CHAPTER XIII. 



ROSES. 



" An tu me in viola putabas aut in rofa dicere ?" 



(Cic. Tuff., v. 26.) 



|O ancient and widely prevalent are the 

 notions connected with the word 

 " rofe," that it might well be quef- 

 tioned whether " the rofe by any 

 other name would fmell as fweet." The name 

 comes to us, with flight dialectical variations, 

 through Latin and Greek from the Arabic. Not 

 that the Eaft is the exclusive home of the flower, 

 for it is found in almoft every country of the Old 

 and New World from Norway to the North of 

 Africa, and from Kamfchatka to Bengal. There 

 are no rofes, however, in South America or 

 Auftralia ; but the greateft beauty and moft 

 luxuriant growth of this lovely flower are un- 

 doubtedly to be feen in the Eaft. 



" Who has not heard of the Vale of Caflimere, 

 With its rofes the brighteft that earth ever gave ?" 



