ROSE. 123 
What torrents of blood were shed in the civil 
wars, called the Wars of the Roses, which suc- 
ceeded, history has duly recorded. The subsequent 
blending of the interests of the two houses, and 
their union by the marriage of Henry VII. with the 
heiress of the York family, are prettily typified in 
the colouring of the York and Lancaster Rose. 
In the East, the Rose is an object of peculiar 
esteem, and the acceptance of this flower when 
offered is a token of the highest favour. However 
interesting it might be to collect the various oriental 
legends and traditions in which the Rose acts a 
principal part, I must abstain from the attempt, 
otherwise this single article might be swelled to 
the size of a decent volume, especially if I should 
include the many charming illustrations of the love 
of the nightingale for the Rose. In a fragment by the 
celebrated Persian poet Attar, entitled Bulbul 
Nameh — The Book of the Nightingale — all the 
birds appear before Solomon, and charge the night- 
ingale with disturbing their rest by the broken and 
plaintive strains which he warbles forth in a sort of 
frenzy and intoxication. The nightingale is sum- 
moned, questioned, and acquitted by the wise king, 
because the bird assures him that his vehement 
