A CHAPTER , ON ROSES. 26 



O'er thy unfolding petals, -wet with dews, 

 Such as the flower-fays to Titania bring? 



flower of thousand memories and dreams. 

 That take the heart with faintness, while we gaze 

 On the rich depths of thy inwoven maze ; 

 From the green banks of Eden's blessed streams 



1 dream'd thee brought, of brighter days to tell 



Long pass'd, but promised yet with us to dwelL" 

 t 



If there is any proof necessary that the rose has a diviner origin 



than all other flowers, it is easily found in the unvarying constancy of 



mankind to it for so many long centuries. Fashions there have been 



innumerable, in ornaments of all sorts, from simple sea-shells, worn 



by Nubian maidens, to costly diamonds, that heightened the charms 



of the proudest court beauty — silver, gold, precious stones-^all have 



their season of favor, and then again sink into comparative neglect ; 



but a simple rose has ever been and will ever be the favorite emblem 



and adornment of beauty. 



" Whatsoe'er of beauty 

 Yearns, and yet reposes, 

 Blush, and bosom, and sweet breath, 

 Took a shapg in roses." Leigh Hunt. 



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 vivid : it is 

 not alone in fragrance, — ^for there a^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. Where, 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. 

 Roses, a type of infinity, says our theological reader, who, has been 

 in the habit of considering all flowers of the fleld, aye, and the gar- 

 den, too, as emblems of the short-lived race of man — '^born to 

 trouble as the sparks fly upward." Yes, we have said it, and for 

 the honor of the rose we will prove it, that the secret of the world's 



