CONCERNING ROSE-SHOWS. 205 



for revenge was come. No, not revenge, but for 

 enlightenment and amelioration ; seeing that these 

 blessings must inevitably attend their intercourse 

 Avith any other nation, and that, consequently, an 

 invasion, with a touch of fire and sword, was be- 

 yond a doubt the most delightful thing that could 

 happen to the barbarians over the way. Geant 

 des Batailles (Hybrid Perpetual) waved the stand- 

 ard of Marengo (ditto), and they sallied forth at 

 once. They routed the rhubarb, they carried the 

 asparagus with resistless force, they cut down the 

 raspberries to a cane. They annexed that vege- 

 table kingdom, and they retain it still. 



Yes, everything was made to subserve the 

 Rose. My good old father, whose delight was in 

 agriculture, calmly watched not only the trans- 

 formation of his garden, but the robbery of his 

 farm, merely remarking, with a quaint gravity and 

 kindly satire, that, *' not doubting for a moment 

 the lucrative wisdom of applying the best manure 

 in unlimited quantities to the common hedge- 

 row brier, he ventured, nevertheless, to express 

 his hope that I would leave a little for the 

 wheat." 



Simultaneously with this love of the Rose, 

 there deepened in my heart an indignant convic- 

 tion that the flower of flowers did not receive its 



