as Cloth of Gold, and possibly of Marechal 

 Niel. According to some authorities, however, Marechal 

 Niel, which was first sent out by Pradel in 1864, was, 

 like the Gloire de Dijon, a chance seedling. The late Mr. 

 Pemberton used R. moschata in producing his hybrid 

 musks. The true musk rose has single white blooms borne 

 in large trusses. R. moschata alba (syn. nived) has white 

 flowers faintly tinted blush and a decided musk perfume. 

 One of the most beautiful of the musk roses is R. rubus, 



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