THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



CHAPTER I 



THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



DR ARNOLD of Rugby used to say : " Wild 

 flowers are my music." He found in wild flowers, 

 not, indeed, in the scientific study of botany, but in 

 the simple love of our wayside flora, that refreshment 

 and recreation which many persons find in music. 

 " I cannot perceive," he wrote to a friend with reference 

 to music, " what to others is a keen source of pleasure ; 

 but, on the other hand, there are many men who cannot 

 enter into the deep delight with which I look at wood- 

 anemones or wood-sorrel." One great charm associ- 

 ated with his beloved home of Fox How, between 

 Rydal and Ambleside, was the abundance of wild 

 flowers. He loved them, he used to say, " as a child 

 loves them." 



To many other distinguished men, besides the great 

 Headmaster of Rugby, have wild flowers been the 

 music of their lives. It is proposed in this chapter to 

 consider a few signal illustrations of this fascinating 

 recreation, which has appealed alike to poets and phil- 

 osophers and men of letters, as well as to individuals 

 of a more scientific attitude of mind. 



Among philosophers who found in wild flowers the 

 solace and refreshment of their lives, two notable names 



