ROSES FOR EXHIBITION 213 



could mortals wish for more ? * In addition, we had 

 some beautiful Hybrid China, and Hybrid Bourbon 

 Roses, which, though they are not adapted for the 

 Stage, should be found in all large gardens, Blairii 

 No. 2, Coupe d'Hebe, Charles Lawson, and Paul 

 Perras ; and with these a large number of Gallica 

 Roses, some of them of gorgeous colouring and 

 luxurious growth, both as to flowers and foliage, e.g., 

 Boula de Nanteuil, D'Aguesseau, Ohl, and Shakspere ; 

 but they were apt to display * an eye ' on their 

 journey to the Show, and this was as offensive to the 

 exhibitor opening his box as the glass eye of the 

 French cook gazing on his mistress from the centre 

 of the tureen when she began to distribute the 

 soup ! 



We had not the colour, the contour, the variety, 

 the contrasts, which are now so abundant. We had 

 no Alfred K. (K. can only mean King), Williams, as 

 splendid in its carmine glory as it is symmetrical in 

 shape ; no Charles Lefebvre, a Rose which, as I have 

 seen it, at his best, is best ; no La France, in her roseate 

 silver sheen, such as rests awhile upon the Alpine 

 snow before the sun goes down ; no Madame Gabriel 

 Luizet, no Marie Baumann, no Marchioness of 

 Londonderry, no Mrs. John Laing, no Reynolds Hole 

 (how little did I think that I should live to be 

 described as a * splendid maroon dashed with crimson, 



