r 
99 
that Ferdinand bestows on Miranda, altering a word to 
suit the occasion: — 
“ But you, oh you, 
So perfect and so peerless, are created 
Of every blossom’s best.” 
I know not whether the white rose may lay claim to an 
equal share of classical and poetical association with its 
blushing sister; its supposed origin, however, is at least 
as fanciful, as it was said by the ancients to spring from 
the tears of Venus on the death of Adonis. It also 
shares another unenvied distinction; that of being the 
chosen badge of the Yorkists, as the red rose was of the 
Lancastrians, in the civil wars between the two houses. 
This circumstance was made the subject of prediction 
by Gray’s bard: — 
“ Above, below, the rose of snow 
Twined with her blushing foe, we spread. 
In “ Henry the Sixth,” Shakspeare gives us a long and 
somewhat tedious account of the choosing of the floral 
devices by the opposing parties. We could have wished 
’ ^ ore some more appropriate badge had been selected, as it 
hp ra ® is an effort, and a painful one, to associate the idea of 
h 2 
