242 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xxxi 



In another letter Sir George writes : 



" I love the robins in autumn as much as 

 you do. To me they always say ' Why is the 

 summer gone and the cold weather coming 

 on ? ' I love them, but they fill a much smaller 

 part than the blackbird does in my heart. 

 To hear the blackbird talking to his mate a 

 field off, with deliberate, refined conversation, 

 the very acme of grace and courtesy, is 

 perfectly splendid. The thrush is more 

 intense, but he falls below the other." 



I have received many letters in which an 

 error I made as to the blossoming of the 

 tulip tree is alluded to and corrected. I 

 had thought that these trees only bloomed in 

 our country in very hot seasons, the real fact 

 being that, after the tree has attained a good 

 age, it blooms every year. I select the cor- 

 rection of this error that came in a letter 

 from my friend F. Smallfield, R.W.S., as it 

 is perhaps the most explicit and interesting. 



" The footnote, p. 202, tempts me to a bit 

 of reminiscence. In my native village, 



