140 
LITERARY NOTICES. 
would give an early date to the civilization of the queen of 
flowers, and doubtless the rose has a claim to our regard as well 
for its antiquity as for its beauty, variety, and fragrance. The 
famous gardens of Babylon, which are supposed to ha\e existed 
two thousand years before the Christian era, would probably 
number it among its treasures; this of course can be but con¬ 
jecture, though the probability is increased when we consider 
that the neighbouring country, Persia, has ever been famous for 
the roses it naturally produces. 
« Cicero, Ovid, and Martial speak of roses; and Pliny, who 
wrote on gardening towards the close of the first century, devotes 
some considerable space to them. He mentions tnose of Carthage, 
and others of Miletus (supposed to be R. gallica). He tells us 
they used to obtain roses before the natural season by watering 
the plants with warm water so soon as the buds are visible. 
Whether such was the plan pursued by the Homan gardeners 
we are at perfect liberty to doubt, although it is certain they 
had, under the reign of Domitian, abundance of roses in wintei. 
Martial, the famous epigrammatic poet, ridicules the Egyptians for 
sending them roses when they had already plenty. Hr. Deslong- 
champs relates, on the authority of Seneca, that the Roman 
gardeners had at this time found out the means of constructing 
hot-houses, which they heated with tubes filled with hot water, 
and thus induced roses and lilies to flower in December. 
“ On the authority of Horace it appears that roses were grown 
in beds ; and Columella mentions a place being reserved expressly 
for the production of late roses. With regard to the culture of 
this flower in those times, M. Boitard says, ‘the cultivation of 
flowers, and particularly of roses, was carried on upon a grand 
scale, both at Psestum and in the environs of Rome. The sale 
of the flowers was ordinarily in the hands of the prettiest girls of 
the place; and the Latin poets have immortalized the names of 
several of these charming flower-girls, and have even deified some 
of them. The divinity of Flora, the goddess of flowers, has no 
other origin.’ If there is any one period in the world’s history, 
when flowers engrossed too much the attention of a nation, it was 
under the reigns of Augustus and subsequent emperors of Rome. 
The love of flowers was then carried to excess ; and the rose 
seemed to bear away the palm from all. It was customary for 
