104 THE CARNATION. 



the great favourite of the Cardinal Patriarch a 

 flower worthy, as he says, of being presented to the 

 Queen of Heaven. How many have sought after it 

 in vain, his Eminence having interdicted its going 

 among heretics ! and, what is also equally strange, 

 his gardener having had the virtue to reject the 

 pressing offer of a handful of crusadoes and milreas 

 for it.' 



' Tis very well that something new turns up every 

 season, to keep the votaries of Flora and her fancy 

 alive. Last year, Cartwright's Rainbow, Houghton's 

 Duchess of Newcastle, Queen Caroline, the Smug- 

 gler, and the Foxhunter took the lead ; this year you 

 have other favourites. May I ask, Mr. Blossom, 

 what price you set on Pittman's flower, which, in 

 your opinion, is so complete an ultra, or, as I would 

 express it, quite an out-and-outer a chef-d'oeuvre 

 of Nature?' 



( That of a sovereign, at least : know, Branch, 

 that in my impatience to obtain it, I last year offered 

 two for it.' 



* Aye, aye, money and wit seldom go together. 



