OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY. 47 



singly ; Roses in bud, In their glory, decline, and fall. And 

 yet all these glowing tints not only combine, but educe and 

 enhance each the other's beauty. All these variations of 

 individual form and general outline blend with a mutual 

 grace. And over all this perfect unity what a freshness, 

 fragrance, purity, splendour ! They blush, they gleam 

 amid their glossy leaves, and 



" Never sure, since high iii Paradise, 

 By the four rivers, the first Roses blew," 



hath eye seen fairer sight. Linnaeus wept when he came 

 suddenly upon a wide expanse of golden furze ; and he 

 is no true florist who has never felt the springs of his heart 

 troubled, surging, overflowing, as he looked on such a scene 

 of beauty as that which I so feebly describe. Such visions 

 seem at first too bright, too dazzling, for our weakly sight ; 

 we are awed, and we shrink to feel ourselves in a Divine 

 presence ; the spirit is oppressed by a happiness which it is 

 unworthy, unable to apprehend, and It finds relief in tears. 

 It is such a feeling as one has, hearing for the first time 

 the Hallelujah Chorus sung by a thousand voices, or see- 

 ing from " clear placid Leman " the sunlight on Mont 

 Blanc. " It is too wonderful and excellent for me," we 



