DECEMBER 451 



one, then the other was traced and obtained from London, where 

 it had descended in a different branch of the vendor's family. 



These platters, which must have served the purpose of meat 

 dishes, measure twenty inches in diameter, and about sixty-two in 

 circumference. Round their rims are cut in bold letters, Copenhagen, 

 The Nik, Trafalgar of glorious memory, the arms of Norwich, and 

 the date 1806. In their centres appear the full armorial bearings 

 of Nelson, his motto Palmam qui meruitferat, and an inscription, 

 The Nelson Club. 



December 28. The gale has been followed by a morning that 

 was indeed lovely. Against a vast dome of tender blue the naked 

 trees were outlined with a wonderful clearness, while the whole 

 landscape lay steeped in a bath of sunshine. Indeed, the scene when 

 I walked through it this forenoon might almost have been such 

 as is common on an autumn evening, for it was pervaded by the 

 same gentle light, and so low lay the sun that the shadows of the 

 trees stretched away upon the grass, as in the summer at the 

 death of day shadows are wont to do. On the purple, new-turned 

 plough of the fourteen-acre at Baker's were feeding many glossy- 

 plumaged rooks, and with them a flock of green-backed plover, 

 driven inland by the rough weather. In that light these peewits 

 were almost invisible upon the plough, but when by some unseen 

 disturber they were frightened suddenly from the ground, the white 

 of their under-wings and breasts shone in the sun's rays like discs 

 of polished metal. Then down they went, and once more dis- 

 appeared. Taking off my hat I waved it, which startled them 

 in good earnest, for they mounted high into the air and 

 circled round me in wide sweeps, looking most beautiful in the 

 sunshine, till, fearing lest I should scare them quite away, I 

 hastened to another field. 



How extraordinary sweet and wholesome is the odour of 

 fresh ploughed earth ! To my mind there are few fragrances so 

 pleasant. Yet this is only the case after man has cultivated the 

 same soil for many years, for, if my recollection is right, virgin 



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