THROUGH THE YEAR 51 



the Country " an informal, delightful talk about 

 pictures and books. The mirror in the mind of a 

 man, though largely useless for way-finding pur- 

 poses for orienting himself through vast tracts 

 of country reflects and keeps for years with mar- 

 vellous faith certain scenes and faces. Willmott 

 tells us how Cowper's friend, Newton, said that in 

 after life the face of the girl he had once been in 

 love with " shone " on the deck as he stood at 

 the wheel steering the ship through a storm. 



In Coleridge's mind not only the details in the 

 landscapes of his childhood were perfectly clear 

 in late life the very colours lived bright as on the 

 canvas of some great artist. He shut his eyes, 

 and the river Otter ran murmuring in the room in 

 which he sat. He saw with the utmost distinct- 

 ness the plank across the stream, the willows along 

 the bank, even saw the coloured sands beneath the 

 crystal clear pools. Here is the real second sight 

 which men have in common probably with many 

 animals. It is another world, a real world, within 

 ourselves more beautiful and curious and useful 

 than any sham world conjured in by spirit-rappers 

 and " astral bodies." 



A BUTTERFLY'S ARMOURY 



The lovely pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies are 

 still out in the coppices of mid- June. The small copper 

 and the small heath the dapper and the dowdy 

 of their race are on the wing ; and soon nearly 

 all English butterflies will be hatching out. The old 



