MAY 81 



ments of Italy. Wherever old stone or 

 marble is, there with the universal pelli- 

 tory we find the sweet enrichment of 

 our toad-flax.* Soon it will be breaking in 

 avalanches all down the old buttress, and 

 at close of summer a thick green curtain 

 will have long been drawn over my small 

 enchanted wild. 



MAY 21. To-day there is heavy rain, 

 and the Gardener has just come in to 

 announce the first blooming of a new Iris. 

 A plant of pale grey iris was given to me 

 last summer, and we have looked anxiously 

 for its flowering. The Iris procession 

 begins this year with the white and purple 

 in lavish profusion. They flower together 

 for the first time, alternately, along the 

 line of holly hedge. The purple are too 

 impatient usually to wait for the blooming 

 of the white. These stand now in multi- 

 tudes under the dining-room windows, 

 and along the south-walk. Someone has 

 compared them to the company of St 



* Among the stones of ' the Roman walk ' occurs 

 another and more lovely variety. A. Pilosa, is its dis- 

 tinguishing name. 



F 



