48 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



to a deeper tint on the under surface. It was curi- 

 ously and prettily coloured; and, being new to me, 

 its image was vividly impressed on my mind. 



As to what had happened, that did not impress 

 me at all. I could not, like the late noble poet who 

 cherished an extreme animosity against the spider, 

 and inveighed against it in brilliant, inspired verse, 

 remember and brood sadly on the thought of the 

 fairy forms that are .its victims 



The lovely births that winnow by, 

 Twin-sisters of the rainbow sky : 

 Elf-darlings, fluffy, bee-bright things, 

 And owl-white moths with mealy wings. 



Nor could I, like him, break the creature's toils, nor 

 take the dead from its gibbet, nor slay it on account 

 of its desperate wickedness. These are mere house- bred 

 feelings and fancies, perhaps morbid; he who walks 

 out-of-doors with Nature, who sees life and death as 

 sunlight and shadow, on witnessing such an incident 

 wishes the captor a good appetite, and, passing on, 

 thinks no more about it. For any day in summer, 

 sitting by the water, or in a wood, or on the open 

 heath, I note little incidents of this kind; they are 

 always going on hi thousands all about us, and 

 one with trained eye cannot but see them ; but no 

 feeling is excited, no sympathy, and they are no 

 sooner seen than forgotten. But, as I said, there 

 are exceptional cases, and here is one which refers 

 to an even more insignificant creature than a field 



