204 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



gardens, and the pocket-handkerchiefs went back also 

 to the noses of the unhappy Naiades.' 



Returning to realities — at the close of the exhi- 

 bition it was my happy privilege to distribute the 

 thirty-six silver cups which had been specially de- 

 signed for the occasion, and were, as I need hardly 

 say, prettily and profusely engraved with Roses. The 

 winners were — (of nurserymen) Messrs. Paul of Ches- 

 hunt, Mr. Cranston of Hereford, Mr. Cant of Colches- 

 ter, Mr. Francis of Hertford, Mr. Turner of Slough, and 

 Mr. Hollamby of Tunbridge Wells ; and (of amateurs) 

 Mr. Giles Puller of Youngsbury, Captain Maunsell and 

 Rev. G. Maunsell, Thorpe Malsor ; Mr. R. Fellowes 

 and Rev. R. Fellowes, Shottesham ; Mr. Worthington, 

 Cavendish Priory ; Rev. H. Helyar, Yeovil ; Mr. 

 Mallett, Nottingham ; Mr. Sladden, Ash ; Mr. Fryer, 

 Chatteris ; Mr. Walker, Oxford ; Mr. Hewitt, and Mr. 

 Blake of Ware. Two cups were awarded to my own 

 Roses, the process of presentation being * gratifying, 

 but embarrassing,' as Mrs. Nickleby remarked when 

 her eccentric lover would carve her name on his pew, 

 and suggesting to a suspicious mind the trustee de- 

 scribed by Mr. Wilkie Collins, in whose accounts 

 occurred the frequent entry, * Self-presented testi- 

 monial, £io' 



So ended the First National Rose-Show. It was, 

 as one of its best supporters, and one of our best 



