NO V EMBER 187 



court has in this way been a lesson. It 

 was so hard to get the curves and angles 

 right, and to make the lines fit in, chiefly 

 it must be admitted by reason of irregularity 

 in the old walls. A cherry tree, a straggling 

 old apple, and some worn out greengages 

 against the wall all taken away, have made 

 the trimmed pyramid yews look larger ; 

 each yew now stands out in solid blackness 

 from his setting of rounded turf. And now 

 lovely clamberers must be chosen for the 

 old brick walls denuded of their fruit trees. 

 There must certainly be blue ceanothus 

 and a passion flower, and above all a 

 scarlet pyracanthus. 



I know not what curious thread of far- 

 off association gives this common wall-tree 

 its fascination, at least for myself. I only 

 know the peculiar thrill that invariably 

 startles me whenever I see one covered 

 with ripe fruit. There is a pyracanthus 

 trained up the common wooden paling of 

 a little roadside dwelling that I often have 

 to pass. Familiarity affects not the kind 

 of shock of satisfaction which the sight of 

 its orange red berries never fails to bring. 



