_Under the Rose._--It may interest the inquirers into the origin of this
expression to know, that at Lullingston Castle in Kent, the residence of
Sir Percival Dyke, there is in the hall an old picture, or painted carving
(I forget which, as it is many years since I saw it), of a rose, some two
feet in diameter, surrounded by an inscription, which, if I remember right,
runs as follows, or nearly so:--
"Kentish true blue;
Take this as a token,
That what is said here
Under the rose is spoken."
It is now, or was when I saw it, in the hall of that {301} ancient mansion,
but I believe had been brought from an old house in the neighbourhood.