OF CERTAIN TUBES 65 



copper beech that is the pride of Mrs. Slattery's 

 heart and the Five Poplars. And you can see 

 Slattery's lawn, the one by the river where the big 

 forget-me-not beds are. And there, as I exist, 

 is Mrs. Slattery with her scarlet parasol. And 

 there's the island pool about a foot and a half 

 below Mrs. Slattery. The fishes are rising 

 greedily. Do I pretend to see them from this 

 distance ? Not at all. But am I not up here ? 

 What else, then, should they do but rise ? Yet 

 what odds if they are rising ? What odds if I 

 am on Beacon Down and can't catch them. I can 

 paint that is, I can try to paint. Let them live ! 

 And I couldn't catch them if I were at the island 

 pool. I know those fishes. I say, sir, let them 

 live ! Below, you will observe, at the Lower End 

 the river turns again and is lost to sight. God 

 speed it to the sea ! 



Yes, I will be talking. 



I always talk when I am happy, and it makes 

 me very happy to use my new colours. Let me 

 tell you what I am painting, for I am already 

 beginning to have my doubts about the picture 

 as evidence of my employment of this morning. 



From the mill upwards you see the Beaulieu 

 water, the other half of the horseshoe; a mile 



F 



