TIfR CAXADIAX IfOltTrCULTUUIST. lliS 



itniunieral)le in oniaraenty wf all sorts, from .simple sea-sliells warn l)y 

 Nubian maidens, to costly diamonds, that heighten the charms of the 

 proudest court beauties; silver, gold, precious stones, all have their season 

 of ftivor, and then again sink into comparative neglect, l)nt a simple rose 

 has ever been and will ever be the favorite eml)lem and adornment of 

 Neauty. 



Now the secret of this perpetual and undying charm about the 

 rose is not to be found in its color; there are bright lilies, and gay 

 tiger flowers, and dazzling air-plants, far more rich and vivic} ; it is nob 

 alone in fragrance, for there ai-e violets and jasmines with " more 

 passionate sighs of sweetness;" it is not in foliage, for there are laurels 

 and magnolias with leaves of richer and more glossy -green. Wliere 

 then does this secret of the world's six thousand years' homage lie? 

 In its being a type of infinity. 



Of infinity! says our most innocent maiden reader, who loves roses 

 without caring why, and who does not love infinity, because she does 

 not understand it. Eoses a type of infinity! says our theological 

 reader, who has been in the habit of considering all flowers of the field, 

 aye, and of the garden too, as emblems of the short-lived race of man. 

 Yes, we have said it,, the secret of the world's devotion to the rose, of 

 her being the queen of flfowei-sf by acclamation and forever, is that the 

 rose is a type of infinity. 



The rose is a type of infinity because there is no limit to the 

 variety and beauty of the forms and coIots which it assumes. From 

 the wild rose, whose sweet, faint odor is wasted in the depths of the 

 silent wood, or the Eglantine, whose wreaths of fresh sweet blossoms; 

 embroider even the dusty road sides, to tliat most perfect, full, rounded,, 

 and odorous flower that swells tine heart of the fJorist as he beholds its; 

 richness and symmetry; wdiat an innumerable range of shades, and 

 forms, and colors. And indeed, with the hundreds and thousands of 

 roses of modern timesy we still know little of all the varied shapes, 

 which the plant has taken in by-gone days, and which have perished 

 with the thousand other i-efmensents and luxuries of the nations who- 

 cultivated and enjoyed them. • 



All this variety of form, so far from destroying the admiration of 

 mankind for the rose, actually increases it. This very character of 

 infinity in its beauty makes it the symbol and interpreter of the 

 affections of all ranks, clasps, and conditions of men. The poet, amid 



