THE BEECH. 59 



the citation. But to a heart that loves to contem- 

 plate the sweet simplicities of nature, and how little 

 change the lapse of time promotes in all that con- 

 cerns human affections and human sympathies, such 

 records are dear. In these tender lines, as much 

 as in any of the simple narratives of the Old Testa- 

 ment, we see that the passions and the events of 

 to-day, the fidelities and the inconstancies, the 

 lettered beech and the poplar by the river, are the 

 same old and long-past ones over again. Human 

 life and nature are everywhere like the waterfalls 

 among the Alps, sparkle, and teardrops, and rain- 

 bows whenever we look, though the stream is never 

 the same for a single instant. 



Early in the spring the beech seems everywhere 

 armed with little brown spikes. These are the 

 buds, which in the peculiarity of their shape differ 

 from those of every other British forest-tree. They 

 are formed at the close of the previous autumn, and 

 though during the winter the increase in size is 

 scarcely perceptible, there appears to be still a slow 

 progression. One of the most beautiful and sug- 

 gestive phenomena in connection with tree-life is 

 this early commencement of spring. For while the 

 almanac states March or April to be the beginning, 

 and while our own first impressions seem to confirm 

 it, in truth the beginning of spring is many months 

 before. Just as on a sweet summer's night, before 

 the last glow of the sunset has quite departed, 



