i8o ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



disagreeable effect which yellow as an interior colour 

 produces in me. Sherborne Abbey is without a doubt 

 one of our noblest ecclesiastical buildings, more beautiful 

 in the stone sculpture enriching its roof than any cathe- 

 dral or church in the land. Yet I cannot appreciate 

 it, since the effect of the colour is a severe headache, 

 a profound depression. After an hour inside I feel that 

 I am yellow all through, that my very bones are dyed 

 yellow, that if I were to drop down among the furze- 

 bushes on some neighbouring common and rest there 

 undiscovered for several years those who found me 

 would not believe that my remains were human, but 

 only a skeleton cunningly carved out of Ham Hill stone. 

 This sensation, or its memory, or the feeling which 

 remains in the mind when the memory and images have 

 vanished, enters in and gives an expression to all build- 

 ings of this same yellow material. This feeling was 

 in me when I spent a couple of hours in full sight of 

 Montacute House; otherwise I should probably have 

 thought, as no doubt most persons do, that the colour 

 of the stone added greatly to the beauty of the building, 

 that it harmonized with its surroundings, the green 

 spaces and ancient noble trees, bathed in a brilliant sun- 

 light, and the wide blue sky above. 



On my first evening in the town I went out into the 

 neighbouring wood on the steep slope above the little 

 river Yeo, and listened to a nightingale for half an 

 hour, the only one I could find in the place. On the 

 following afternoon I had sitting opposite to me at the 

 table when taking tea at the hotel a commercial traveller 



