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  • The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  • Sept. 1, 1855
  • Page 9
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Sept. 1, 1855: Page 9

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Page 9

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Untitled Article

Oxford freshman , by Cuthbert Bede , has been published lately , entitled the " Life and Adventures of Mr . Verdant G-reen . " Shakespeare has , in Hamlet ( act iv . sc . 5 ) , the following line : — " And we have done but greenly to inter him . ' *

Colonel John Lillburne , brought up as a tradesman , who is said to have been " a smatterer in politics , " or , according to Butler , " an haberdasher in politics and state affairs , " seems to have been no small talker . 44 But still his tongue ran on , the less Of weight it bore , with greater ease ; And , with its everlasting clack , Set all men ' s ears upon the rack . "

In or are some men the only persons who clack , for thus wrote the clever and satirical Dean Swift , so frail in his attachments and fond of invectives , when commenting "On his own State . " u At thundering now no more I start Than at the rumbling of a cart ; Nay ' , what ' s incredible , alack I I hardly hear a woman ' s clack . "

" Of mum and silence , and the rose . " The word " mum " denotes perhaps more seeresy than silence , often both , as when it is united with the word budget . In a Latin dictionary , now before us , by ~ W . ~ R ., A . M ., Londini , Anno Dom . mdc . lxxyiii ., the title-page of which is missing , occurs the following explanation of the saying , " sub rosa , " or " under the rose : "—

" Eatio proverbii est , quod rosa sacra fit Yeneri , cujus ut amores , furtim laterunt , Amor filius Veneris rosam dicavit Harpocrati , Deo Silentii , ne in lueem venirent : hinc igitur deducta consuetudo , ut rosa suspendatur , aut pingatur supra mensas , ut continue moneamur , quse inter amicos dicuntur aut fiunt , tacita esse debere . "

These lines may be thus translated : " The reason of the saying is , that the rose was sacred to Yenus , whose amours , in order that they might lie concealed , Cupid , the son of Venus , dedicated it to Harpocrates , the god of Silence , lest they should be brought to light . Hence , therefore , the custom originated , that a rose should be suspended or painted above tables , that we should be continually warned , things which are said or performed amongst friends ought to be concealed . "

It will be remembered that , in describing briefly " King Arthur ' s round table , " at Winchester , we said that there was in the centre a double rose , so that words spoken around the rose , as well as beneath it , were intended to be preserved secret . Common tables were seldom adorned with the rose , but those in baronial halls , where lord or knight " Feasted his vassals tall , " were decorated with this emblem , as a sign that convivial speeches vol . i . 4 a

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1855-09-01, Page 9” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 18 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_01091855/page/9/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
MASONIC CURIOSITIES. Article 16
The Freemason's Oath. Article 19
A Freemason's Health. Article 19
NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 42
NORTHUMBERLAND. Article 54
NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH. Article 5
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 44
ROSE CROIX. Article 47
THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE. Article 47
METROPOLITAN. Article 48
IRELAND Article 60
COLONIAL Article 60
INDIA Article 61
TRAVELS BY A FREEMASON. Article 11
THE GRAND MYSTERY OF FREEMASONS DISCOVER'D. Article 17
Signs to Know a True Mason. Article 19
"SO MUCH FOR BUCKINGHAM." Article 20
OUR SONS AND THEIR INSTRUCTORS. Article 27
MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBOUR. Article 1
LIFE AND ITS MACHINERY. Article 33
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 39
MASONIC SONGS.-No. 3. Article 43
UNITED GRAND LODGE. Article 44
PROVINCIAL Article 48
PROVINCIAL LODGES AND CHAPTERS Article 62
Obituary. Article 64
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 64
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Untitled Article

Oxford freshman , by Cuthbert Bede , has been published lately , entitled the " Life and Adventures of Mr . Verdant G-reen . " Shakespeare has , in Hamlet ( act iv . sc . 5 ) , the following line : — " And we have done but greenly to inter him . ' *

Colonel John Lillburne , brought up as a tradesman , who is said to have been " a smatterer in politics , " or , according to Butler , " an haberdasher in politics and state affairs , " seems to have been no small talker . 44 But still his tongue ran on , the less Of weight it bore , with greater ease ; And , with its everlasting clack , Set all men ' s ears upon the rack . "

In or are some men the only persons who clack , for thus wrote the clever and satirical Dean Swift , so frail in his attachments and fond of invectives , when commenting "On his own State . " u At thundering now no more I start Than at the rumbling of a cart ; Nay ' , what ' s incredible , alack I I hardly hear a woman ' s clack . "

" Of mum and silence , and the rose . " The word " mum " denotes perhaps more seeresy than silence , often both , as when it is united with the word budget . In a Latin dictionary , now before us , by ~ W . ~ R ., A . M ., Londini , Anno Dom . mdc . lxxyiii ., the title-page of which is missing , occurs the following explanation of the saying , " sub rosa , " or " under the rose : "—

" Eatio proverbii est , quod rosa sacra fit Yeneri , cujus ut amores , furtim laterunt , Amor filius Veneris rosam dicavit Harpocrati , Deo Silentii , ne in lueem venirent : hinc igitur deducta consuetudo , ut rosa suspendatur , aut pingatur supra mensas , ut continue moneamur , quse inter amicos dicuntur aut fiunt , tacita esse debere . "

These lines may be thus translated : " The reason of the saying is , that the rose was sacred to Yenus , whose amours , in order that they might lie concealed , Cupid , the son of Venus , dedicated it to Harpocrates , the god of Silence , lest they should be brought to light . Hence , therefore , the custom originated , that a rose should be suspended or painted above tables , that we should be continually warned , things which are said or performed amongst friends ought to be concealed . "

It will be remembered that , in describing briefly " King Arthur ' s round table , " at Winchester , we said that there was in the centre a double rose , so that words spoken around the rose , as well as beneath it , were intended to be preserved secret . Common tables were seldom adorned with the rose , but those in baronial halls , where lord or knight " Feasted his vassals tall , " were decorated with this emblem , as a sign that convivial speeches vol . i . 4 a

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