CHAPTER I. 



The History of the Rose, from the Earliest Times 

 to the Fall of the Roman Empire. 



THE ROSE, which is the leading flower of the day, the acknowledged favourite of 

 the four greatest nations in the world, is to be found in a wild state very 

 generally spread over the earth's surface. 



As if too beautiful to be excluded from the natural Flora of any one of the ancient 

 divisions of the world, it graces alike various countries of Asia, Africa, and North 

 America, and extends over the whole of Europe, where, blooming in its native wild- 

 ness and simplicity, it is universally prized and admired. 



But although the geographical distribution of the various species makes the Rose 

 an inhabitant of nearly the whole of the Northern Hemisphere, some species are far 

 less plentiful than others, or, if plentiful in certain localities, have a less extended 

 range. Here is one, confined to some particular and favoured spots ; here another, 

 not content with ranging one quarter of the globe ; the ROSA CANINA, for instance 

 the one most commonly seen adorning our wilds and hedge-rows is found also in 

 Africa and Asia. 



It is a remarkable fact that Australia has naturally no Roses, and none have yet 

 been found wild very near to or south of the Equator. Humboldt, in his " Personal 

 Narrative," remarks " We did not find one indigenous Rose-tree in all South America, 

 notwithstanding the analogy existing between the climates of the high mountains of 

 the torrid zone and the climate of our temperate zone. It appears that this charming 

 shrub is wanting in all the southern hemisphere within and beyond the tropics. It 

 was only on the Mexican mountains that we were happy enough to discover in the 

 nineteenth degree of latitude American Eglantines." Personal Narrative of Travels to 

 the Equinoctial Region of the New Continent ', &c. y vol. iii., p. 487. 



It is in the temperate regions of Asia, and throughout Europe generally, that those 

 species abound from which nearly the whole of the present garden varieties have 

 sprung. But if we extend our view, we find some growing on the mountains of North 



