08 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



sudden conviction that the time had come when we ought 

 to retire from the service. That gust, which caused the 

 light to flicker in our grand chandehers and lamps, all but 

 blew out for ever our rushlights and farthing dips. 



It was but a gust and a surprise. " It was a moment's 

 fantasy, and as such it has passed." Those generals, whose 

 eyes blinked for a second as they read of the superior powers 

 of Hereford, have since won glorious victories, each for his 

 shire. Cheshunt and Colchester, Salisbury and Slough, 

 again and again have gained the pride of place ; and not 

 until 1867 did the victor of 1858 resume his championship 

 among the chiefs. Enough, surely, for one man's ambition, 

 twice in a decade to achieve such a conquest ! 



There are no duties upon sunshine, there are no mono- 

 polies in air ; and there are thousands of acres, both sides 

 the Border, as genial for the Rose as the King's by Here- 

 ford — nurseries and gardens in every part of Victoria's 

 realm, from which Mr Cranston, or any other man, with his 

 fondness for the flower and persevering skill in its culture, 

 may grow it in all its glory. 



But idleness and ignorance will not believe it. Dwelling 

 in a land of Roses, in a land where the w^oods and lanes 

 and hedges are clothed at summertide with Roses, they pre- 



