THE FLOWERS OF SUMMER 71 



like a country cheek returning from its May morn- 

 ing dew bath, never lose their charm, however 

 many seasons old we are. Clumps of sweet briar 

 are seldom so far apart as to leave any portion of 

 the lane unscented. 



And there are vetches yellow, blue, and pink 

 which come along with the roses ; and, last after 

 them, on to the season of the haws. These can 

 climb as high as ever did " traveller's joy " ; and 

 wander as far as bryony ; and moreover have a 

 lightness, denied to the wooded stems of either, 

 and a grace beyond the great convolvulus bells. 

 I have seen them, clear of everything, poised 

 as if on their own wings, hovering over the hedges 

 like so many strange butterflies. 



Nor can we forget such living flowers of country 

 lanes as the linnets, who are as inseparable from 

 the thought of dog-roses as the yellow-hammer 

 from that of broom. I have seen the yellow- 

 hammer with the broom shade slightly faded, and 

 the linnet with the rose slightly paled, the one among 

 the yellow, the other among the crimson vetches. 



Just as the spring shade is yellow, so the charac- 

 teristic summer hues are white and blue white 

 like the sunlight or the lit edges of the cumulus 

 cloud ; blue, like the patches of the sky. Not that 



