CHAPTER XIII 



ROSES FOR EXHIBITION 



As he who can ride exchanges his pony for a cob, 

 and his cob for a hunter, and, having achieved pads 

 and brushes, where hounds are slow, fences are easy, 

 and rivals few, longs for a gallop at racing-speed over 

 the pastures and the ' Oxers ' of High Leicestershire, 

 or the stone walls of * The Heythrop,' as every man 

 with a hobby (I never met a man without one) is 

 desirous to ride abroad, and witch the world with 

 noble horsemanship, so the Rosarian, enlarging his 

 possessions and improving his skill, has yearnings, 

 which no mother, nor sisters, nor people coming to 

 call, can satisfy, for sympathy, for knowledge, for 

 renown. He is tired of charging at the quintain, 

 which he never fails to hit, in the silent courtyard of 

 his home ; he will break a lance for his ladye in the 

 crowded lists. And who loves maiden so fair as his ? 

 What mean these braggart knights, his neighbours, 

 by praising their Rosas, so pale, so puny, in com- 

 parison ? Their voices to his ear are harsh, irritating ; 



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