CHAPTER III. 



OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY. 



Having proved, as I hope, that there is no royal road, no 

 golden key, to an excellent Rose-garden, but that a poor 

 man, on the contrary, who loves the flower, may walk about 

 in March with a Rose in his coat — while Dives, who only 

 likes, may be roseless under all his vitreous domes, — I will 

 proceed now to instruct those who, having this love, desire 

 instruction, in the lessons which a long and happy experi- 

 ence has taught to me. 



And yet, before I commence my lecture, I would fain 

 enlarge the number of disciples : I would multiply the com- 

 petitors by exhibiting the prizes, and would so extol the 

 charms of our Queen of Beauty, that all brave knights, 

 gallantly armed, should leap upon their steeds for the lists. 

 In more homely and modern metaphor, I would exhibit to 

 him whom I propose to make a fisherman, his fish. I 



