THE ROSE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ROSE ! thou art the sweetest flower 

 That ever drank the amber shower ; 

 Rose ! thou art the fondest child 

 Of dimpled Spring, the wood nymph wild. 



ANACHKON. 



1HE Rose, the emblem of beauty and the pride 

 of Flora, reigns Queen of the Flowers in every 

 part of the globe ; and the bards of all nations 

 and languages have sung its praises. Yet 

 what poet has been able, or language sufficient, 

 to do justice to a plant that has been denom- 

 inated the Daughter of Heaven, the glory of 

 spring, and the ornament of the earth ? As 

 it is the most common of all that compose the 

 garland of Flora, so it is the most delightful. 

 Every country boasts of it, and every behold- 

 er admires it. Poets have celebrated its charms without exhausting 

 its eulogium ; for its allurements increase upon a familiarity, and every 

 Fresh view presents new beauties, and gives additional delight. Hence 

 it renovates the imagination of the bard, and the very name of the 

 flower gives harmony to his numbers, as its odors give sweetness to 

 th* air. 



