ARRANGEMENT 115 



Were it my privilege to lay out an extensive Rose- 

 garden, I should desire a piece of broken natural 

 ground, surrounded on all sides but the south with 

 sloping banks, ^ green and of mild declivity,' on which 

 evergreen shrubs should screen and beautify by 

 contrast the Roses blooming beneath ; and in the 

 centre I should have, at irregular intervals, Rose-clad 

 mounds high enough to obstruct the view even of 

 Arba, great among the Anakims, which would enable 

 me to surprise, to vary, and to conceal, according to 

 the golden rule which I have before quoted. On the 

 level from which these mounds arose would be the 

 beds and single specimens ; at the corners my bowers 

 and nooks. All the interior space not occupied by 

 Roses should be turf — ^ nothing,' writes Lord Bacon, 

 ' is more pleasant to the eye than green grass kept 

 finely shorn ' — and this always broad enough for the 

 easy operations of the mowing-machine, and for the 

 ample robes (although the Queen of Flowers is 

 graciously pleased to dispense with trains, when 

 ladies attend her receptions) of those bright visitors, 

 the only beings upon earth more beautiful than the 

 Rose itself 



And who can be jealous ? Who can grudge them 

 the universal homage which, even in the queenly 

 presence, they always claim and win? More than 

 once, I must confess, has a remonstrance risen to my 



