JULY 119 



trodden Everlasting pea (' Pease everlast- 

 ing/ and 'Save euerlasting,' as Gerard 

 calls them), with its large frank blossoms, 

 has this year won its way to favour. 

 That plant is in itself an epitome of all 

 the sermons of the year, with Courage 

 and Constancy for their text ! It is as 

 good as a meditation by Jeremy Taylor. 

 We were very grave about it last year ; 

 only a very little was to be permitted ; it 

 was denounced as too encroaching ; and a 

 quantity of it was ruthlessly cut away. 

 We believed its humiliation to be secure. 

 Not a bit of it! Never did it spread and 

 flourish and flower more abundantly than 

 it- has done this summer. It ran round 

 the corner of the house and made a bloom- 

 ing bower of itself in the shade under the 

 east porch. It gave a rich deep pink 

 background for the white irises, and Blush 

 roses to the south ; it actually climbed 

 up and looked in at the dining-room 

 windows, and nodded to us as we sat at 

 breakfast. * J'y suis et j'y reste ! ' it said, 

 as plain as words ; and after all I had 

 to confess its conquering beauty. The 



