52 
BEAUTY. 
Where the true love nightingale 
Wooes the rose in every vale. 
The following anecdote is narrated by Mr. 
Phillips, in his “ Sylva Florifera,” of the birth 
of the rose :—“ Flora having found the corpse 
of a favourite nymph, whose beauty of person 
was only surpassed by the purity of her heart 
and chastity of her mind, resolved to raise a 
plant from the precious remains of this daugh¬ 
ter of the Dryads, for which purpose she beg¬ 
ged the assistance of Venus and the Graces, 
as well as of all the deities that preside over 
gardens, to assist in the transformation of the 
nymph into a flower that was to be by them 
proclaimed queen of all the vegetable beauties. 
The ceremony was attended by the zephyrs, 
who cleared the atmosphere, in order that A- 
pollo might bless the new-created progeny by 
his beams. Bacchus supplied rivers of nectar 
to nourish it; and Vertumnus poured his 
choicest perfumes over the plant. When the 
metamorphosis was complete, Pomona strewed 
her fruit over the young branches, which were 
then crowned by Flora with a diadem that had 
been purposely prepared by the celestials to 
distinguish this queen of flowers.” 
Moore, in his Irish Melodies, gives us a 
poetical reason for the beauty and delicious 
perfume of the rose. Others have stated 
that Love, in a feast of Olympus, in the 
