Note 244:1 — ROSES.
Reading edition
This was a familiar idea with the old writers: "Therefore, sister Bud, grow wise by my folly, and know it is far greater happinesse to lose thy virginity in a good hand than to wither on the stalk whereon thou growest."—Thomas Fuller, Antheologia, p. 32. (See also Chester's "Cantoes," No. 13, p. 137, New Shak. Soc.)