THE LADIES' GARLAND. THE ROSE. -ATTAR, OR, Or OF ROSES. Or all the flowers which adorn the garden, none perhaps exceed the Rose in beauty of form, delicacy of color, or sweetness of perfume; the different species of this flower are exceedingly numerous, amounting to at least sixty, and the varieties are upwards of a thousand. A curious custom existed in France, until as late as the middle of the seventeenth century; the different princes and peers, even those of the blood royal, were to present roses to the Parliament of Paris, in the months of April, May, and June. The nobleman whose turn it was to perform this ceremony, caused roses and other sweet-scented flowers to be strewed over all the apartments of the par The Rose has, in all ages, been a favorite with the poet, and it has also formed a part|| of the decorations at festivals and religious liament house, and presided at a splendid ceremonies. A French writer characteristi- breakfast, at which the president and councally observes, "The most populous nations, sellors, and even the subordinate officers of the mightiest cities, the richest empires, have the court were present. He afterwards went disappeared from the surface of the globe; the through each chamber, causing a large silver most powerful dynasties have been ingulfed in || vessel to be carried before him, containing as the revolutions and the changes of ages; but many nosegays of roses and other flowers, a simple flower has survived all these political either natural or artificial, as there were storms, without suffering a change in its des- guests present. There was an officer attiny. The homage that was rendered to it tached to the parliament, with the title of three thousand years since, the favor in which Rosier de la Cour, from whom the noseit was held, are still the same; no other flower gays which formed these presents were purhas been so much celebrated for so great a chased. length of time. In almost all languages it is employed as the emblem of beauty, and used to express modesty, innocence, and grace." In accordance with these feelings of the an-larly in the case of princes of the blood royal, cients, a supernatural origin was attributed to who, at times, considered they ought, on acit in their heathen mythology, and it was ac- count of their rank, to have been excused cordingly said to have sprung from the earth from presiding. on the spot where the blood of Adonis was shed, after his conflict with the wild boar. This ceremony appears to have been rather an expensive affair, and disputes frequently arose as to its performance, particu Roses have also been employed at funerals, to cover the coffins of young persons and In ancient Rome, during public rejoicings,|| children, and the friends of the deceased have, the streets were strewed with roses; and at at certain times of the year, decorated the Baiæ, when festivals were given on the wa- tombs of their relatives with garlands of the ter, the whole of the neighboring lake ap- same flower. At the coronation of the kings peared covered with this lovely flower. It of England, a certain number of young ladies was the practice also to encompass the head,|| precede the procession, scattering flowers as and even the neck, with garlands, composed they go. The rose is also employed as a almost entirely of roses. crest, or as a principal bearing in a coat of 9 VOL. VI.-No. 1.-JULY, 1842. |