26 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



The high forehead bare, for the Baron had his 

 hat in his hand, mocked at him in its humility. 

 The Baron bared his head in honour of the 

 courtier's office and the Prince who had sent 

 him. The beard, though streaked with white, 

 spoke little of age ; it rather indicated an 

 abundant, a luxuriant vitality." 



And I have before me a letter which con- 

 tains the following passage concerning the 

 elder Jefferies : 



" The garden, the orchard, the hedges of 

 the fields were always his chief delight ; he 

 had planted many a tree round and about his 

 farm. Not a single bird that flew but he 

 knew, and could tell its history ; if you walked 

 with him, as Dick often did, and as I have 

 occasionally done, through the fields, and 

 heard him expatiate quietly enough on the 

 trees and flowers, you would not be surprised 

 at the turn taken by his son's genius." 



Thus, then, the boy was born ; in an ancient 

 farmhouse beautiful to look upon, with beau- 

 tiful fields and gardens round it ; in the midst 



