But the overture to my “opera” is extending beyond due limits; and as I have hitherto been repeating snatches from the airs of others, I will here add, to save my honour, one of my own. It is well known that Henrietta Maria mostly favoured the colour known as the Maiden’s Blush,—from the rose of that pretty name. The following lines will show
HOW THE ROSE GOT ITS HUE.
One starry eve, as Psyche lay
Beneath a cistus bower’s shade,
Tearing the flowers in idle play,
Young Love came tripping by, that way,
And to the girl thus, laughing, said,—
The sweetest rose that ever eye
Yet smiled upon I plucked but now;
Pure as the stars in yon blue sky