6 INTEODUOIION. 



To paint this universal emblem of delicate splendor in its own hues, 

 the pencil should be dipped in the tints of Aurora, when arising amidst 

 her aerial glory. Human art can neither color nor describe so fair a 

 flower. Venus herself feels a rival in the Rose, whose beauty is com- 

 posed of all that is exquisite and graceful. It has been made the 

 symbol of sentiments as opposite as various. Piety seized it to deco- 

 rate the temples, while Love expressed its tenderness by wreaths ; and 

 Jollity revelled adorned with crowns of roses. G-rief strews it on the 

 tomb, and Luxury spreads it on the couch. It is mingled with our 

 tears, and spread in our gayest walks ; in epitaphs, it expresses youth- 

 ful modesty and chastity, while in the songs of the BacchanaUans 

 their god is compared to this flower. The beauty of the morning is 

 allegorioally represented by it, and Aurora is depictured strewing 

 roses before the chariot of Phoebus : 



"When morning paints the orient skies, 

 Her lingers burn with roseate dyes." 



The Rose is thought to have given name to the Holy Land where 

 Solomon sang its praises, as Syria appears to be derived from Suri, a 

 beautiful and delicate species of Rose, for which that country has al- 

 ways been famous ; and hence called Surislan^ or the " Land of Roses." 

 Tlie island of Rhodes owes its name to the prodigious quantity of 

 roses which formerly grew upon its soil. 



Of the birth of the Rose, it is related in fable, that Flora having 

 found tlie corpse of a favorite Nymph, whose beauty of person was 

 only surpassed by the purity of her heart and chastity of her mind, 

 resolved to raise a plant from the precious remains of this daughter of 

 tlie Dryads, for which purpose she begged the assistance of Venus 

 and the Graces, as well as of all the deities that preside over gardens, 

 to assist in the transformation of the Nymph into a flower, that was 

 to be by them proclaimed Queen of all the vegetable beauties. The 

 ceremony was attended by the Zephyrs, who cleared the atmosphere, 

 in order that Apollo might bless the new-created progeny by his 

 beams. Bacchus supplied rivers of nectar to nourish it, and Vertumnus 

 poured his choicest perfumes over the plant. When the metamor- 

 phosis was complete, Pomona strewed her fruit over the young 

 branches, which were then crowned by Flora with a diadem, that had 

 been purposely prepared by the celestials to distinguish this Queen of 

 >.lowers. 



