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IR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.

Could any of your readers tell me the origin of the phrase: "He does it under the rose ?"

J. HALL.

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"Under the rose we speak it."*And at a venture, also, we take it, that the expression" under the rose,' like that which says, "he that is hanged need fear no colours," arose from the wars. It may be asked: What wars engendered the former phrase? To which we reply, the wars betwixt the houses of York and Lancaster. These, it is well known, obtained, for ages, the popular appellation of "The contention betwixt the two roses." In this conflict, the opposite adherents wore as badges, the cognizances of their different parties. They swore by the red or the white rose; and these opposite emblems were displayed as the signs of two taverns; one of which was by the

side, and the other opposite the par liament house, old palace yard, Westminster. Here the retainers and servants of the noblemen attached to the duke of York and Henry VI. used to meet. Here, as disturbances were frequent, measures either of defence or of annoyance were taken, and every transaction was said to be done "UNDER THE ROSE;" by which the most profound secrecy was presumed. From this, we believe, the phrase spread, and became a term of general acceptation: and it is curious to ob serve, that in the time of James I. the authors whom we have quoted in our motto, put it, as a colloquial expres sion, into the mouth of Vandunke, the governour of Bruges: intending, perhaps, to intimate, that it was in use in Flanders, which, we need not hint to our friend Mr. H. was part of the dominions of the dutchess of Burgundy, daughter of Richard, duke of York, and sister to Edward IV. EDITOR.

*Beggars' Bush, comedy, Beaumont and Fletcher, act ii. scene 3.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE, CLASSICAL EXPLANATION OF THE PHRASE "UNDER THE ROSE."

YOUR explanation of the phrase, "under the rose," in your last number, is extremely ingenious and novel. It is indeed so plausible, that I should incline to trust to it, had I not always imagined that phrase to have been derived from an ancient custom, observed at Grecian festivals. The learned Potter thus describes it: "The rose, being dedicated by Cupid to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to engage him to conceal the lewd actions of Venus, was an emblem of silence; whence to present, or hold it up to any person in discourse, served instead of an admonition that it was time for him to hold his peace. And in entertaining rooms, it it was customary to place a rose above the table, to signify that what was there spoken, should be kept private." Potter refers

to the following epigram for his authority:

Est rosa flos Veneris, cujus quo facta late

rent,

Harpocrati, matris dona, dicavit amor: Inde rosam mensis hospes suspendit amicis; Conviva ut sub ea dicta, tacendo sciat.

IMITATED.

The ROSE, the flower of Venus! sweetly veils,

And furtive loves, and secret joys, conceals.

"My mother's gift, thou god of Silence take,

And be the emblem thine!" So Cupid spake.

Hence o'er his TABLE, the wise host suspends

The ROSE, that hints its silence to his friends,

And what beneath the Rose those hours reveal,

The guests in sacred silence may conceal.

Z.

IN your last number, your corres- must have been frequently chosen pondent, Mr. J. Hall, expresses a for such purposes; and that, in time, wish to be informed, what is the the expression, e under the rose,” origin of the phrase, under the rose. might be figuratively applied to every The wild rose tree [Rosa sylvestris] thing, in which secrecy and fidelity it is well known, abounds in solitary were required ? places, and at a distance from the This account may probably not be haunts of man. Now, as such retired deemed satisfactory, by many of your spots are well suited, not only as pla- readers. To such I can only say, in ces of rendezvous for lovers, but for the words of the Roman poet : others engaged in transactions that

Si quid novisti rectius istis, shun the light of day, and where they Candidus imperti ; si non, his utere me. can unbosom themselves in perfect

NEMO, confidence to each other, is it not London, June 19, 1809. natural to suppose, that these places

cum.

POETRY.

LOVE ELEGY TO HENRY.

move;

While tender glances theiremotions speak,

And oft they leave and oft suppress the [By Mrs. Opie.]

sigh; Then thou hast learnt the secret of my 0, turn to me, behold my pallid cheek soul;

Shrinking from thine, behold my down Officious Friendship has its trust betrayed;

cast eye! No more I need the bursting sigh control; Nor summon pride my struggling soul to While they by mirtlı, by wit, thine ear aid.

amuse, But think not banished hope returns again, See me, the fond contention still refuse,

And by their eloquence thy plaudits seek; Think not I write thy thankless heart to

Nor in thy presence, Henry, dare to speak. The faded form, that tells my tender pain, When asked to breathe the soul enchant May win thy pity, but it can't thy love.

ing song, Nor can I move thee by soft winning art,

See them o'erjoyed exert their utmost art; By manners taught to charm, or practised

While vainly I would join the choral

throng, glance; Artless as thine, my too, too feeling heart Lost are those tones which once could

touch the heart. Disdains the tutored eye, the fond ad

But, Henry, wert thou in love's language The cold coquette, to win her destined wise, prey,

Vainly would others more than Emma May feign a passion, which she ne'er çan

Beyond their sweetest strains thy heart But I, true passion's soft commands obey, would prize And fain my tender feeling's would con- One faint, one broken, tender tone of mine.

O proofs of passion, eloquent as vain! In others' eyes, when fixed on thine, I see By thee unheeded, or perhaps unknown. That fondness painted, which alone I know; But learn, the pangs that prompt this Think not, my Henry, they can love like pensive strain, me,

Ere long, disdainful youth, may be thine More love I hide than they can e'er bestow.

vance.

shine ;

feel;

ceal.

OWN.

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THE DESERTED PARSONAGE.
[By J. Lynch, esq.]

MARK* where yon steeple rears its simple spire,

Where all the village train, with awe rctire,

To lift their grateful orisons on high, To him, whose awful mandate rules the sky.

I love to see the long procession glide Across the mead, or up the green hill's side,

To that plain edifice, whose folding door
Expands admissible to rich and poor:
The house of HIM, who no distinction
knows,

But that which Virtue's sacred power bestows,

Behind the church a tottering mansion bends,

Whose mouldering wall a sudden lapse portends;

Rank weeds enclose its entrance; and each stone

Is with excrescent damps and moss o'ergrown :

Its garden wastè, its lawn o'errun with briar;

Its once pellucid fount a bed of mire:
There desolation reigns-no human sound
The long deserted, lonely rooms resound :
No guest, with champing steed and hasty
hoof,

Approaches now the hospitable roof;
That rifted roof, wide opening to the sky,
Totters at every blast that blusters by.

* From poems about to be published. The author has seen house in Yorkshire, which answered this a parsonage description.

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pense.

Each sun, that on his works delighted shone,

Saw him neglect, for others' ease his own: Each liberal sentiment that warmed his breast,

A friend in every human form confest;
No narrow, selfish prejudice confined,
His noble, free, disinterested mind.
To every sect alike his bounty flowed;
His love for all mankind unceasing glowed:
For as the sun its genial warmth imparts,
Alike to barren and to fertile parts,
So would he dedicate to all his care,
And portion of his love to all a share :
Good, without pride; and learned without
conceit;

Skilled to check riot, or suppress debate;
No match declared-no contract was be-

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Drank peace and hope from his enlivening THE SQUEAKING GHOST. tongue;

A tale, imitated from the German, according That tongue whosh harmonizing sounds

to the true and genuine principles of the would flow

horrifick. A magick talisman for every wo.

The wind whistled loud! farmer Dobbin's

wheat stack Alas! one fatal eve, by duty led,

Fell down! The rain beat 'gainst his He sought with godly zeal the feverish bed door! Of fell disease—he sought to cheer the As he sat by the fire, he heard the roof hour

crack ! Of harpy Death's inevitable power; The cat 'gan to mew and to put up her But can my faultering voice our misery back! tell ?

And the candle burnt-just as before ! A victim to his generous pains he fell ; The farmer exclaimed, with a piteous He fell (but rests in every heart inurned). sigh, Wet with the tears of all; beloved and “To get rid of this curs'd noise and mourned!

rout, “Wife, gi’e us some ale.” His dame

straight did cry, Ah! sad reverse-a stripling of the

Hemed and coughed three times three, gown

then made this replyNow holds the vicarage, but lives in “I can't mun !" Why? 'Cause the cask's

town, In scenes of gay voluptuousness he strays, By the side of the fire sat Roger Gee-ho, And spends in revelry both nights and Who had finished his daily vocation, days.

With Cicely, whose eyes were as black as While yonder dome, slow mouldering into

a sloe, dust,

A damsel indeed who had never said No, Admits each pelting shower and vagrant And because she ne'er had an occasion!! gust.”

All these were alarmed by loud piercing

cries, Methinks I hear the swain-his deep- And were thrown in a terrible state, drawn sigh !

Till opening the door, with wide staring I mark the rising sorrow swell his eye;

eyes, And as I bid farewell, and turn the vale, They found to their joy, no less than surReflection ponders on his mournful tale. prise,

'Tuas the old sow fast stuck in a gate!

out?

PHILOSOPHICAL AND ECONOMICAL INTELLIGENCE. M. DEGEN, a watchmaker of Vienna, drowned. The police of Vienna have pur" has invented a machine for raising a per

chased a considerable number of these son into the air. It is formed of two kinds machines, with the view of assisting in of parachutes of taffeta, which may be bringing up drowned persons from the folded up or extended at pleasure, and the bottom of the Danube. person who moves them is placed in the centre. M.Degen has made severalpublick AEROSTATION-On the 22d August, experiments, and risen to a height of fifty- 1808, Messrs. Andreoli and Brioschi, of four feet, flying in various directions with Padua, ascended in a balloon, amid an the celerity of a bird. A subscription has immense concourse of spectators. Soon been opened at Vienna to enable the in- after leaving the ground, the barometer ventor to prosecute his inquiries.

having fallen to fifteen inches, M. Brioschi

began to feel an extraordinary palpitation BARON LUTGENDORF, long known of the heart; his breathing, however, was as a traveller and voyager, has contrived a not affected: the barometer, afterwards, machine by which a person may exist un.

fell to twelve inches, and he was overcome der water, without fear of being drowned with 'a gentle sleep, which ended in a -It is a kind of cuirass, which admits of complete lethargy. The balloon continued the body assuming every possible position, ascending ; and when the barometer stood and which is said to be extremely useful at nine inches M. Andreoli perceived that in saving persons in danger of being the machine was completely inflated, and

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that he could not move his left hand. The mercury continuing to descend, marked eight inches and a half, and a violent detonation was heard from the balloon, which then descended with great rapidity, and M. Brioschi awoke. The aeronauts alighted safely on the hill of Euganea, not far from Petrarch's tomb and the city of Argua, about twelve miles from Padua. The voyage lasted from half past three until half past eight o'clock.

DR. BREWSTER, of Edinburgh, has invented an instrument for determining distances at one station, without measuring a base, without a portable base being attached to the instrument, or without knowing the magnitude of the object, the distance of which is to be ascertained. A long base is actually created by the instrument, without measuring it; and the distance is obtained upon a principle, which, as far as we know, has never been employed in trigonomical instruments.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

COMMUNICATIONS for this head, from authors and booksellers, post paid, will be inserted free of expense. Literary advertisements will be printed upon the covers at the usual price.

RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

In Baltimore, published,

The Practice and Jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty, in three parts. 1. A Historical Examination of the Civil Jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty. 2. A Translation of Clarke's Praxis, with notes on the Jurisdiction and Practice of the District Courts. 3. A Collection of Precedents. Paret natione modoque. By John E. Hall, Esquire. pp. 250, 8vo. By Thomas A. Ronalds, N.York, republished, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, price 1 dollar.

By D. Longworth, New York, published, No. I. of the Rambler's Magazine, and Theatrical Register.

By Robert M'Dermut, N. York, published,

The Yankee in London. A series of Letters, written by an American, during nine months residence in London. Containing Sketches of Society, and manners in that city at the present day; and of the most prominent traits in the English chaBacter. 1 vol. 12mo, price 87 1-2 cents.

Also-Maryland Reports.

Being a series of the most important law cases, argued and determined in the Provincial Court, and court of Appeals, of the then province of Maryland, from the year 1700, down to the American Re volution, selected from the records of the state, and from notes of some of the most eminent counsel, who practised law within that period. By Thomas Harris, jun. esq. clerk of the Court of appeals, and John MHenry, esq. attorney at law.

By William Wells, Boston, published, A Biographical Dictionary.-Containing a brief account of the first Settlers, and

other eminent Characters, among the Magistrates, Ministers, Literary and Worthy Men of New England. By John Elliot, D.D. Corresponding Secretary of the Massachussetts Historical Society.

"These were honoured in their gene. rations, and were the glory of their times." Son of Syrach.

One volume 8vo. price 2 dolls. 50 cts. in boards, and 3 dolls. neatly bound. By Isaiah Thomas, Boston, and Worcester.

Sermons on Various Subjects, Evangelical, Devotional and Practical, adapted to the Promotion of Christian Piety, Family Religion, and Youthful Virtue. By the Rev. Joseph Lathrop, D. D. Pastor of the First Church in Westspringfield.

By Farrand, Mallory & Co. Boston, republished,

The Scripture Doctrine of Atonement Examined-First, in relation to Jewish Sacrifices-and then, to the sacrifice of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ By John Taylor, of Norwich.

To which are added-Candid Remarks upon the Rev. Mr. Taylor's Discourse, entitled, The Scripture Doctrine of Atonement. By George Hampton, M. A.

PROPOSED AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

Mathew Carey, Philadelphia,

Proposes to republish-Wilkinson's general Atlas, Royal Quarto, with additions of the Maps of the several states, and expects to be able to publish it in about twelve months.

Jane Aitken, Philadelphia,

To publish in a few days-An Epitome of Electricity, and Galvanism. By two Gentlemen of Philadelphia.

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