CHAPTER XIII. 



ROSES FOR EXHIBITION. 



As he who can ride exchanges his pony for a cob, and his 

 cob for a hunter, and, having achieved pads and brushes, 

 where hounds are slow, fences are easy, and rivals few, longs 

 for a gallop at racing speed over the pastures and the 

 " Oxers " of High Leicestershire, for a run with Tailby or 

 the Ouorn — as every man with a hobby (I never met a man 

 without one) is desirous to ride abroad, and witch the 

 world with noble horsemanship, — so the Rosarian, enlarg- 

 ing his possessions and improving his skill, has yearnings, 

 which no mother, nor sisters, nor people coming to call, 

 can satisfy, for sympathy, for knowledge, for renown. He 

 is tired of charging at the quintain, which he never fails 

 to hit, in the silent courtyard of his home : he will break 

 a lance for his ladye in the crowded lists. And who loves 

 maiden so fair as his 1 What mean these braggart knights, 



