A white Provins Rose was the emblem of the Stuarts upon the accession of the Duke of York to the throne of England as James II. It was said to come into flower on the 10th of June, a day interesting to Jacobites, as being the birthday of the Chevalier St. George.
“Of all the days that’s in the year,
The tenth of June I love most dear,
When sweet White Roses do appear,
For the sake of James the Rover.”
Under the title of Roisin dubh, the “Little Black Rose,” we find Ireland symbolised in a song composed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
“There’s no flower that e’er bloomed can my Rose excel,
There’s no tongue that e’er moved half my love can tell.
Had I strength, had I skill the wide world to subdue,
Oh, the queen of that wide world should be Roisin dubh!”