MARCH 59 



a vulgar colour, and there was so much of it about that 

 she asked me to put the flowers down.' The strange 

 thing was that my friend was, in many respects, a man 

 cultivated above his fellows, not unversed in the Greek 

 poets, and with a catholic taste in literature. Be sure 

 that I bombarded him with Shakespeare, Herrick, and 

 Wordsworth. I even protested against common flowers 

 being condemned as vulgar, recalling the gentle rebuke 

 addressed by Sir Walter Scott to his daughter, when she 

 declared she could not endure something because it was 

 vulgar. ' My dear,' said he, ' you speak like a very young 

 lady. Do you know, after all, the meaning of this word 

 vulgar? It is only common, nothing that is common, 

 except wickedness, can deserve to be spoken of with 

 contempt. When you have lived to my years, you will 

 be disposed to agree with me in thanking God that 

 nothing really worth having or caring about in this 

 world is uncommon.' 



Well, the minister and his good lady passed hence 

 years ago. It may be that their spirits, wandering amid 

 Homer's meads of asphodel, have wakened ere this to 

 a new sense of beauty in leaf and flower. Meanwhile, 

 the daffodils in the old kirkyard have recovered from 

 the harsh treatment, and bear annual tribute of goblin 

 gold as lavishly as ever. 



XVII 



Sometimes I feel ashamed of the random and super- 

 ficial quality of these notes, suggested as they 



11 ' 1_ A * lT * U **" Curl6W 



generally are by the flash of a wing or the 



gleam of a flower; yet they bring me so many corre- 



