( 92 ) 



CHAPTER VI. 



JUNE. 



" It was the azure time of June, 

 When the skies are deep in the stainless noon, 

 And the warm and fitful breezes shake 

 The fresh green leaves of the hedge-row briar. 

 And there were odours there to make 

 The very breath we did respire 

 A liquid element, whereon 

 Our spirits, like delighted things 

 That walk the air on subtle wings, 

 Floated and mingled far away." — Shelley. 



June ! delightful June ! the crowning month of the 

 year. The period of nature's adolescence has past, and 

 the full and mature vigour of its puberty has com- 

 menced. The leafy wood, the smiling meadow, the 

 breezy upland, the chalky down, the open moor or 

 barren mountain side, covered with blooming heather, 

 its fairy bells sparkling in the sunlight, and bending 

 gracefully as the ever active and industrious bees rifle 

 its nectaries of their choicest treasures. A large ex- 

 panse of blooming heather is a glorious sight, recalling 

 to the mind the stirring measure of the " Great Un- 

 known," as he sings of raid and foray of " Douglas 

 and the Graeme," and of the hardy clans Macdonell, 



