CHAPTER XVI 



LENT LILY WOOD 



ALTHOUGH the daffodil or Lent lily has been 

 immortalised by Shakespeare as the flower of 

 the English spring, 



" That comes before the swallow dares, and takes 

 The winds of March with beauty," 



yet in most seasons it is seldom seen in full blossom 

 before April. The second week in the month is per- 

 haps the best time to visit Lent Lily Wood in order to 

 see the golden daffodils in their complete glory. It is 

 indeed a sight never to be forgotten. For thirty years 

 and more I have been what old Gerard calls " a diligent 

 and curious searcher after simples " that is, an ardent 

 botanist who has travelled far arid wide in search of 

 wild flowers but in all my wanderings up and down the 

 country I have never met with so magnificent a display 

 of spring flowers as the Lent Lily Wood now presents. 

 The daffodils are to be seen in myriads, thousands upon 

 thousands, thickly scattered throughout the wood. In 

 the month of May there will be sheets of hyacinths, 

 which seem, as Tennyson said, as though " the heavens 

 were upbreaking thro' the earth" ; but though the 

 bluebells will present "a paradise of blossom," yet in 

 point of splendour they do not equal the display of 

 daffodils in mid-April. At this season there is less 



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