OUR QUEEN OF BEAUTY 49 



as the figure cast in a mould compared with that 

 which has been chiselled by the sculptor. Neither 

 has it the colours nor the scent. So with all other 

 greenhouse favourites ; they are lovely — Azaleas, 

 Begonias, Pelargoniums, Ericas — but not so lovely 

 as the Rose. 



It is the same out of doors as under glass. The 

 gardens of Bagshot, where nightingales sing, and 

 Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Kalmias bloom, are 

 sights to make an old man young ; but they show 

 not to our eyes the brightness, the diversity of the 

 Rose's hues, and for our noses they have com- 

 paratively nothing — though I do not forget the 

 fragrance of some of the more tender Rhododendrons, 

 nor the delicious spicy fragrance of the sweet little 

 Daphne cneorum. 



Glorious, too, are the Dahlias of Slough, of every 

 hue, and in symmetry almost too severely perfect ; 

 and yet, though the Dahlia may be 'Queen of 

 Autumn,' the Rose is the Queen of Flowers. 



The tall, proud, stately, handsome Hollyhocks 



must bow their high heads to the Rose ; and the 



Lilies, the lovely Lihes, from Japan and elsewhere, 



which have come as beautiful strangers into our 



gardens, to beautify them henceforth for ever — 



for most of them are hardy, having due attention — 



and to see them, amid our evergreens, holding up 



P 



