THE POETRY OF FLOWERS. 39 [ 
stem, or so long as the welcome sun looked forth 
upon the ever-blooming garden of nature. 
One instance more, and we have done. The 
" lady rose," as poets have designated this queen 
of beauty, claims the latest, though not the least 
consideration in speaking of the poetry of flowers. 
In the poetic world, the first honors have been 
awarded to the rose ; for what reason it is not easy 
to define, unless from its exquisite combination 
of perfume, form, and color, which have entitled 
this sovereign of flowers in one country to be 
mated with the nightingale in another, to be 
chosen with the distinction of red and white, as 
the badge of two honorable and royal houses. It 
would be difficult to trace the supremacy of the 
rose to its origin ; but mankind have so generally 
agreed in paying homage to her charms, that our 
associations in the present day are chiefly with the 
poetic strains in which they are celebrated. The 
beauty of the rose is exhibited under so many dif- 
ferent forms, that it would be impossible to say 
which had the greatest claim upon the regard of 
the poet ; but certainly those kinds which have 
been recently introduced, or those which are reared 
by unnatural means, with care and difficulty, are 
to us the least poetical, because our associations 
with them are comparatively few, and those few 
relate chiefly to garden culture. 
There is one circumstance connected with the 
rose, which renders it a more true and striking 
