OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY. 47 



that which T so feebly describe. Such visions seem 

 at first too bright, too dazzhng, for our weakly 

 sight; we are awed, and we shrink to feel ourselves 

 in a Divine presence ; the spirit is oppressed by 

 a happiness which it is unworthy, unable to ap- 

 prehend, and it finds relief in tears. It is such 

 a feeUng as one has, hearing for the first time the 

 Hallelujah Chorus sung by a thousand voices, or 

 seeing from ''clear placid Leman" the sunlight on 

 Mont Blanc. " It is too wonderful and excellent 

 for me," we say; *' it is more like heaven than 

 earth." Or, with Milton, we ask in reverent 

 wonder : — 



'* What if earth 

 Be but the shadow of heaven, and things herein 

 Each to each other like, more than on earth is thought?" 



and our prayers go up, as the incense from the 

 Rose, for purer eyes and hearts. 



We have nothing in the whole range of flori- 

 culture so completely charming as a Rosary in 

 "the time of Roses." A grower of most flowers, 

 and a lover of all, I know of none which can com- 

 pete with the Rose for color, form, and fragrance, 

 jointly, whether en masse or in single blooms. 

 " Orchids," do I hear ? Well, I have stood before 

 Lselia purpurata in an ecstasy of admiration, un- 



