OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



—'Nature near London': Round a 

 London Copse. 



THE first appearance of a star 

 is very beautiful ; the actual 

 moment of first contact, as it 

 were, of the ray with the eye is always 

 a surprise, however often you may have 

 enjoyed it, and notwithstanding that 

 you are aware it will happen. Where 

 there was only the indefinite violet 

 before, the most intense gaze into which 

 could discover nothing, suddenly, as if 

 at that moment born, the point of light 

 arrives. So glorious is the night that 

 not all London, with its glare and smoke, 

 can smother the sky; in the midst of 

 the gas, and the roar, and the driving 

 crowd, look up from the pavement, and 

 there, straight above, are the calm 

 stars. — ' Nature near London ' : Magpie 

 Fields. 



85 



