18 NATURE IN ENGLAND. 



at a stile from which a foot-path led across broad, 

 sunny fields to a stately highway. To give a more 

 minute account of English country scenes arid sounds 

 in midsummer, I will here copy some jottings in my 

 note-book, made then and there : 



"July 16. In the fields Beyond Shottery. Bright 

 and breezy, with appearance of slight showers in the 

 distance. Thermometer probably about seventy ; a 

 good working temperature. Clover white, red, and 

 yellow (white predominating) in the fields all about 

 me. The red very ruddy; the white large. The 

 only noticeable bird voice that of the yellow-ham- 

 mer, two or throe being within ear-shot. The song 

 is much like certain sparrow songs, only inferior: 

 Sip, sip, sip, see-e-e-e ; or If, if, if, you pleas-e-e-e. 

 Honey-bees on the white clover. Turf very thick 

 and springy, supporting two or three kinds of grass 

 resembling redtop and bearded rye-grass. Narrow- 

 leaved plantain, a few buttercups, a small yellow 

 flower unknown to me (probably ladies' fingers), 

 also a species of dandelion and prunella. The land 

 thrown into marked swells twenty feet broad. Two 

 Sunday-school girls lying on the grass in the other 

 end of the field. A number of young men playing 

 some game, perhaps cards, seated on the ground in 

 an adjoining field. Scarcely any signs of midsum- 

 mer to me ; no ripeness or maturity in Nature yet. 

 The grass very tender and succulent, the streams full 

 and roily. Yarrow and cinque-foil also in the grass 

 where I sit. The plantain in bloom and fragrant. 



