SELECTION. 131 



my life. Puny personifications and dreadful imbecilities 

 arrogating the name I have met with frequently, but the 

 grand gold goblet, to hold nectar for the gods, is seen but 

 on state occasions — a chalice for the coronation of kings. 

 It is a '' shy bloomer," " wants a warm wall," " good for the 

 conservatory," they tell us who know it best. And yet (so 

 capricious is beauty) I have seen noble specimens of this 

 flower upon the walls of a cottage five miles from my home ' 

 and the gentleman to whom the cottage belonged was 

 never, I believe, more happy than when he came to dine 

 with me, wearing in his coat a huge bud which he had 

 begged from his tenant, and which resembled in size the 

 Qgg of a turkey, or rather, in my eyes, of a roc. 



Alas! this tree perished years ago. Its fate was the 

 common lot of its race — to be cut down by cruel frost. 

 And yet I would advise amateurs to do as I do, persevere 

 in growing it. One year's harvest will be recompense 

 enough for the ploughing and sowing of a decade. If other 

 Roses boast of their fecundity, this may answer, as the 

 queen of beasts to the fox, " My children are few, but they 

 are lionsr Try it on a south wall ; try it on verandah and 

 arcade (I have seen it flowering freely on the latter) ; try 

 it budded on the Celine Hybrid Bourbon, which is also 



