SWEET-SMELLING PLANTS 



109 



it on the child ; and this^ says Bayle, was since regarded as a happy 

 presage of the good odour that would some day scatter his poetry. 



' See for a while its garden bed 



The fragrant Rose adorn ; 

 Return— alas ! the Rose has fled 

 Xor left anght hut a thorn.' 



A Rose suspended from the ceiling intimates that all is strictly 

 confidential that passes under it. Hence the phrase ' under the 

 Kose,' and it is on record that many a young lady who would shrink 

 from being kissed under the Misletoe would not have the same 

 objection to that ceremony if performed under the Rose. 



Man alone seems born sensible to the delights of perfumes^ and 

 employs them to give energy to his feelings, for animals and insects 

 in general shun them. The beetle is said to have such an antipathy 

 to Roses, that the odour of this flower will cause its death ; from 

 which the ancients devised the allegory, to describe a man enervated 

 by luxury, in representing him under the image of a beetle expiring 

 surrounded by Roses. 



Madame de Genlis tells us that formerly the Rose was so precious 

 in France that in several parts of that country the inhabitants were 

 not allowed to cultivate it, as if all but the powerful were unworthy 

 of such a gift ; and at other times we find it mentioned among the 

 ancient rights of manors, to levy a tax or tribute of so many bushels 

 of Roses, for the provision of rose-water for their lord, whose table 

 was also covered with Rose leaves instead of napkins. The French 

 parliament had formerly a great day of ceremony, called ^ Baillee 

 de Roses,' because great quantities of Roses were then distributed. 



Here is a dainty story of a notable Rose from France : When 

 Niel, a brave French General, was returning from the scene of his 

 victories in the war between France and Austria, he received from 

 a peasant, who wished to honour the hero, a basket of beautiful 

 pale yellow Roses. One of the stems, which happened to have 

 roots clinging to it, the General took to a florist in Paris, in whose 

 care it remained until it became a thriving bush covered with blos- 

 soms. Mel then took the plant as a gift to the Empress Eugenie. 

 She expressed great admiration for the exquisite flowers, and, on 

 learning that the Rose was nameless, said significantly, ' Then I 

 will name it. It shall be The Marechal Niel," ' and at the same 

 moment she bestowed upon the astonished General the jewelled 

 baton that betokened his promotion to the high office of Marechal 

 of France. 



Now-a-days we find this charming flower cultivated in every 

 direction for the delicious fragrance imparted from its petals, and 



