A COTTESWOLD SUMMER BREEZE 191 



and at their borders the pungent woodruff raises 

 a pure white bloomhead a little white face not 

 craned on a languid stem for sunshine, but content 

 to smile and fade in its native shades. This weed, 

 allied to the tenacious duckweed, is sweet in life, 

 though humble ; and in death it yields up to the 

 breeze an intense nutty perfume, so strong that 

 if the plant be dried between woven fabrics this 

 memory of summer will last for months, or even 

 for years. 



The woodruff is offspring of the shade, but the 

 sun has as fair a child in many a glade. The 

 thyme may scent the brown hills ; but the wild 

 marjoram is queen-plant of the wood clearings 

 and rough, uncultivated banks. In some of the 

 Cotteswold valleys its purplish blooms are so thick 

 that at a distance they suggest the heather. Its 

 odour is less powerful than that of the garden 

 marjoram, but is sweeter, and flavours the air, 

 when the wind is not too strong, in a way that 

 seems good for the soul! It is generally an 

 unobtrusive plant, not spreading its arms in 

 untidy eagerness to seize on a favourite spot, but 

 holding itself compactly, and winning its way 



