And sundry-colored ribbons
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 churchyard is now full of them."
When the deceased had been unhappy in their loves, emblems of a
more gloomy character were used, such as the yew and cypress, and
if flowers were strewn, they were of the most melancholy colors.
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