192 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



There is marjoram and sage, clary, spearmint, pep- 

 permint, salsify, elecampane, tansy, assafcetida, corian- 

 der, angelica, caper spurge, lamb's lettuce, and sorrel. 

 Mugwort, southernwood, and wormwood are still to be 

 found in old gardens ; they stand here side by side. 

 Monkshood, horehound, henbane, vervain (good against 

 the spells of witches), feverfew, dog's mercury, bistort, 

 woad, and so on, all seem like relics of the days of 

 black-letter books. All the while greenfinches are 

 singing happily in the trees without the wall. 



This is but the briefest resume; for many long 

 summer afternoons would be needed even to glance 

 at all the wild flowers that bloom in June. Then you 

 must come once at least a month, from March to 

 September, as the flowers succeed each other, to read 

 the place aright. It is an index to every meadow and 

 cornfield, wood, heath, and river in the country, and 

 by means of the plants of the same species to the 

 flowers of the world. Therefore, the Herbaceous 

 Ground seems to me a place that should on no account 

 be passed by. And the next place is the Wilderness 

 that is, the Forest. 



On the way thither an old-fashioned yew hedge may 

 be seen round about a vast glasshouse. Outside, on 

 the sward, there are fewer wild flowers growing wild 

 than might perhaps be expected, owing in some degree, 

 no doubt, to the frequent mowing, except under the 

 trees, where again the constant shadow does not suit 

 all. By the ponds, in the midst of trees, and near the 

 river, there is a little grass, however, left to itself, in 

 which in June there were some bird's-foot lotus, 

 veronica, hawkweeds, ox-eye daisy, knapweed, and 



