OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY 45 



Will you accompany me, my reader, to one of 

 Queen Rosa's levees ? They differ in some points 

 from Queen Victoria's — as, for example, in these : 

 that the best time to attend them is at sunrise; 

 that you may go to them with dressing-gown and 

 slippers, or with shooting-coat and short pipe ; that 

 the whole court will smile upon you according to 

 your loyalty, not according to your looks or your 

 income ; and that all the beauty which you see will 

 be real — no false foliage, no somebody-else's ringlets, 

 no rouge, no pastes, no powders, no perfumes but 

 their own. 



Enter, then, the Rose-garden when the first sun- 

 shine sparkles in the dew, and enjoy with thankful 

 happiness one of the loveliest scenes of earth. 

 What a diversity, and yet what a harmony, of 

 colour ! There are White Roses, Striped Roses, 

 Blush Roses, Pink Roses, Rose Roses, Carmine 

 Roses, Crimson Roses, Scarlet Roses, Vermilion 

 Roses, Maroon Roses, Purple Roses, Roses almost 

 Black, and Roses of a glowing Gold. What a 

 diversity, and yet what a harmony, of outline ! 

 Dwarf Roses and climbing Roses, Roses closely 

 carpeting the ground, Roses that droop in snowy 

 foam like fountains, and Roses that stretch out 

 their branches upwards as though they would kiss 

 the sun ; Roses * in shape no bigger than an agate- 



