234 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xxx 



drawing which I have, by G. P. Boyce, (a view 

 of Farringdon Street and Smithfield, taken 

 at the time when enormous blocks of houses 

 were removed to make room for the under- 

 ground railway), there is a great heap of sandy 

 earth and rubbish in the foreground over 

 which delicate young grass and weeds have 

 already spread themselves. It was, I am 

 convinced, the sight of this effort of nature 

 to reassert herself, as much as anything else, 

 that caused the artist to select this curious 

 scene for his subject. These poor little weeds 

 could only have had one season in which to 

 establish themselves and make the best of it 

 amidst the ruins. When we consider the 

 miles of houses and chimney-pots with which 

 the place was surrounded, it is difficult to 

 imagine how the seeds could have so quickly 

 reached it. 



Grass is a strange and perverse thing, 

 growing only too freely where it is little 

 wanted or expected, whilst it frequently 

 perishes on lawns and places in which it is 



