"It is fair to accept the statement of his [Wilde's] own ground, in his
preface to the decorative verse of his friend Rennell Rodd, though one
doubts whether Gautier would not have dubbed the twain _joints
brodeurs_, rather than _jeunes guerriers, du drapeau romantique_. The
apostles of our Lord were filled, like them, with a 'passionate ambition
to go forth into far and fair lands with some message for the nations
and some mission for the world.' But not until many centuries had passed
were their texts illuminated to the extent displayed by Mr. Rodd and his
printer, with their resources of India-paper, apple-green tissue,
vellum, and all the rarities desired by those who die of a rose in
aromatic pain. Yet the verse of _Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf_ is not so
effeminate as one would suppose."