OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



THE sun sinks behind the summit 

 of the Downs, and slender 

 streaks of purple are drawn 

 along- above them. A shadow comes 

 forth from the cliff; a duskiness dwells 

 on the water; something tempts the 

 eye upwards, and near the zenith there 

 is a star.—' Nature near London ' : The 

 Breeze on Beachy Head. 



THE bird upon the tree utters 

 the meaning of the wind— a 

 voice of the grass and wild- 

 flower, words of the green leaf; they 

 speak through that slender tone. Sweet- 

 ness of dew and rifts of sunshine, the 

 dark hawthorn touched with breadths 

 of open bud, the odour of the air, the 

 colour of the daffodil— all that is de- 

 licious and beloved of springtime are 

 expressed in his song. Genius is nature 

 and his lay, like the sap in the bough 

 from which he sings, rises without 



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