The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1894-08-16
A LEGEND OF OLD ENGLAND.
WHY THE ROSE IS THAT COUN-
TRY's NATIONAL FLOWER.
First Earl of Lancaster Imported
IL from France.

That the rose is the National flower
Of England, and was accepted as such at
when the red rose of Lancaster and the
white rose of York were united by the
marriage of the representatives OF tne
two warning houses. most OF the readers
of history Know. says the Youths Com
panion. How this flower came to be the
badge OF either house, not many peo-
pie even guess. 49,.
The few students who suppose they
know it's history, say that the white
rose came to the house Of York through
the. family OF clifford, whose device II
had long been scss and Ssyon red ~ nose
is supposed dates back to Eleanor OF
Provence, queen. OF Henry Ill, and
was her personal device assumed Tor
her native duchy. and transmitted to
her descendants Of Lancaster.
But In the recently published ire or
Dean Stanley, devoted student OF his
origin is assigned to the National flower.
He gathered the story while visiting In
a chateau in the little town OF Provins,
France, and believed II to be correct;
According to II, the red rose of England
was never a Provence rose, but instead
was rose OF Provins.
turtles ago to the Counts of Champag ne,
and in the time OF the fourth crusade
one of the counts. called Thibaut the
Troubadour, became a crusader, and
on his return he brought to his wife
4 SeTepfsn rose e" OF sRsron1and this
was planted in the castle garden, where
Soon 1t spread to neighboring gar
lens. and the town became famous for
roses. .Wreaths for the great church
festivals were made from these roses
grace all gala occasions, and the good
French housewives even turned them
to more practical account. They made
such an appetizing .delicacy from rose
that It's fame spread far beyond the
immediate neighborhood. and 1T com
manded a ready sale throughout the
serves de Roses de Provins.
A generation later the prosperity of
the town received a sad shock and the
preserving industry no doubt suffered
with the other Industries Of its citizens.
Provins had Mayor of such oppres-
sive Views on the labor question that he
ventured to ring the great curfew bell,
which ended the working day an hour
later than had been customary.
This the work people would not en-
dure. They mobbed the unpopular mag
istrate and killed him in his own house.
They did not stop to consider the pos
line of the counts of Champagne had
become extinct, but Blanche, the widow
OF the last one, had married Edmund
NTOuCnDdCh, llTst Earl Oh IdnCdbteT, VINO
promptly undertook to punish the un-
ruly Inhabitants.
He made such havoc that the town
never recovered from it, and had even
to submit to having a new bell made
and named Guillonette. In honor Of the
murdered Mayor. Guillaume. This
bell, after six centuries. still rings the
curfew in Provins every night. When
Edmund went back to England, leaving
misery, poverty and terrined quiet be-
hind him. he carried home, says Dean
Stanley. two relics.
"One was the yard measure, which,
for many years, was in France peculiar
in Provins; the other was the crimson
rose of Lancaster"
The heraldic rose OF England is still
OF blended red and white, significant
OF the union Of the two great houses,
but as Lancaster was victorious In bat
tie, so also Is the red rose the victor In
popular favor, and 1t is OF that, not OF
the stiff, parti-colored rosette of the
| British coat-of-arms that We think as
| the emblem and flower of the nation.
The old French crusaders holy rose
| the rose of Sharon, the rose Of Provins
has become the rose Of England.