II22 



THE NATURE BOOK 



and courts, I can fancy the trees, with 

 bo\nng crests and waving arms, mur- 

 muring their mournful greeting, Ave ! 

 Ave! Morituri te salutant ! 



But there is no need to close upon this 

 subdued note. The trees are not all 

 dead yet, and in these days of parks and 

 gardens, when not only do men seem 



of diminished strength. Daily each of 

 the Embankment planes stretches its 

 fingers a Uttle nearer towards its sister 

 tree. Many of us may see them all join 

 hands and make continuous bands of 

 green along the noble street. Our grand- 

 children may perhaps see the branches 

 meeting across the way. 



FINSBURY CIRCUS. 



Pltotc'^raph by Pictorial .-l^ency. 



alive to the value of open spaces as 

 " lungs," but also hav^e a tender and 

 civilised regard for things beautiful and 

 venerable ; now, when so much of our 

 talk is of forestry, we may well hope that 

 for trees as well as men there is a good 

 time coming. I have never seen better- 

 shaped and healthier saphngs than the 

 young mulberries of Fountain Court, nor 

 do the older trees that shadow that 

 memory-haunted spot show any signs 



Of these trees, and of the Temple 

 Gardens close by, we have had no space 

 to write, nor of those of the other Inns 

 of Court. We have passed by St. Paul's 

 Churchyard, and the trees that cluster 

 round the burial place of Milton ; and 

 the avenue at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, 

 and many another spot where grass 

 S])rings and trees put forth their leaves 

 for the perpetual ])leasur(> and refresh- 

 ment of dwellers in London. 



Arthur Scammell. 



