VISITING THE GARDENS 159 



The linnet and the throstle, too, and after dark the long 



halloo, 

 And golden-eyed tit-whit, tu-ivhoo of owls that ogle London. 



For Noah hardly knew a bird of any kind that isn't heard 

 At Kew, at Kew in lilac-time (and oh, so near to London !) 

 And when the rose begins to pout and all the chestnut spires 



are out 

 You'll hear the rest without a doubt, all chorusing for 



London. 



This minstrel, as is the way witli his order, 

 has an eye upon one sweetest season and upon 

 one frequent class of visitors, who, when they 

 get to Kew, might almost as well, it seems, be 

 anywhere else. Noah, whose ornithological 

 experience should have been larger than Mr. 

 Noyes contemplates, was familiar with a pheno- 

 menon often seen at Kew, of visitors going in 

 couples, all eyes for one another, with no more 

 regard to their leafy and flowery surroundings 

 than may suffice to give a vague sense of tread- 

 ing primrose paths. Such pairs are observed to 

 seek out retired nooks, where perhaps they light 

 on a wonderland hidden from more curious 

 survey. I can tell of a blind man every day 

 taking a walk in those spacious gardens. One can 

 see spectacled gentlemen peering into the hot- 

 houses and museums, who may be suspected of 



