12 EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROSE. 



the academy, the whole assembly clapped their hands, and the 

 philosopher was admitted as a member." Madame de Genlis 

 relates very nearly the same anecdote, but attributes it to Abdul- 

 kadri, a person celebrated among the Turks, who was desirous of 

 residing at Babylon, where they were unwilling to receive him. 



The Turks themselves, matter of fact as they are, have also 

 seen something marvelous in the beautiful and vivid tints which 

 the hand of nature has painted on the corolla of the Rose ; but 

 their imagination, less glowing than that of the Greeks, furnished 

 them an idea more singular than pleasing. They suppose that 

 the Rose owed its origin to the perspiration which fell from 

 Mahomet ; for which reason they never tread upon a rose-leaf, 

 or suffer one to lie on the ground. 



Meshilu, the Turkish poet, speaks of " a pavilion of roses, as 

 the seat of pleasure raised in the garden;" of '-'roses like the 

 bright cheeks of beautiful maidens;" of the time when "the 

 plants were sick, and the rose-bud hung its thoughtful head on 

 its bosom ;" and of the "dew, as it falls, being changed into rose- 

 water." They also sculpture a rose on the tomb-stone of a female 

 ,who dies unmarried. 



The early Roman Catholics have made the Rose the subject of 

 various miraculous events one of which is attributed to the 

 canonized Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary. As the French author, 

 Montalembert, relates it in his history of that queen, Elizabeth 

 loved to carry to the poor herself, by stealth, not only money, but 

 even food and other things which she had provided for them. 

 She went thus loaded and on foot, by the steep and hidden paths 

 which led from the chateau to the town, and to the cottages in 

 the neighboring valleys. One day, when, accompanied by her 

 favority maid, she was descending by a rough and scarcely visi- 

 ble path, carrying under her cloak some bread, meat, eggs, and 

 other food, for distribution among the poor, she was suddenly met 

 by her husband, who was returning from the chase. Astonished 

 to see her thus bending under the weight of her burden, he said 

 to her, " Let me see what you are carrying." At the same time 

 he threw open the cloak, which she held, with terror, to her 



