THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
43 
WHITE ROSE (Rosa alba). Silence. 
It was fabled that all roses were originally white; 
but the authorities differ widely as to how it became 
red. The legend most generally received is, that it 
was colored by the blood of Adonis. The ancients 
represented the god of Silence under the form of a 
young man, putting one finger on his lips, and hold¬ 
ing in the other hand a white rose. A rose was 
carved on the door of banqueting halls, to signify to 
the guests that nothing said there should be repeated. 
Sometimes the rose was painted on, or suspended from, 
the ceiling. Hence the expression “ sub rosa, ” for 
secrecy. Happy age, when a rose was enough to seal 
the lips of the tale-bearer ! 
The white rose is connected with more melancholy 
scenes and thoughts than the brilliant red rose. In 
the “ Lay of the Last Minstrel,” when the sad, anxious 
Margaret came on her palfrey, — 
“ White was her wimple and her veil, 
And her loose locks a chaplet pale 
Of whitest roses bound.” 
And at the tomb of Byron’s Zuleika, — 
“ A single rose is shedding 
Its lonely lustre, meek and pale; 
It looks as planted by despair, — 
So white, so faint, —the slightest gale 
Might whirl the leaves on high.” 
« Bring flowers, pale flowers, o’er the bier to shed, 
A crown for the brow of the early dead 
For this through its leaves hath the white rose burst.” 
“ By the garland on the bier, 
Weep ! a maiden claims thy tear — 
Broken is the rose.” 
Mrs. Hemans. 
