THE SALT MARSHES OF SUFFOLK 105 



which treats of Peter Grimes, who " made fishing his 

 employ," we read of 



" The bounding marsh-bank and the blighted tree ; 

 The water only when the tides were high ; 

 When low, the mud half-cover'd and half-dry ; 

 The sun-burnt tar that blisters on the planks, 

 And bank-side stakes in their uneven ranks ; 

 Heaps of entangled weeds that slowly float 

 As the tide rolls by the impeded boat." 



In another poem, entitled The Lovers' Journey, which 

 is, in fact, a page of autobiography, he paints what 

 seemed to him the dull and desolate surroundings of 

 the mert at Aldeburgh. " Here," he cries and the 

 passage as penned by a botanist calls special atten- 

 tion 



" Here a grave Flora scarcely deigns to bloom ; 

 The few dull flowers that o'er the place are spread 

 Partake the nature of their fenny bed ; 

 Here on its wiry stem, in rigid bloom, 

 Grows the salt lavender that lacks perfume ; 

 Here the dwarf sallows creep, the septfoil harsh, 

 And the soft slimy mallow of the marsh. 

 Birds, save a wat'ry tribe, the district shun, 

 Nor chirp among the reeds where bitter waters run." 



The gloomy picture was doubtless to some extent due 

 to the state of despondency through which at the time 

 of writing he was passing, for in another passage he re- 

 minds us " that all that grows has grace," that " bog 

 and marsh and fen are only poor to undiscerning men." 

 He dwells, indeed, with affection on the flora of the 

 salt marshes. He notes the Butomus or flowering-rush 

 as growing " plentifully in the mere " between Thorpe 

 and Aldeburgh, together with the purple loosestrife 



