Of the early history of the rose, or who were its first cultivators, very little is known. Mention is made of it in the ancient Coptic manuscripts, though nothing concerning it can be distinguished, with any degree of certainty, on the Egyptian monuments. It is quite probable that the rose was planted in the celebrated gardens of Babylon, the formation of which is attributed to Semiramis, about 1200 years before the Christian era; and it also appears probable, from the testimony of travellers, that several kinds of roses passed over into Persia.

It is very certain that the rose was cultivated by the Jews during the reign of Solomon, about two centuries after Semiramis. In the Song of Solomon it is said, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys;" and in the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, "Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered."

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It also appears by several passages of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, the author of which lived about 700 years after Solomon, that the Jews possessed beautiful gardens of roses, particularly at Jericho, "I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, and as a rose-plant in Jericho;" xxiv. 14. "Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of the field,” xxxix. 13. "And as the flowers of roses in the spring of the year," i. 8. These passages prove that the most fertile and beautiful portion of Palestine abounded in roses, palms, and cedars. They no longer, however, abound; for while "the cedars wave on Lebanon," and the solitary palm stands in its isolated beauty, the rose has entirely disappeared; and the the rose of Jericho, as it is called, is but a little plant of the family of Cruciferæ. The Greeks cultivated the rose at an early period, during the time of Homer, who lived about 200 years after Solomon. In the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" the brilliant colours of the rose paint the rising of the sun, and Aurora has rose-tipped fingers and fills the air with the fragrance of roses. The rose was also consecrated to Harpocrates, the patron of silence, of which it was considered the symbol. Thus the expression "sub rosa" (under the rose) signified that all that was said should remain secret. It was the custom, in some of the northern countries, to suspend a rose over the table in the diningroom, to remind the guests that silence should be observed respecting all that might be said during the meal.

Anacreon, Bion, Theocritus, Apollodorus, and others, relate various fables respecting the origin and colour of the rose. A beetle is often represented on antique gems, as expiring, surrounded with roses; and this is supposed to be an emblem of luxurious enervation; the beetle being said to have such an antipathy to roses, that the smell of them will cause its death.

From the earliest period, the Greeks gave to the rose the preference over all other plants, and distinguished it as the "Queen of Flowers." In the fragments which remain of Sappho, who lived about 600 years before the Christian era, this flower is placed in the highest rank.

The poets and writers of the East have abundantly celebrated in their works the beauties of the rose. According

to Zoroaster, the stem of this flower was free from thorns until the entrance of Ahrimanus (the Evil one) into the world; the universal spirit of evil, according to their, as well as the Mosaic account, affecting not only man but also the inferior animals, and even the very trees and plants. The same writer states "that every flower is appropriated to a particular angel, and that the hundred-leaved rose (Rosa centifolia) is consecrated to an archangel of the highest order." The oriental writers also represent the nightingale as sighing for the love of the rose. In a curious fragment by the Persian Poet Attar, entitled "Bulbul Nameh," the Book of the Nightingale, all the birds appear before Solomon and charge the nightingale with disturbing their rest, by the broken. and plaintive strains which he warbles forth all the night, in a sort of frenzy and intoxication. The nightingale is summoned, questioned, and acquitted by the wise king; because the bird assures him that his vehement love for the rose drives him to distraction, and causes him to break forth into those passionate and touching complaints which are laid to his charge. The same work also mentions that the Persians assert, that "the nightingale, in spring, flutters around the rose-bushes, uttering incessant complaints, till, overpowered by the strong scent, he drops stupified on the ground." The Persian fire-worshippers believe that Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod, when the flame turned into a bed of roses. According to Hindoo mythology, Pagoda Firi, one of the wives of Vishnu, was found in a rose.

The Turks, matter-of-fact as they are, have also seen something marvellous in the beautiful and vivid tints of the rose. But their imagination, less glowing than that of the Greeks, furnished them with an idea more singular than pleasing. They suppose that the rose owed its origin to the perspiration which fell from Mahomet; for which reason they never tread upon a rose-leaf, nor suffer one to lie upon the ground. They also sculpture a rose on the tomb-stone of a female who dies unmarried.

The early Roman Catholics have made the rose the subject of various miraculous events; one of which is attributed to the canonised Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary. Montalembert relates that Elizabeth loved to carry to the

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poor not only money, but even food and other things which she had provided for them. She went thus loaded, and on foot, by the steep and hidden paths which led from the château to the cottages in the neighbouring valley. One day, when, accompanied by her favourite maid, she was descending by a rough and scarcely visible path, carrying under her cloak some bread, meat, eggs, and other food for distribution, she was suddenly met by her husband, who was on his return from the chase. Astonished to see her thus bending under the weight of her burden, he said to her, "Let me see what you are carrying." At the same time he threw open the cloak, which she held, with terror to her breast, but found, says the legend, nothing save white and red roses, the most beautiful he had ever seen.

The "Biographie Universelle," states that Clemence Isaure, a French lady, who lived in the latter part of the fifteenth century, bequeathed to the Academy of Toulouse a large income, exclusively for the celebration of floral games, and the distribution of five prizes for as many poems. The prizes consisted of an amaranth and rose of gold, and of a violet, marigold, and lily, of silver. The will also required that every three years, on the day of the commencement of the floral games, the members of the Academy should scatter flowers upon her tomb. Ronsard, the French poet, having gained the first prize in the floral games, received, in lieu of the accustomed rose, a silver image of Minerva. Mary, Queen of Scots, was so much delighted with Ronsard's beautiful poetry on the rose, that she sent him a magnificent rose of silver, valued at 500l., with this inscription,-" A Ronsard, l'Appollon de la source des Muses."

The Romans carried the luxurious use of the rose to its height by covering the couches of their guests, and the tables used for banquets with these flowers; while some emperors went so far as to scatter them in the halls of their palaces. They were, at one time, brought from Egypt to Rome, at a season of the year when Italy could not produce them; but afterwards, in order to render these luxuries more easily attainable during the winter, the Roman gardeners found means of producing, in greenhouses warmed by pipes filled with hot water, an artificial temperature which kept roses and lilies constantly in bloom.

Seneca declaimed against these improvements; but without being discouraged by the philosopher, the Romans carried their green-houses to such perfection, that in the reign of Domitian, when the Egyptians thought to pay him a splendid compliment by sending him, in honour of his birth-day, roses at mid-winter, their present excited ridicule, so abundant had winter roses then become.

The gallants of Rome were in the habit of presenting their favourite damsels with the first roses that appeared in spring; and "Mea rosa" was an affectionate expression they often used to their betrothed. We frequently find in old Latin authors an entire abandonment to pleasure and excessive luxury described by such expressions as, living in roses, sleeping on roses, &c. (vivere in rosa, dormire in rosa).

Seneca speaks of Smyndiride, the most wealthy and voluptuous of the Sybarites, who could not sleep if one of the rose-petals, with which his bed was spread, happened to be curled.

Cicero, in his celebrated speech against Verres, reproached him not only with the outrages, robberies, and cruelties which he had committed whilst he was governor of Sicily, but with his effeminacy and licentiousness. "When spring commenced," said the Roman orator, "that season was not announced to him by the return of Zephyr, nor by the appearance of any heavenly sign; it was not till he had seen the roses blown, that spring was visible to his voluptuous eye." In the voyages which he made across the province, he was accustomed, after the example of the kings of Bithynia, to be carried in a litter, borne by eight men, in which he reposed on soft cushions filled with roses of Malta, having in his hand a net of fine linen, full of these flowers, whose fragrance he inhaled.

When Cleopatra went into Cilicia to meet Marc Antony, she gave him a succession of festivals, in which she displayed a truly royal magnificence. On the fourth day, the queen carried her sumptuousness so far as to pay a talent for a quantity of roses, with which she caused the floor of the hall to be covered to the depth of eighteen inches. But the greatest profusion of roses mentioned in

*Cicero against Verres, Bohn's Edit.