PREFACE. 



The important results wliich liave attended tlie labours of tlie Royal 

 Horticultural Society, the cliaracter and position of its Fellows, and tlie 

 Royal patronage it lias received, have invested it with the dignity almost 

 of a National Institution. A work devoted to its past History and present 

 state cannot therefore bo regarded by the pubhc as trivial or unnecessary, 

 and must possess special interest for the FeUows themselves. The present 

 seems to be the time, too, for the appearance of such a work ; for as in 

 the poet's drama event is crowded upon event as the scene advances, 

 untU, when our interest has reached its cUmax, the curtain falls upon the 

 sacrifice of the hero, so the History of this Society has gone on increasing 

 in interest and importance, reaching its chmax in the Presidency of the 

 Prince Consort, and completing the parallel by the abrupt termination of 

 his brief but brilliant career. The curtain of Fate has fallen on the hero 

 of om" drama, and a broad and well-defined chasm, marked by his loss, 

 separates the past History of the Society from the future. 



To this stage I have brought down the History which is offered to 

 the Fellows and the pubhc in the following pages. Starting with the 



