TOO MY DEVON YEAR 



deeds of daring on the cliff edge, and then vanished 

 magically as he had arrived. 



I pursued my way among the crags, and sought 

 with one effort to grave a mental picture of that 

 spacious scene on my mind, with another, that nar- 

 rowed my eyes, sharpened my attention to a gimlet 

 point, and concentrated mental activity on particulars, 

 to win from the under-shrubs and herbage some newly- 

 opened blossom that no eye, save that of gull or hawk 

 or shining lizard, had ever rested on before. 



Half-hidden in the furze-clumps, his foliage almost 

 fern-like in its delicate details and slender stems, I 

 found the lesser meadow-rue, a rare plant, and seldom, 

 if ever, seen off the limestone ; while instantly on this 

 success there came a still greater discovery. Suddenly 

 at my feet appeared a golden bead set in five silvery 

 petals, and I saw the white rock-rose that scarce and 

 precious beauty whose British dwelling-places are 

 limited to two. Yet here she prospers, stars the arid 

 earth, spreads forth her foliage of hoary green, and 

 thrives to the kiss of the sun and the wind, many a 

 good mile from the nearest of the regions mentioned. 



Have I, then, been privileged to add an English 

 "station" to our botany for Helianthemum polifolium? 

 The possibility excited me to enthusiasm, but I 

 could only hug this pleasing dream to my heart 

 until again within reach of books. And then I found 

 that a botanist, who has slept these many days, met 

 my little golden-eyed lady here in 1862 the year that 

 I was born! I have merely rediscovered one of her 



