LITERARY NOTICES. 
141 
such of the inhabitants as could afford it to take their meals 
resting on rose-leaves,—a practice which Cicero loudly con¬ 
demns. They were scattered upon the beds and floors of the 
chambers of their guests. At their festivals they put the flowers 
in their wine-cups. In times of public rejoicing the streets were 
strewed with flowers, and the statues of their deities were adorned 
with crowns and garlands of roses. Cleopatra, in a feast given 
to Marc Antony, is said to have expended a talent in their 
purchase ; and the room of entertainment was strewed with them 
to a considerable depth. Suetonius, the Latin historian, relates 
of the Emperor Nero, that he spent four millions of sesterces, 
amounting to more than j£30,000, in procuring roses for one 
feast. Alas, that these gems of earth should have been so 
perverted from their just use! Here, instead of opening up a 
source of pure and intellectual enjoyment, we see them debased, 
and administering to the lust of a luxurious people. 
“From the fall of the Roman empire there exists a chasm in 
the history of gardening which cannot be filled up. The world, 
sunk into a state of barbarism, had neither inclination for, nor 
opportunity of enjoying pursuits of this kind, and roses shared 
in the general oblivion. As, however, mankind emerged from 
this state—as wars became less frequent, and men felt the bless¬ 
ings of peace—-they found time to attend to the comforts and 
enjoyments of life. Charlemagne, who flourished in the begin- 
ing of the ninth century, enumerates the rose, among other 
flowers, and shows his fondness for it by desiring it to be grown 
in his garden. 
“The rose was as favorite a flower with the Moors of Spain, and 
they paid considerable attention to its cultivation. They sowed 
the seeds ; and it has been said they had blue roses, which were 
obtained by watering the plants with indigo water. That they 
had such cannot for a moment be supposed, and the means by 
which it has been said they obtained them are still more ques¬ 
tionable ; nevertheless, a French writer (Marquis D’Orbessan, 
Essai sur les Roses ) states that he saw them. I have heard 
persons, unacquainted with floriculture, maintain that they have 
seen pure yellow moss-roses ; a deception probably practised on 
them by a charlatan or some witty friend. Is it impossible that 
tbe same thing might happen with the Marquis D’Orbessan? 
