ii2 FROM A MIDDLESEX GARDEN 



and on looking again there was a spray of briar in flower 

 two roses in full bloom and out of reach. ... So it is 

 ever with the June rose. It is found unexpectedly. It is 

 a gift, not a discovery, or anything earned a gift like love 

 and happiness. With ripening grasses the rose comes, and 

 the rose is Summer : till then it is Spring." 



Spring is complete in the meadows ; the high-growing 

 sorrel makes patches of waving red, and the yellow anthers 

 of the woodrush diffuse powdered gold. Other tokens in- 

 numerable tell of Summer's well-coming. Especially de- 

 lightful in those meadows which spread to the river's bank 

 is this month, with its perfume and song, and the colours 

 on the shifting grasses. The scent is from the undimmed 

 hawthorn and from grasses and sedges; the colours are 

 from the deep blue myosotis, the exquisite silver water- 

 violet, tints that take for a second a deeper shade by the 

 quickly pacing shadow of cloud across them. 



