ROSE. 115 
And then, it embellishes the whole earth ; it is the 
commonest of flowers. The emblem of all ages, the 
interpreter of all our feelings, the Rose mingles with 
our festivities, our joys, and our griefs. Modesty 
borrows its delicate blush; it is given as the prize 
of virtue ; it is the image of youth, innocence, and 
pleasure ; it is consecrated to Venus, the goddess of 
beauty, and, like her, possesses a grace more exquisite 
than beauty itself. 
Anacreon, the poet of love, has celebrated the 
Rose in an ode, thus rendered by our English Ana¬ 
creon : 
While we invoke the wreathed spring, 
Resplendent Rose ! to thee we’ll sing, 
Resplendent Rose ! the flower of flowers. 
Whose breath perfumes Olympus’ bowers ; 
Whose virgin blush, of chasten’d dye. 
Enchants so much our mortal eye. 
Oft has the poet’s magic tongue 
The Rose’s fair luxuriance sung; 
And long the Muses, heavenly maids. 
Have rear’d it in their tuneful shades. 
When, at the early glance of morn, 
It sleeps upon the glittering thorn, 
’Tis sweet to dare the tangled fence. 
To cull the timid flow’ret thence, 
And wipe, with tender hand, away 
The tear that on its blushes lay 1 
