THE MOSS ROSE. 



All colours that were ever seen ; 

 And mossy net-work too is there ; 

 As if by hand of lady fair 

 The work had woven been ; 

 And cups, the darlings of the eye, 

 So deep is their vermilion dye. 

 Ah me ! what lovely tints are there ! 

 Of olive-green and scarlet bright, 

 In spikes, and branches, and in stars, 

 Green, red, and pearly white ! " 



THE MOSS ROSE (Rosa muscosa).—'LONlE.. 



Voluptuousness. 



" The angel of the flowers, one day, beneath a Rose-tree sleeping lay ; 

 Awaking from his light repose, the angel whispered to the Rose, 

 ' O fondest object of my care, still fairest found, where all is fair ; 

 For the sweet shade thou giv'st to me, ask what thou wilt, 'tis granted 

 thee!' 

 ' Then,' said the Rose, with deepened glow, ' on me another grace 

 bestow.' 

 The spirit paused in silent thought : — What grace was there the flower 



had not ? 

 'Twas but a moment — o'er the Rose a veil of moss the angel throws ; 

 And robed in nature's simplest weed, could there a flower that Rose 

 exceed." — From the German. 



On seeing the Moss Rose — the rose without a thorn — and 

 its flower surrounded by a soft and pleasing verdure, one has 

 said that Voluptuousness wished to dispute with Love for this 

 beautiful flower. Madame de Genlis says, that, on her return 

 from England, it was at her house where all Paris went to 

 see the first rose of this kind. That lady was then cele- 



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