208 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



first, because too many captains spoil the field-day, and too 

 many huntsmen lose the fox) assented readily to all I asked 

 from them. I was quite happy, quite certain of success, 

 when I had read these letters ; and I remember that in the 

 exuberance of my joy I attempted foolishly a perilous ex- 

 periment, which quickly ended in bloodshed — I began to 

 whistle in the act of shaving ! 



Shortly afterwards we met in London, as members of her 

 Majesty Queen Rose's Council. The council-chamber 

 (Webb's Hotel, Piccadilly) was hardly so spacious, or so 

 perfectly exempt from noise, as became such an august as- 

 sembly, but our eyes and our ears were with the Rose. We 

 commenced with a proceeding most deeply interesting to 

 every British heart — we unanimously ordered dinner. Then 

 we went to work. We resolved that there should be a 

 Grand National Rose-Show, and that we would raise the 

 necessary funds by subscribing £^ each, as a commence- 

 ment, and by soliciting subscriptions. That the first show 

 should be held in London about the ist day of July 1858. 

 That the prizes, silver cups, should be awarded to three 

 classes of exhibitors — namely, to growers for sale, to 

 amateurs regularly employing a gardener, and to amateurs 

 not regularly, &c. We then discussed minor details, and 



