84 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



From below there reaches up a familiar twitter. 

 It comes from a line of swallows which stand huddled 

 up after the night on the paling, their white breasts 

 showing in marked contrast to the black-painted 

 fence. One takes wing now, at last, to begin that 

 long chase after flying insects which the bats have 

 not yet abandoned. Thus do the fringes of the night 

 overlap the coming day. 



As the light grows, the features of the land open 

 out. One does not wonder here why the migratory 

 wild birds come to us in the far North-west in such 

 numbers. Why should they linger amid the barren 

 larch plantations and the petite culture of the Con- 

 tinent ? Where else, despite the growth of the 

 towns, has the country been preserved so unchanged 

 as in England ? To the right stretch the natural 

 woods and copses in the direction of Chiselhurst ; 

 nearer at hand lie the Addington hills and the splen- 

 did wooded lands of the manor of Croydon. Away 

 to the left roll the level plains toward Windsor, the 

 great trees so thickly strewn over the land as almost 

 to give it the appearance of a thickly wooded country 

 trees which rise unkempt in the free air of heaven, 

 with limbs unlopped, in all their natural beauty. 

 To the south stretches the open land, the commons 

 of Epsom and Banstead, and the range of the North 

 Downs, with the little village of Purley, associated 

 with the fame of Home Tooke, sleeping on the edge. 

 It is all little changed since the days of the author of 

 the " Diversions," always and except for the vast 

 growth of London. What would the eccentric 

 parson and politician have thought of the age if 

 he had lived to see the Metropolis almost at his 

 doors, and all that the whirligig of time had brought 



