ROSES FOR EXHIBITION 209 



might do worse/ but the true devotion, which sighs 

 from its very soul, ^ I must, I will win thee, my queen, 

 my queen ! ' He must have a good position, a home 

 meet for his bride. He must have for his Roses a 

 free circulation of air, a healthful, breezy situation, 

 with a surrounding fence, not too high, not too near, 

 which shall break the force of boisterous winds, 

 temper their bitterness ere they enter the fold, and give 

 shelter^ but not shade^ to his Roses. He must have a 

 good garden-soil, well drained, well dug, well dunged. 

 And having these indispensable adjuncts, he may 

 order his Show-Roses. 



' Thanks, dear professor ! ' here exclaims the enrap- 

 tured pupil (I am mocking now, with a savage satis- 

 faction, those dreadful scientific dialogues which vexed 

 our little hearts in childhood) ; * your instructions are, 

 indeed, precious — far more so than the richest jam, 

 than ponies, than cricket, than holidays, or tips ; but 

 may we interrupt you for a moment to ask, What is 

 your definition of a Show-Rose ? ' 



^ Most gladly, my dear young friends,' replies the 

 kind professor (anxiously wishing his dear young 

 friends in bed, that he might work at his new book 

 on beetles), * will I inform a curiosity so honourable, 

 so rare in youth. I propose, therefore — avoiding all 

 prolixity, repetition, tautology, periphrasis, circumlo- 

 cution, and superfluous verbosity — to divide the 

 subject into forty-seven sections,' etc. etc. etc. 



O 



