660 THE FLORIST. 



would be blowed in a floral sense, if he stood that sort of thing any 

 longer. • Mr. Rivers had said that he was " certainly one of the most 

 beautiful large Roses in existence," and now he had put him in the 

 awkward squad. He knew that he was getting old and could not stand 

 moving about to shows, but he was not afraid of comparison with many 

 modern upstarts ; and as for that brute Beranger, who had usurped his 

 place in Class 1, he would fight him any day in the week for a gallon of 

 liquid manure. (Loud cries of " Order.") He would back the four 

 Roses who had just sat down against many who had been promoted to 

 the first division. He did not wish to speak disrespectfully of the fair 

 sex, but he would put it to the meeting whether Miss Alexandrine 

 BachmetefF had a ^reen eye or not? The Duchess of Norfolk must 

 excuse him for saying that he did not think much of her shape. 

 General Jacqueminot wore a gorgeous uniform, but he wanted padding 

 — there was nothing of him. He had lived for two years next door to 

 Gloire de France, and had not seen a good bloom yet. As for La Reine 

 and ]\Iadame Campbell d'Islay, he would only say that in the Midland 

 Counties they were coarse, vulgar Roses. Madame Fremion was 

 pretty, but too slight and slim for his taste. He had seen good blooms 

 of Paul Dupuy, but the generality showed " an eye." As for Prince 

 ChipetouzikofF, in his opinion he was as hollow as a drum. He should 

 move that their mutual friend, the gardener, be requested to light his 

 pipe with " A Descriptive Catalogue of selected Pioses," by Mr. 

 Thomas Rivers. ("No, no," and general disapprobation.) 



Devoniensis then rose in all her beauty, and so delicious a perfume 

 filled the incensed air, that it did seem almost possible to 



" Die of a Rose in aromatic pain." 



She was received and heard with the most profound respect and 

 admiration. She said that as an English Rose, born on English 

 ground — (" Hear, hear," from George the Fourth, H. C.) — she felt 

 bound to notice the aspersions which had been cast upon the great 

 English Rose-grower. And first of all she would ask them one simple 

 question — " Who reinstated the Rose, as the queen of flowers, in this 

 country?" (Loud cries of " Mr. Rivers," and " We love him," from 

 the ladies, during which Madame Laffay and some other elderly Roses 

 were removed in a fainting state.) Let them not forget their debt of 

 gratitude. Nor should they forget how he, their founder and bene- 

 factor, had, with unvarying consistency, rejected from his catalogue 

 those countless impostors who had come of late years fi-om France to 

 deceive the English public. There were not more Hybrid Perpetuals 

 in this year's list than in the last ; five had retired, and five had been 

 promoted to succeed them. Was it not an error in the right direction, 

 if Mr. Rivers had pruned with a somewhat too trenchant blade? She 

 thought, with all deference, that he had done so. She thought that the 

 first four Roses who had spoken (and she would add the name of 

 Mr. Joseph Decaisne, whose silence did him credit), certainly ought to 

 be in the first class. But she would remind them that they were 

 distant many a long mile from Sawbridgeworth, and that in different 

 soils and situations the same Rose presented very different aspects. 



