186 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



be described as a noise ; it was more like a subtle 

 music without rise or fall or change ; or like a con- 

 tinuous, diffused, silvery-bright, musical hum, which 

 surrounded one like an atmosphere, and at the same 

 time pervaded and trembled through one like a vibra- 

 tion. It was certainly very delightful, and the feel- 

 ing in this instance was not due to association, but, 

 I think, to the intrinsic beauty of the sound itself. 



The Selborne stream, or Bourne, with its meadows 

 and tangled copses on either side, was my favourite 

 noonday haunt. The volume of water does not greatly 

 diminish during the summer months, but in many 

 places the bed of the stream was quite grown over 

 with aquatic plants, topped with figwort, huge water- 

 agrimony, with its masses of powdery, flesh-coloured 

 blooms, creamy meadow-sweet, and rose-purple loose- 

 strife, and willow-herb with its appetising odour of 

 codlins and cream. The wild musk, or monkey-flower, 

 a Hampshire plant about which there will be much 

 to say in another chapter, was also common. At one 

 spot a mass of it grew at the foot of a high bank 

 on the water's edge ; from the top of the bank long 

 branches of briar - rose trailed down, and the rich, 

 pure yellow mimulus blossoms and ivory-white roses 

 of the briar were seen together. An even lovelier 

 effect was produced at another spot by the mingling 

 of the yellow flowers with the large turquoise-blue 

 water forget-me-nots. 



The most charming of the Selborne wild plants 



