And sundry-color'd ribands
On it I will bestow;
But chiefly blacke and yellowe
With her to grave shall go.
I'll deck her tomb with flowers,
The rarest ever seen;
And with my tears as showers,
I'll keep them fresh and green.
The white rose, we are told, was planted at the grave of a virgin;
her chaplet was tied with white ribbons, in token of her spotless
innocence; though sometimes black ribbons were intermingled, to
bespeak the grief of the survivors. The red rose was occasionally used
in remembrance of such as had been remarkable for benevolence; but
roses in general were appropriated to the graves of lovers. Evelyn
tells us that the custom was not altogether extinct in his time,
near his dwelling in the county of Surrey, "where the maidens yearly
planted and decked the graves of their defunct sweethearts with
rose-bushes." And Camden likewise remarks, in his Britannia: "Here
is also a certain custom, observed time out of mind, of planting
rose-trees upon the graves, especially by the young men and maids
who have lost their loves; so that this church-yard is now full of
them.
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