TRE HAWTHORN 
143 
Mr. Beale well observes in his “ Hertfordshire Orchards 
is conceived, conduces so much to the constant health and 
longevity for which that county has been always cele- 
brated, fencing their habitations and sweet recesses from 
winds and winter invasions, the heat of the sun, and his 
insufferable darts. And if (saith he) we may acknowledge 
grateful trifles, for that they harbour a constant aviary of 
sweet singers, which are here retained with the charge of 
Italian wires.’’ 
The queen of our gardens — the rose — in its many thou- 
sand varieties, is at the head of this order; its beautiful, 
conspicuous flowers gracing our parterre, and yielding the 
most delicious odour, and its pretty, simple blossoms per- 
fuming our hedges and lanes. The delight of the East, 
the theme of the poet in all ages, the praises of the rose 
have been sung in the language of every nation where it 
is known. All virtue, all loveliness, has been character- 
ised by it ; from the solemn personification of Scripture, 
of Him v/hom the “ preacher ” called the Rose of Sharon, 
down to the simile of the humblest minstrel that ever 
touched the harp of poesy. 
The Romans, whose profuse use of flowers subjected 
them to the reproofs of their philosophers, were accus- 
tomed to strew roses over the streets at their public festi- 
vals. The Egyptians made the rose a symbol of silence, 
and crowned Harpocrates with a garland of its blossoms. 
The Eastern lady still tells her love by sending a rose to 
her lover ; and “ the time of roses ’ ’ is yet a poetical name 
for our sum.mer. 
To this order belong those pretty velvety yellow flowers, 
the potentillas, v/hich creep over the banks by the way- 
side, their blossoms shaped like those of the wild rose; 
and the taller avens, or herb-bennet, which has, after 
flowering, a clammy ball of spines, by which its seeds 
cling to different objects, and are dispersed far and wide. 
The blackberry, strawberry, and most of the fruits both 
of our woodlands and cultivated grounds, belong also to 
it. 
One very common tree, both in shrubberies and woods 
— the mountain ash (Pyrus aucupacia) — is deserving a little 
notice. It is in Scotland called the Rowan tree. In 
Westmoreland they term it the Wiggen tree, and the old 
