vi PREFACE. 



I have at last, rather reluctantly, for there seems 

 to me something private and personal about the 

 whole affair, resolved to reprint these notes, and 

 see if this little book can win for itself new friends 

 on its own account. 



One difficulty, I feel, is that I am describing 

 what happened five years ago. But this I cannot 

 help. To touch or alter would be to spoil the 

 truthfulness of all. The notes must stand abso- 

 lutely as they were written. But after all, I 

 believe, the difficulty is only an apparent one. 

 The seasons, indeed, may vary a spring may be 

 later, a summer may be warmer, an autumn may 

 be more fruitful, but the seasons themselves 

 remain. The same flowers come up each year, 

 the same associations link themselves on to the 

 returning flowers, and the verses of the great, 

 poets are unchanged. The details of a garden 

 will alter, but its general effect and aspect arc 

 the same. 



Nevertheless, something has been learnt, and 

 something remembered, since these notes were 

 written, and this, also communicated from time to 



