62 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



* 



king, he had assumed Thibaut's rose with his title and other posses- 

 sions, and from him it descended to the house of Lancaster, of which 

 he was head. 



At the baptism of the poet Eonsard in 1524, a large vessel of rose- 

 water was prepared for the purpose, as was sometimes done in those 

 days. On the way to the church, by some accident, the nurse let the 

 baby fall, and as the good angels would have it, he fell upon a heap of 

 roses. At the same moment, by another accident, the attendant who 

 was carrying the basin of rose-water spilled it upon him. This, his 

 biographer seems to think, accounted for his later success as a poet. 

 The Academy of Floral Games, at Toulouse, gave as a prize each 

 year a golden eglantine for the best poem composed upon a given 

 subject. The first prize was received by this same poet, Ronsard. 

 Instead of a rose they gave him, as being more worthy of his merits, a 

 silver image of Minerva. Mary, Queen of Scots, however, made up 

 the deficiency, if there was any, for we find her sending the poet a rose 

 of silver valued at 500 pounds. 



When Henry of Kavarre, then Prince of Beam, was a boy of 14, 

 his cousin, Charles the Ninth, came to pay him a visit at Neva. The 

 days were spent in sports which both cousins loved, and festivals of 

 various kinds. Charles was devoted to archery and considered him- 

 self facile princeps in the art. A contest of skill was arranged, and 

 the two young princes with their retainers met at the appointed time. 

 An orange, which had been selected as the target, was set up. On the 

 first trial Henry was successful and carried off the orange. According 

 to the rules of the sport, the victor in the first trial was entitled to the 

 first shot on the second. He stepped forward, bow in hand, to take 

 his shot, when he heard himself sharply ordered back by the angry and 

 mortified king. The boy obeyed, but turned his aim upon his monarch's 

 heart. The redoubtable Charles hastily sheltered himself behind his 

 largest courtier, calling out to his followers to "takeaway that danger- 

 ous little cousin." 



The following day, peace having been restored, Charles found an 

 excuse for absenting himself from the shooting match. The Duke of 

 Guise, who was present and seemed to fear his youthful antagonist, as 

 much as his royal master did, tried to avoid the contest by breaking 

 open and throwing away the orange which was to serve as target ; no 

 other being found, the contest of skill promised to end there. The 

 young prince, nothing daunted, determined not to be entirely cheated 

 of his sport, plucked a rose from the dress of a pretty young villager 

 standing by, and fastened it up, calling upon his unwilling rival to 

 shoot. The Duke of Guise, deprived of his last resource in the way 



