212 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



on we might have a library of horticultural, 

 botanical, geological, and chemical books. We 

 might have pictures, after the manner of our dear 

 old "Garrick" in King Street, of some famous 

 chiefs who had conferred real benefits upon the 

 gardening world. How glad we should be, for 

 instance, to see a good likeness of " the Doctor," 

 and of quaint old Donald Beaton, with repliqiias 

 from the pictures, in the Council-room of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and 

 elsewhere, of Rivers, Veitch, Marnock, and many 

 more. 



*' My dear fellow," said to me a young person, 

 whom, after going through his admirable gardens 

 and houses, and hearing his professions of interest, 

 I had mistaken for a florist, and to whom I had 

 incautiously revealed my club aspirations, ** you 

 surely don't suppose I should meet my gardener!" 

 And he wore an expression of horror, as though 

 I had asked him to join a select party of lepers 

 and ticket-of-leavers. " Calm yourself," I made 

 answer; "there is no fear of collision. You would 

 not be elected, I assure you." Fancy a fellow 

 pretending to be fond of art, and wincing at the 

 idea of meeting an artist ! More than this, he who 

 knows and reverences the gardener's art (and I 

 would admit no other to our club) must be a gen- 



