202 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



of admiration, our finite appreciation of the beautiful. The 

 Roses of to-morrow can do no more. The Rosarian may 

 " raise " hereafter flowers large enough to cradle cupid — 



" Within the petals of a Rose, 

 A sleeping love 1 spied ; " 



but he cannot have a higher delight surveying them than 

 Rivers enjoyed over his George IV., one fine June morning, 

 more than thirty years ago.* 



Mr Wood of Maresfield, who had learned the art of Rose- 

 growing in sunny France, was the next valiant knight who 

 made his bow to the Queen of Beauty, and won high honour 

 in her lists. Then followed Mr Adam Paul of Cheshunt, 

 and then Mr Lane of Berkhampstead. These were the 

 heroes of my youth, and when I joined the service, a raw 

 recruit, in 1846, the four last named — Rivers, Wood, Paul, 

 Lane — were its most distinguished chiefs. But our warfare 

 in those days was mere skirmishing. We were only a con- 

 tingent of Flora's army — the Rose was but an item of the 

 general flower-show. We were never called to the front ; 

 we were placed in no van, save that which took us to the 



* See his AiJiateiir's Guide, ninth edition, p. 32. I may here express my 

 gratitude to Mr Rivers for a copy of his first catalogue, and for the dates and 

 facts, which I have repeated, concerning the old Rosarians. 



