84 POETICAL LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
centuries ago, and from these every species of the Moss- 
rose first sprung. Even its very foliage is graceful: and 
the comparison between an opening rose-bud and beau¬ 
ty dawning into womanhood, has become a standard 
and favorite flower in the choice garden of English 
poetry. In ancient days the bride was crowned with 
roses: they were suspended over the heads of the guests 
while they sat at their banquets, and solemnly carried 
by white-robed virgins in their religious processions. 
Some of the most admirable passages which are to be 
found in Oriental poetry, are descriptive of the love of 
the nightingale for the Rose. Anacreon, in his beauti¬ 
ful ode, tells us that the breath of the Rose perfumes 
the bower of Olympus, and that the Graces love to 
twine themselves together by a band of these queenly 
flowers, and that it was planted, and reared, and twined 
above the abodes of the Muses ; that he himself loved 
to view it, sleeping upon its glittering stem, in the early 
glance of morning, to wipe away with tender hand the 
dew, which lay like tears upon its blushes, and to hold 
the young buds, while they dropped heavy with the 
rounded pearls which adorned them. That there is 
nothing beautiful in nature unless it wears the tinge 
of the rose ; that Aurora paints the morning sky with 
