46 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



stone on the fore-finger of an alderman/ and Roses 

 five inches across ; Roses in clusters, and Roses 

 blooming singly; Roses in bud, in their glory, 

 decline, and fall. And yet all these glowing 

 tints not only combine, but educe and enhance 

 each the other's beauty. All these variations of 

 individual form and general outline blend with 

 a mutual grace. And over all this perfect unity 

 what a freshness, fragrance, purity, splendour ! 

 They blush, they gleam amid their glossy 

 leaves, and 



* Never sure, since high in Paradise, 

 By the four rivers, the first Roses blew,' 



hath eye seen fairer sight. Linnaeus wept when 

 he came suddenly upon a wide expanse of golden 

 furze ; and he is no true florist who has never felt 

 the springs of his heart troubled, surging, over- 

 flowing, as he looked on such a scene of beauty as 

 that which I so feebly describe. Such visions 

 seem at first too bright, too dazzling, for our 

 weakly sight : we are awed, and we shrink to feel 

 ourselves in a Divine presence ; the spirit is 

 oppressed by a happiness which it is unworthy, 

 unable to apprehend, and it finds relief in tears. 

 It is such a feeling as one has, hearing for the 

 first time the Hallelujah Chorus sung by a thou- 



