WINDSOR PARK. 93 



Wave twilight o'er the poet's path, as led 



By love, or dream, or God, or mightier death, 



He sought in Nature's dearest haunt, some bank 



Her cradle and his sepulchre. M ore dark 



And dark the shades accumulate the oak, 



Extending its immense and knotty arms, 



Embraces the light beech. The pyramids 



Of the tall cedar over-arching frame 



Most solemn domes within and far below 



The ash and the acacia floating hang 



Tremulous and pale. Like restless serpents clothed 



In rainbow and in fire, the parasites, 



Starred with ten thousand blossoms, flow around 



The grey trunks, and as gamesome infants' eyes, 



With gentle meanings and most innocent wiles, 



Fold their beams round the hearts of those that love, 



These twine their tendrils with the wedded boughs, 



Uniting their close union : the woven leaves 



Make net- work of the dark blue light of day, 



And the night's noontide clearness mutable 



As shapes in the weird clouds. Soft mossy lawns 



Beneath these canopies extend their swells 



Fragrant with perfumed herbs, and eyed with blooms 



Minuter, yet as beautiful.' " 



" The Great Park is rich in varied woodland scenery. 

 There are not only fine thriving oaks, throwing out their 

 gigantic arms, but sturdy pollards without end, which 

 seem to have set time and seasons and decay at defiance. 

 They are gnarled and knotted, twisted and distorted, yet at 

 the same time vigorous and sound at heart. The beeches, 

 too, maybe seen of all ages and sizes, picturesque and beauti- 

 ful in their decay, but while in full vigour, and dotted with 

 their sparkling leaves, they are the richest ornament of 

 the wood. The holly loves to nestle under the shelter of 

 its graceful pendulous branches, affording a contrast to its 

 smooth white trunk, on which here and there some pretty 

 lichen may be seen. Many of the trunks are studded 

 with projecting knobs and other excrescences, and some- 

 times appear fluted or grooved. Here and there the roots 

 of some of these ' most lovely of forest-trees ' are thrown 

 out with great boldness, and when they appear above the 

 ground, are generally covered with mosses of a beautiful 

 soft green, differing in shades from those on the stems* 



