222 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



maiden so fair as his ? What mean these braggart 

 knights, his neighbors, by praising their Rosas, 

 so pale, so puny, in comparison? Their voices to 

 his ear are harsh, irritating; they are as disagree- 

 able as the Growings of contiguous cocks to the 

 ears of the game bantam ; and he feels it to be 

 his solemn duty to roll those knights in the 

 dust. 



I offer my services as his esquire, and my ad- 

 vice as a veteran how to invert and pulverize his 

 foes. By foes I mean those miserable knights 

 who presume to grow and to show Roses without 

 a careful study of these chapters. Not thinking 

 exactly as we do, they are of course heretical and 

 contumacious. They must be unhorsed. Then, 

 perhaps, lying peacefully on their backs in the 

 sawdust, they may see the error of their ways, 

 and come to a better mind. They may rise up, 

 sorer and wiser men, and, meekly seeking the 

 nearest reformatory, may gradually amend and 

 improve, until at last they become diligent readers 

 of this book, and respectable subjects of the Queen 

 of Flowers. Be it mine, meanwhile, to teach the 

 virtuous amateur how to buy a charger, and how 

 to ride him — what Roses to show, and how to 

 show them ; first reminding him that he must 

 have a good stable, good corn, and good equip- 



