E.T3K PREFACE 



To me this spot may be attractive, to you another; 

 a third thinks yonder gnarled oak the most artistic. 

 Nor could I guarantee that every one should see 

 the same things under the same conditions of 

 season, time or weather. How could I arrange 

 for you next autumn to see the sprays of the horse- 

 chestnut, scarlet from frost, reflected in the dark 

 water of the brook ? There might not be any frost 

 till all the leaves had dropped. How could I 

 contrive that the cuckoos should circle round the 

 copse, the sunlight glint upon the stream, the warm 

 sweet wind come breathing over the young corn 

 just when I should wish you to feel it ? Every one 

 must find their own locality. I find a favourite 

 wild-flower here, and the spot is dear to me ; you 

 find yours yonder. Neither painter nor writer can 

 show the spectator their originals. It would be 

 very easy, too, to pass any of these places and see 

 nothing, or but little. Birds are wayward, wild 

 creatures uncertain. The tree crowded with wood- 

 pigeons one minute is empty the next. To traverse 

 the paths day by day, and week by week; to keep 

 an eye ever on the fields from year's end to year's 

 end, is the one only method of knowing what really 

 is in, or comes to them. That the sitting gambler 

 sweeps the board is true of these matters. The 

 richest locality may be apparently devoid of interest 

 just at the juncture of a chance visit. 



