Friendly Flowers 



who will be disappointed in the presence of Mrs. 

 W. J. Grant, though his mouth will water at the 

 prospect of being introduced to Baroness Roth- 

 schild. 



A rose catalogue is great fun, much more enter- 

 taining than any novel ; it is a liberal education, for 

 it leads you into every class of society, and stirs 

 every sentiment from patriotism to greed of gold. 

 Occasionally, too, one learns something startling 

 about one's friends; for instance, I read that 

 Mr. Maurice Hewlett is " large and bright with a 

 white ring around the centre," and that Lord 

 Rothschild has " a white eye, covered with yellow 

 hairs, and is very beautiful and quaint." 



And, for romance, consider the ancestry of the 

 Damask rose. No family in England is older. . . . 

 " It is a native of Syria (like several old-established 

 English families), whence it was brought to Europe 

 about 1270 by Thibault IV., Count of Brie, return- 

 ing from a Crusade in the Holy Land " ; and what 

 Byronesque visions are conjured up by the know- 

 ledge that the scarlet Martagon lily is a native of 

 Greece and the Ionian Isles ! . . . The flowers 

 in the humblest garden come from all quarters of 

 the world, and they bring romance and tales of 

 derring-do in their train. 



Hollyhocks, natives of Southern Europe and the 

 207 



