68 BY ME A DO IV AND STREAM. 



lively tadpoles spring into life. Experienced gardeners 

 never drive frogs out of their grounds, as they are 

 great destroyers of slugs. " 



"Violets, which Shakespeare says are 'sweeter 

 than the lids of Juno's eyes,' impregnate the March 

 winds with their fragrance, and it is amazing what a 

 distance the perfume is borne on the air from the spot 

 where they grow. Through the frequent mention 

 made of it by Shakespeare, it must have been one of 

 his favourite flowers, and as it still grows abundantly 

 in the neighbourhood of Stratford-on-Avon, it may 

 perhaps yet be found scenting the March air and 

 standing in the very same spots by which he paused 

 to look at it. " 



Last Easter (1895) I paid a short visit to Stratford- 

 on-Avon Of course I walked over to Shottery, and 

 in Ann Hathaway's garden I gathered a posy of spring 

 flowers, composed of violets, rosemary, and rue, 

 alison (or march -may as the old lady, Mrs. Baker, 

 a lineal descendant of the Hathaways, called it), 

 pansies, lavender, lads'-love, or southernwood, daffo- 

 dils, and cowslips, or cuckoo bud. 



Here are some quaint bits, culled from a book 

 entitled ' ' Demands Joyous " (which may be rendered 

 " Amusing Questions "), which was printed in English 

 by Wynkyn de Worde in 1511 : 



Dem. " How many cows' tails would it take to 

 reach from earth to sky ? 



Res. " No more than one if it be long enough. 



Dem, " What is the distance from the surface of the 

 sea to the deepest part thereof? 



Res. " Only a stone's throw. 



