HARMONY IN GOLD 209 



undulations crowned with firs, that sprang like little 

 sheafs here and there upon the ridges. The trees 

 stood thus in clumps, and supported each the other 

 against those winds that roam hither out of the 

 four quarters. Upon every platform or eminence 

 they appeared, now very blue against the warm heath, 

 now dark and clear-cut upon the sky, as in the 

 backgrounds of mediaeval pictures ; and beyond, seen 

 dimly through dips of the land, valleys lay mistily 

 green and red and pale, until great forests succeeded 

 them, and in their turn faded and mingled with the 

 air. Southward, above the seashore, arose lofty hills, 

 whose farther sides were precipices flanked by blue 

 water ; and, nearer, beneath a knoll of copper foliage 

 and dark pine, there hid one spot that gladdened the 

 heart of him who read man into this scene. 



At Hayes Barton a great spirit first saw the light, 

 and Walter Ralegh opened his new-born eyes on 

 Devon. Prime hero of an age of heroes, the quint- 

 essence of that glorious, unrestful time was he ; and 

 the work that he did, with its harvest of knightly 

 deeds and philosophic thoughts, and its ill portion 

 of cruel death at a coward king's hand — these are 

 all part of the whole. Into the texture of Nature's 

 triumph are also woven man's enduring work and 

 worthiness ; and a sunset glow of gratitude may linger 

 over each riofht human harvest, even as the October 

 sun gilds these huge planes and gratefully warms 

 their perfections of achievement. The hedgerow and 

 the fallow, the orchard and the grey tower set in 

 p 



