CHAPTER XIX 

 THE FURZE IN ITS GLORY 



Fascination of the furze The furze in literature Evelyn on the 

 furze Furze faggots The beauty the effect of contrast Large 

 masses of bloom Various aspects of the furze Fragrance 

 Linnaeus and the furze The cynic a spiritual harpy Furze at 

 the Land's End The stone hedges ropes of bloom Eye-dazz- 

 ling colour Furze by the sea Yellow and blue. 



I THINK that of all plants indigenous in this 

 island the furze delights me the most. This says 

 a good deal for a man who takes as much pleasure 

 as any one in green and growing things ; in all of 

 them, from the elm of greatest girth at Windsor or 

 Badminton, or the noblest pine at Eversley, or the 

 most aged oak at Aldermaston, down to the little ivy- 

 leafed toad-flax growing on the wall. They move me, 

 each in its way, according to its character, to admira- 

 tion, love and reverence. No sooner do I begin to 

 speak or even to think of them than they, or their 

 images, are seen springing up as by a miracle round 

 me, until I seem to be in a vast open forest where all 

 beautiful things flourish exceedingly and each in turn 



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