CHAPTER III 



OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY 



Having proved, as I hope, that there is no royal 

 road, no golden key, to an excellent Rose-garden, 

 but that a poor man, on the contrary, who lov&s 

 the flower, may walk about in March with a Rose 

 in his coat — while Dives, who only likes, may be 

 Roseless under all his vitreous domes, — I will pro- 

 ceed now to instruct those who, having this love, 

 desire instruction, in the lessons which a long and 

 happy experience has taught to me. 



And yet, before I commence my lecture, I would 

 fain enlarge the number of disciples : I would 

 multiply the competitors by exhibiting the prizes, 

 and would so extol the charms of our Queen of 

 Beauty, that all brave knights, gallantly armed, 

 should leap upon their steeds for the lists. In 

 more homely and modern metaphor, I would exhibit 

 to him whom I propose to make a fisherman, his 

 fish. I would take him, as it were, to the broad 

 rivers, from which silvery salmon leap, or peep 



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