

Ti 



CHAPTER IV 



THE SCENTS OF EARLY SUMMER 



HE lily of the valley is, I think, the very first of the 



flowers whose scent is a true summer scent, for the * May 



lily,' as our ancestors called it, never flowers till the bitter 



winds we so often get in late spring are over When the 



lily of the valley flowers we know in truth that summer has 



come i 



* The hills tell each other, and the listening 



Valleys hear ; all our longing eyes are turned 



Up to thy bright pavilions ; issue forth, 



And let thy holy feet visit our clime ! ' 



Only in shade is it possible to see lilies of the valley in 

 their beauty, with the softened light shining through their 

 leaves on to the bells, hung like ' fairy lamps of snow.' 

 In the shade of the woodlands so exquisite is this light that 

 it seems as though the leaves were fashioned of the softest 

 and richest velvet. Small wonder that to Keats, with his 

 deep love of mysterious colours, the ' sweet lily of the 

 lowly vale' was 'the queen of flowers.' Is any other flower 

 set in such an exquisite aura of radiant yet hushed light ? 



Lilies of the valley figure exquisitely in the magnificent 

 * Adoration of the Mystic Lamb ' by the van Eycks. The 

 Mother of Our Lord is depicted with a crown of rubies, 

 sapphires and pearls set in gold. The rubies alternate 

 with the sapphires, the former being square-cut and 

 surrounded with pearls. Above each ruby are set two 

 columbines surmounted by a Madonna lily, and above 

 each sapphire are roses surmounted by three stalks of 



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