CONCERNING ROSE-SHOWS. 21 5 



choicest Roses of the world, the cisterns of my 

 heart o'erflowed: 



"The pretty and sweet manner of it forced 

 The waters from me, which I would have stopped. 

 But I had not so much of man in me, 

 And all my mother came into mine eyes, 

 And gave me up to tears." 



" Half the nurseries of England," as Dr. Lindley 

 wrote, *' poured their treasures into St. James's 

 Hall." There were twenty boxes from Sawbridge- 

 worth alone. There were glorious collections, 

 large and lovely, from Cheshunt and Colchester, 

 Hertfordshire and Hereford, Exeter and Slough. 

 But I had brief time, as secretary and supervisor, 

 that day for " idle tears," or other private emo- 

 tions. Had I been editor of Notes and Queries, 

 the Field, and the Queen conjointly, I could not 

 have had more questions put to me. Had I pos- 

 sessed the hundred hands of Briareus, not one 

 would have been unemployed. Then the censors 

 reported their verdicts ; the prize-cards were 

 placed by the prize- Roses ; and then came 



The momentous question : Would the public 

 endorse our experiment ? Would the public ap- 

 preciate our Show ? There was a deficiency of 

 ;^iOO in our funds, for the expenses of the exhi- 



