AT A ROSE-SHOW. 2/3 



parts and periods, but displaying in its members 

 such a strong family resemblance that I must 

 guard myself against a natural suspicion. 



The Irascible Exhibitor loses no time in veri- 

 fying his presence to our eyes and ears. Talk- 

 ing so rapidly that '* a man ought to be all ear to 

 follow," as Schiller said of Madame de Stael, and 

 so loudly that he may be heard in all parts of the 

 show, he is declaiming to a policeman, a car- 

 penter, and two under-gardeners, who are nudg- 

 ing each other in the ribs, against the iniquitous 

 villany of ''three thundering muffs" who recently 

 awarded him a fourth prize for the finest lot of 

 Roses he ever cut. He communicates to the 

 policeman, who evidently regards him as being 

 singularly advanced in liquor, considering the 

 time of day, his firm beHef that the censors in 

 question were brought up from a coal-mine on the 

 morning of the exhibition, and had never seen a 

 Rose before. He does hope that, on the present 

 occasion, somebody will be in office who knows 

 the difference between that flower and a pumpkin. 

 Here he is informed that Mr. Trueman, a most 

 reliable Rosarian, is to be one of the judges. He 

 is delighted to hear it. Mr. Trueman is a prac- 

 tical, honorable man ; and, having arranged his 

 Roses with a running accompaniment of grunts 



