The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-07-21
e.rNDER TuE RNSE,-WuAT IT MEANS

'UNDER HE GbSE. w liAI IL MEANS.
This proverbial expression like most others that
have been long in use cannot be traced with abso-
lutte certainty to its origin, but only be made
the subject OF conjectures more or less probable
Some of these coniectures are as follows:
|. 1t was once customary for the POpCs to conse-
crate roses and use them as presents, inexpensive
to the giver, but of great price in the eyes of the
creduOus receiver. From this originated the prac-
ce of placing roses over the doors of confessionas,
and as the most profound secrecy was there OBJ
served, the rose soon became emblem of secrecy.
>. The expression took its origin from the adop-
tion of red and white roses the respective en-
blems of the houses of ork and Lancaster, during
the bloody wars with which they desolatcd Eng
land. These opposite cmblems the signs Of
the taverns near the Parliament House in West
minister. where were the headquarters of the two
factions; and measures OF annoyance or of de-
fence were adopted in secret concalve at the
other Of these taverns everything secret said
to be done ''under the roses.
3. 1t is certain however. that the rose was the
emblem of secrecy long before conlessionals were
established, or Workers and Lancasterians plotted
against each other Harpocrates, the Roman God
of Silence was represented as young man, with
one finger placed on his lips and in the other
hand 1t was said that Cupid gave him the rose
to bribe him from bctraying the amOurs OF enus.
The ancients therefore sculptured rose over the
doors or on the ceilings of their festive halls, a
hint to the guests that nothing which was said in
moments of conviviailty was to be repeated else
where Some instances OF the same practice are
to be found in modern buildings. 1t was in the
pavilion of an Amsterdam burgomasters country
seat, and beneath stucco rose which Ornamcntcd
the ceiling, that William III communicated to his
host and another burgomaster his intended inya-
sion of England. In the dining room Of the "Bear
Club in Birmingham, England, there was once a
carved rose in the centre of the ceiling under which
it is said that the acobite members of the Club, in
its early days. used to drink as their first toast.
'rhc health of the King (undcr the rose) - mean
ing the Pretendcr. In the hall OF Lungton Castle,
in Kent, was to be seen, few years ago, and per-
haps still is, carving of rose surrounded by an
inscription as follows:
Kentish true blue,
Take this a token,
That what is said here
Under the rose is spoken"
In the absence of satisfactory evidence of any
other origin, it may be regarded tolerably GER
tain that the phrase had the NEUROLOGICAL origin
last mentioned. 1t is the 1chte rose to which allu-
sion is made. The rose which IIarpocrates held in
his hand was white, and it is the white rose that
Byron, in ''The Bride of Abydos,'' renders sacred
to the silence of the tomb. He says that over the
tomb of Zuleika
"a single rose is shedding
Its lovely ustre meek and pale:
1t looks as planted by despair
So white so faint, the slightest gale
Might whir the leaves on high
= Ne1U York Observer.