38 Country Rambles. 



such as it is when knives and shears, and the touch of 

 the barbarian are forbidden ? It is the ivy that has pre- 

 served for the archaeologist many of the most precious 

 architectural relics our country possesses. Where ivy 

 defends the surface, nothing corrodes or breaks away. 



Toft Park gives very agreeable access to Peover, a 

 place which may also be reached pleasantly from Plumb- 

 ley, the station next succeeding Knutsford. Not "rich" 

 botanically, the field-path is still one of the most inviting 

 in the district. The views on either side, cheerful at all 

 seasons, are peculiarly so in spring, when the trees are 

 pouring their new green leaves into the sunshine, and the 

 rising grass and mingled wild-flowers flood the ground 

 with living brightness. In parts, towards the end of 

 May, there is hereabouts an unwonted profusion of 

 Shakspeare's "Lady-smock." We admit, admiringly, 

 that it "paints the meadows with delight:" to the first 

 impression, when gathered and in the hand, it scarcely 

 seems "silver-white." A single spray in the hand is 

 unquestionably lilac, faint and translucent, but still lilac, 

 exquisitely veined. Beware. Shakspeare, when he talks 

 of flowers may always be trusted. At all events his only 

 error is that curious one in Cymbeline* Viewed from a 

 little distance, and obliquely, the effect of a plentiful carpet 

 of this lovely wild-flower is distinctly and decidedly "silver- 

 white." In all things a good deal depends upon the angle 



* On her left breast, 



A mole, cinque -spotted, like the crimson drops 

 I' the bottom of a cowslip. 



