

THE ROSE. 51 

War of the Roses in English history, the well 
known feuds that prevailed between the houses 
of York and Lancaster, are so called from the 
emblems adopted by their respective partisans ; 
the adherents of the house of York having the 
white, those of Lancaster the red Rose, as their 
distinguishing symbol. These wars originated 
with the descendants of Edward the IIT, and 
after extending over a period of eighty years, 
during which England formed an almost unin- 
terrupted scene of bloodshed and devastation, 
were finally put an end to by the victory of Henry 
Tudor, Earl of Richmond, over Richard IIT in 
1485, the victor uniting in his own person the 
title of Lancaster through his mother, and that 
of York by his marriage with the daughter of 
Edward VI. Since that period the Rose has been 
the emblem of England, 
witch once Wau dovmed 
W hen civil discord braved the field, 
To grace the banner and the shield,” 
as the thistle and shamrock are respectively the 
symbols of Scotland and Ireland. 


