192 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



there Is In its revolving light ; and we are as surprised and 

 disappointed as was Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe when he 

 met Mrs SIddons at Abbotsford, and " she ate boiled beef, 

 and swilled porter, and took snufT, and laughed till she 

 made the whole room shake again." I do not mean that 

 these Perpetual Damasks are too robust and ruddy, but 

 that they charm us no more as when Mr Lee of Hammer- 

 smith introduced Rose du Roi to a delighted public, and 

 the Comte, who presided over the gardens in which the 

 Rose was raised at St Cloud, resigned his office In disgust 

 because the flower was not named after himself, Lelicur — 

 a most ungracious act, seeing that it was by the King's 

 (Louis XVII I.) desire that the Rose had Its royal title, and 

 that the honour of originating the variety was due (no un- 

 common case) to Suchet, the foreman, and not to Lelieur, 

 the cJief. Mogador, which was subsequently raised from 

 Rose du Roi, was a decided Improvement, and Is still very 

 effective in a bed, from its vivid crimson tints ; but very few 

 of those amateurs who may pay me the compliment of 

 furnishing their Rosaries with the varieties which I com- 

 mend the most, will, I think, have room, when I have com- 

 pleted my catalogue, for the Damask Perpetual Rose. 



It can vie no more with that section, the most perfect 



