» OCTOBER. 305 
to magnify and to gull “ ces Anglais” (a class which, I am informed by 
buyers of new Roses, is not altogether extinct), annoyed by the diffi- 
culties of exaggeration, and moaning over their inability to lie. How 
the writers and singers of romance must have rejoiced in this. fair 
reality! How gaily, with this flower in his cap, must the troubadour 
have touched his guitar! The brave knight wore it in his helm, I 
_trow, the gift of his ladye-love, and while his adversary was gazing 
“with wrapt admiration on it, saw his noble opportunity, and stuck his 
_lance into his ribs, Ah me, what tender toneg, what plaintive heart- 
_music, what hopes and fears have been sighed over this Rose. of 
“Provence! Beauty hath made for it a second sunshine with her 
smiles, and Memory has shed upon its leaves her gentle rain of tears. 
How often hath this sweet messenger been made to tell unto loving 
hearts a language which they dared not speak! How often by lily 
hands, have its petals been plucked and scattered in the wild hours of 
-Mnistrust or jealousy, as Guinevere suspecting Lancelot, 
‘¢ Brake from the vast oriel-embowering Vine 
Leaf after leaf, and tore, and cast them off.” 
0 Let us ever, my friends, love the Provence’ Rose, not only for its 
“own loveliness and sweetness, not only as the Rose par excellence of 
our boyhood, but as having been for more than two centuries the chief 
‘grace‘and glory of our English gardens, the fair favourite (as the Rose 
will ever be, I trust) in every grade and shire; what time upon holy 
‘altars, in the halls of kings, inthe grand gardens of the nobility, among 
‘the few flowers of the farmstead and cottage, it found a place and throne. 
© Growing near “the Provence” in our garden I remember next a Rose, 
‘which came to this country together with it, or shortly afterwards, from 
“Holland ;* I mean the beautiful Moss; most beautiful, when, like some 
‘Sweet infant, smiling out of its pretty head-gear of lace, or some young 
‘girl blushing to show herself before an admiring world, it first displays its 
loveliness ‘i’ th’ bud.” You shall infer, if you please, my faithful fondness 
‘for this flower from a little incident, which occurred to me but a few 
“months ago, and which I will now repeat to you. I had been a week 
‘in' London, in the hightide of the season, and, thoroughly enjoying the 
pictures, and the music, and the pleasant society, proposed to remain 
‘for a fortnight longer, when one day, as I walked down Regent-street, 
I was addressed by an elderly Irishwoman, as a ‘‘swate gintleman” 
(a compliment which I was unable to return), and piously adjured, 
‘«*for the love,” &c., and ‘for the glory,” &c., which, alas! meant only 
‘gin, to buy a beautiful nosegay for the girl of my heart. As the locality 
‘referred to was not at the time occupied by any young lady in particular, 
but by’a community of beauties, I] was about to decline, on account of 
the quantity required, and the consequent expense’ to be incurred, when 
I caught sight of a cluster of Moss Rosebuds, which I had no power to 
resist. Perhaps their freshness and fragrance were enhanced by contrast 
with their unhandsome, not to say unpleasant purveyor ; at all events, 
I bought them from her, and they were soon rejoicing im some fresh 

' * See Rivers’s “Rose Amateurs’ Guide,” edition 6, page 8; and ** Paul on 
the Rose,” Division ii., page 32... HOlu|! 
VOL. XIV., NO. CLIV. x 
