Rose
.The red rose, says Sir John Mandeville, sprang from the extinguished brands heaped around a virgin martyr at Bethlehem, named Zillah. (See Rose.)
The Red Rose (as a public-house sign). Camden says the red rose was the accepted badge of Edmund Plantagenet, who was the second son of Henry III., and of the first Duke of Lancaster, surnamed Crouchbacke. It was also the cognisance of John of Gaunt, second Duke of Lancaster, in virtue of his wife, who was godchild of Edmund Crouchbacke, and his sole heir. (See above.)
The white rose, says Sir John Mandeville, sprang from the unkindled brands heaped around the virgin martyr at Bethlehem. (See Rose.)
The White Rose (as a public-house sign) was not first adopted by the Yorkists during the contest for the crown, as Shakespeare says. It was an hereditary cognisance of the House of York, and had been borne by them ever since the title was first created. It was adopted by the Jacobins as an emblem of the Pretender, because his adherents were obliged to abet him sub rosa (in secret).
No rose without a thorn. “There is a crook in every lot” (Boston); “No joy without alloy;” “There is a poisondrop in man’s purest cup;” “Every path hath its puddle” (Scotch).
French: “Il nʹy a point de roses sans épines,” or “Point de rose sans épine;” “Il nʹest si gentil mois dʹAvril qui nʹait son chapeau de grésil.”
Italian: “Non vʹè rosa senza spina;” “Ogni medaglia ha il suo reverso.”
Latin: “Nihil est ab omni parte beatum” (Horace: 2 Odes, x. 27); “Curtæ nescio quid semper abest rei.”
Under the rose (sub rosa). In strict confidence. Cupid gave Harpocʹrates (the god of silence) a rose, to bribe him not to betray the amours of Venus. Hence the flower became the emblem of silence. It was for this reason sculptured on the ceilings of banquet-rooms, to remind the guests that what was spoken sub vino was not to be uttered sub divo. In 1526 it was placed over confessionals. The banquet-room ceiling at Haddon Hall is decorated with roses. (French, parler sous la rose.)
