2 6o MORE POT-POURRI 



Italy/ belonging to Commendatore Hanbury. Last year, 

 with his help and permission, a little book came out 

 which was a great success, and quickly ran out of print ; 

 it was called ' Riviera Nature Notes.' A book of great 

 interest to us who are only English gardeners, what 

 would it be to those who are his neighbours on those 

 sunny slopes ? The first line in the book is : ' J'observe et 

 je suis la nature ; c'est mon secret pour tre heureux ' 

 (Florian). 



Can we hear this truth too often in prose and poetry 

 and in all art ? I have always thought one of the most 

 beautiful of Burne- Jones's early pictures is the one which 

 represents the wild god Pan lovingly receiving poor 

 little Psyche, thrown up by the river that refused to drown 

 her. And does it not mean that Nature from all time has 

 been the best comforter for one of the greatest of human 

 sorrows, unrequited love ? 



These ' Eiviera Notes ' are full of desultory but most 

 interesting information. How delightful to read them in 

 a dry Olive yard or under an umbrella Pine, with the 

 blue sea behind the tree's rich stem ! Or, when too warm 

 to walk so far, to sit below the Orange-trees, whose tops 

 above one's head are masses of golden fruit and sweet- 

 smelling flowers ! At the end of the book are chapters on 

 birds, insects, and the ' Eiviera ' traces of that individual 

 apparently so much alike in all countries prehistoric 

 man. Were they happy, those dim mysterious multitudes 

 of the Old Stone and New Stone ages ? This little book 

 must have delighted many, as it delighted me ; and it is 

 not too difficult for anyone as ignorant as I am to under- 

 stand. As it bears on my favourite topic, I must quote 

 from this book the fact that 'polenta' or Indian-corn 

 porridge is the chief food of the Piedmontese, and I observe 

 it is also stated that they do the hard manual labour at 

 ' La Mortola.' They work all about the country as navvies, 



