OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY 35 



with him stealthily through brookside bushes at 

 the dark, still, 3-lb. trout. Then, when his eyes 

 ghsten and his fingers itch for a rod, I would teach 

 him how to throw and spin ; and would say to 

 him, as old Izaak said, ' I am like to have a towardly 

 scholar of you. I now see that with advice and 

 practice you will make an angler in a short time. 

 Have but a love ofity and Vll warrant you.' 



I will essay, therefore, while I enumerate and 

 extol the special charms of the Rose, to convince 

 all florists why, before I proceed to demonstrate 

 how, they should admire and honour pre-eminently 

 the Queen of Flowers. 



First of all, because she is Queen. There is no 

 Fenian, no Nihilist, in her realm, but her monarchy 

 is the most absolute, and her throne the most ancient 

 and the most secure of all, because founded in her 

 people's heart. Her supremacy has been acknow- 

 ledged, like Truth itself, semper, ubique, ab omnibus — • 

 always, everywhere, by all. 



I. Semper. — When, in sacred history, a chief 

 prophet of the Older Covenant foretold the grace 

 and glory which were to be revealed by the New 

 — when Isaiah would select, and was inspired to 

 select, the most beautiful image by which to tell 

 mankind of their exodus from the Law to the 

 Gospel, slavery to freedom, fear to love — these were 



