THE NEW YEAR WIND 317 



channel to be found later perhaps on the snipe hags of Clare. 

 To them the west wind has no terrors ; and they discover an 

 ideal home in the Outer Hebrides, from which other animals 

 shrink. 



It is a common mock against the Englishman that what- 

 ever subjects may be broached he will in the sequel return 



ATTITUDES OF SNIPE 



to the weather. Perhaps after all it is among the most im- 

 portant of all conversational subjects. But talk about the 

 west wind has risen to the very highest summit of which 

 expression and feeling are capable. Shelley's ' Ode to the 

 West Wind ' is supreme among odes ; and if we must com- 

 pare it with other odes on my subject, Keats's ' Ode to 

 Autumn,' another conversation on the weather, will come 

 next it. In his childlike and ingenuous way Shelley con- 



Y 



