_Under the Rose_ (Vol. i., p. 214.).--Near Zandpoort, a village in the
vicinity of Haarlem, Prince William of Orange, the third of his name, had a
favourite hunting-seat, called after him the Princenbosch, now more
generally known under the designation of the Kruidberg. In the
neighbourhood of these grounds there was a little summer-house, making
part, if I recollect rightly, of an Amsterdam burgomaster's country place,
who resided there at the times I speak of. In this pavilion, it is said,
_and beneath a stucco rose_, being one of the ornaments of the ceiling,
William III. communicated the scheme of his intended invasion in England to
the two burgomasters of Amsterdam there present. You know the result.
Can the expression of "being under the rose" date from this occasion, or
was it merely owing to coincidence that such an ornament protected, as it
were, the mysterious conversation to which England owes her liberty, and
Protestant Christendom the maintenance of its rights?