NATURE NEAB BRIGHTON. 95 



out into the wooded country. Yellow wallflowers 

 grew along the high wall, and flowered against the 

 sky; swallows flew to and fro the warm space 

 sheltered from the wind, beneath them. In the lane 

 a blackbird was so occupied among the arums at the 

 roots of the trees that he did not stir till actually 

 obliged. Blackbirds and thrushes are fond of search- 

 ing about where the arums grow thickest. In the 

 park a clump of tall aspens gleamed like silk in the 

 sunshine. The calls of moorhens came up from a lake 

 in a deep valley near, beeches grow down the steep 

 slope to the edge of the water, and the wind which 

 rippled it drew in a strong draught up the hill. From 

 that height the glance saw to the bottom of the clear 

 water, to which the waves and the wind gave a trans- 

 lucent green. The valley winds northward, curving 

 like a brook, and in the trough a narrow green band 

 of dark grass follows the windings, a pathlike ribbon 

 as deeply coloured as a fairy ring, and showing be- 

 tween the slopes of pale turf On this side are copses 

 of beech, and on that of fir ; the fir copses are encircled 

 by a loose hedge of box, fading and yellowish, while 

 the larch tops were filled with sweet and tender green. 

 Like the masts and yards of a ship, which are 

 gradually hidden as the sails are set, so these green 

 sails unfurling concealed the tall masts and taper 

 branches of the fir. Afar the great hills were bare, 

 wind-swept and dry. The glass-green river wound 

 along the plain, and the sea bloomed blue under the 

 sun, blue by the distant shore, darkening like a level 

 cloud where a dim ship marked the horizon. A blue 

 sky requires greensward and green woods — the sward 



