MAY 85 



lay so thick upon the grass that the 

 thrushes tripped up and stumbled in their 

 haste to run through it ! Lilac, too a 

 more lasting pleasure is in finer bloom 

 than ever I remember it. Lilacs do not 

 usually take the place they are worthy of 

 in our gardens. In former days, when 

 the ' Blew-pipe tree ' was a novelty, they 

 planted it in the front ranks ; but now, 

 somehow, it seems always pushed out of 

 the way, and yet the loveliness of lilac 

 trees in May can be scarcely equalled, 

 while one feels that the first whiff of their 

 perfume in the garden is as the very heart 

 and soul of memory. Our old trees at the 

 back of the Broad Walk border are scarcely 

 seen from the garden. They cheerfully give 

 their beauty to the other side, overhang- 

 ing the tarred paling of the potting-house 

 yard, and glorifying its business-like sur- 

 roundings with a world of fragrant colour. 

 From an upper window of the house I 

 look down upon a distant view of this 

 tossing sea of lilac. 



Two or three young lilac bushes were 

 planted a few years back in the orchard ; 



