CHILDREN AND POETS 



the roar of Cromwell's Ironsides singing their 

 psalms ; and the pitter-pat of high-heeled shoes 

 on the pavements of Nash's Bath. Humanity is 

 the study for men, and the world would be a deal 

 poorer without the Diary of Samuel Pepys or 

 Pliny's Letters." 



" And what may this have to do with Royal 

 Gardens ? " I ask. 



" Without you people them," he answers, 

 " they are just so many trees and parterres and 

 walks. If you take a walk in your mind you 

 must meet somebody or you would go mad. 

 The man who proclaims himself a solitary and 

 so leaves the world of men and becomes an 

 anchorite does so in order that he may not be 

 disturbed at his visions. I will give more for 

 twenty minutes with the man who says he is not 

 sure but that he has seen an angel, than I will 

 give for a week with the man who laughs at all 

 he cannot lay his finger on. Give me lovers 

 and children, and I have all the poets ; give me 

 the man who chats about the way of the world 

 and of his common sense and of the price of 

 things, and I have a vulgarian. These gardens, 

 now, that we have seen, are they to you so many 



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