U VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



most careless passer-by ; whereas the tiny 

 green and brown flowers of the fields and 

 hedgerows appeal to a more esoteric circle 

 a select few who can sympathise with nature 

 in her more sombre as well as in her brighter 

 moods. L'Allegro is the world's side of 

 nature, but II Penseroso is the poet's. 



Look, for example, at this tall stalk of 

 woodrush, its stem clasped by two or three 

 drooping and pensile leaf-blades, and its top 

 crowned by four or five thickly clustered 

 heads of small brown five-rayed flowers. At 

 first sight you would say it was merely a bit 

 of grass with a brownish top to it ; but gaze 

 a little closer and you will see that the heads 

 consist each of half a dozen tiny regular 

 blossoms of a very pretty fantastic sort. 

 Each blossom has six dry brown petals, with 

 silvery thin transparent edges ; and in the 

 middle, as many bright yellow stamens stand 

 out delicately against the brown background 

 of the corolla. Every one of them is like a 

 sombre copy in miniature of a lily or an 



