OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



in crooked places, just the same as if we 

 had all been dropped promiscuously out 

 of a bag and shook down together on the 

 earth to work out our lives, quite irrespec- 

 tive of our abilities and natures. Such 

 an utter jumble. — 'Amaryllis at the Fair.' 



IN time, long time, people's original 

 feelings get strangely confused and 

 overlaid. The churchwardens of 

 the eighteenth century plastered the 

 fresco paintings of the fourteenth in their 

 churches— covered themoverwith yellow- 

 ish mortar. The mould grows up, and 

 hides the capital of the fallen column ; the 

 acanthus is hidden in earth. At the foot 

 of the oak, where it is oldest, the bark 

 becomes dense and thick, impenetrable, 

 and without sensitiveness ; you may cut 

 off an inch thick without reaching the sap. 

 A sort of scale or caking in long, long 

 time grows over original feelings. — 

 1 Amaryllis at the Fair.' 



73 



