INTRODUCTION 



than of human life he was to find his place and work 

 in the world. The heart of the poet spoke at last, 

 the conscious thinker struggled into being, his 

 vivid pictures of rural life brought him the reward 

 of fame, and an appreciative portion of the world 

 read with pleasure The Life of the Fields, The Open 

 Air, Wild Life in a Southern County, and the throbbing 

 Story of my Heart. 



"His mature authorship," says Mr. Salt, "dates 

 from the commencement of his five years' residence 

 at Surbiton, to which place he came in 1877 in 

 order to be nearer London, while yet preserving 

 what was to him a necessity of existence a secure 

 foothold in the country. This Surbiton period was a 

 most important one in JefFeries' career, not so much 

 because it provided material for those notable essays 

 which are comprised under the title of Nature near 

 London,zs it marked his progression from journalism 

 to literature, from observation to thought. Coate, 

 it is true, was still to be the background of his 

 finest word pictures ; but the influence of London 

 was very powerful in quickening and humanising his 

 imagination, for now for the first time he saw the 

 poetry that is in the great city as well as the poetry 

 that is in the open fields, and was able to ponder 

 deeply and fervently on the vast social problems of 

 his time. It is no mere paradox to say that he 

 learnt the message of the country by coming to the 



