Vill PREFACE. 
instances the examination of species has been 
partial, comprehending such only as are found in 
certain districts; the consideration of foreign 
Roses being altogether omitted. I may also 
venture to assert that whenever the study of 
extra European Roses has been combined with 
that of those peculiar to our own quarter of the 
globe, the ideas of their discriminative characters 
have never resulted from an intimate knowledge 
of the genus in a living state. On the contrary, 
incomplete notions have been formed of it from 
dried specimens only, which, in the present in- 
stance, are far from being of their ordinary im- 
portance. To this, in some measure, is to be at- 
tributed a disposition to increase the number of 
species beyond their natural limits, which has 
been no unfruitful source of error and confusion. 
The necessity then of a Monograph of Roses not 
composed under these disadvantages will scarcely 
be disputed. 
A considerable private collection of living 
plants has occupied my attention for several 
years ; and if to this be added the unlimited ac- 
cess to every thing in this country, at all con- 
nected with my design, which I am proud to say, 
has been conceded to me on every side in the 
most gratifying manner, my materials may fairly 
be considered to deserve some attention, if not 
the manner in which they have been employed. 
The plan I have pursued is too obvious to re- 
