AT A ROSE-SHOW 



261 



princeps, he was not even commended ; and on re- 

 monstrating, was informed by one of the judges that 

 his Roses, to which precedence had been given at a 

 national contest, ^ were not the right sorts for exhi- 

 bition! The fact is, that three varieties of censors 

 are still appointed at some of our country shows. 

 There is the man who loves Roses, knows and 

 grows them w^ell — his judgments will be right. 

 There is the man who is a clever florist and grows 

 Roses partially — his judgments will be generally 

 right ; but if the collections are large or numerous, 

 or nearly equal in merit, he will be perplexed to 

 incapacity. Thirdly, there is the man appointed to 

 be judge of the Roses because he once won a prize 

 for cucumbers, or because the mayor knows his 

 uncle. The latter is either, in his wise silence, 

 quite useless, or, in his fool's loquacity, a dreadful 

 bore — dangerous wherever he has power. To the 

 second I would say — 



* Cassio, I love thee, but never more be officer of mine,' 



until you know more about Roses. To the first I 

 take off my hat, as to a * chief-justice among chief- 

 justices,' ^ and wish that he may ever preside in court 

 when I have a cause to plead. 



The arbiter at a Rose-show should be a man who 



^ So Fuller designates our great Nottinghamshire judge, Markham. 



