VII 



f THE LEAFY MONTH OF JUNE " 



When Coleridge called this 



" — the leafy month of June," 



it seems to me that he struck the note of the first 

 summer month more distinctly than our own Bry- 

 ant, who wrote of " flowery June." June is, above "The leafy 

 all things, " leafy," seeming chiefly to concentrate 

 her energies on her foliage ; for although she 

 really is not lacking in flowers, they are almost 

 swamped in the great green flood which has swept 

 silently but irresistibly across the land. At times 

 one loses sight of them altogether, and fancies that 

 a sort of reaction has set in after that 



" — festival 

 Of breaking bud and scented breath " 



which enchained our senses a few weeks since. 



But the sight of a clover-field alone suffices to 

 dispel the thought. There is no suggestion of ex- 

 haustion in the close, sweet-scented, wholesome 

 heads which are nodding over whole acres of land. 



79 



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