Natural Hiftory of the Ancients. 199 



" Ipurtraied and iwrought with floures 

 By divers medeling of coloures ; 

 Flouris there were of many gife, 

 Ifet by compace in a fife. 

 There lackid no of lure to my dome, 

 Ne not fo much as floure of brome, 

 Ne violet, ne eke pewinke, 

 Ne flowre none that men can on thinke ; 

 And many a rofe-lefe full long 

 Was entermedlid there emong ; 

 And alfo on his hedde was fet 

 Of rofes redde a chapilet." 1 



A rofary is alfo defcribed 



"Chargid fullofrofis 

 That with an hedge aboute enclofed is.' 



There "gretift hepe of rofes be;" and thefe 

 "rofes redde" with their " knoppis," or birds, are 

 dwelt on by the poet with the pleafure of a true 

 rofe-lover. 



But it is in Dante that the moft glorious and 

 devotional ufe of the rofe is found ; a ufe from 

 which comes our expreflion a " rofe-window," to 

 indicate a large circular cathedral window filled 

 with ftained glafs reprefenting faints and martyrs 

 radiating from the central effulgence of Divine 

 glory. Thus in the " Paradifo," he writes : 



" Lume e laflu, che vifibile face 

 Lo Creatore a quella creatura, 

 Che folo in lui vedere ha la fua pace ; 



" E fi diftende in circular figura 



In tanto, che la fua circonferenza 

 Sarebbe al Sol troppo larga cintura. 

 * * * * 



" Nel giallo della rofa fempiterna 

 Che fi dilata, rigrada e redole 

 Odor di lode al Sol che fempre verna." 



1 Anderfon's Poets, vol. i., pp. 281, 287. 



