298 



NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



had not been distinguished by beauty or any pecu- 

 liarly attractive quality above others. 



I fancy that after all I did not convince him 

 of his error. I rather hope not. For now when I 

 recall the scenes we looked upon together — that wild 

 stream of the Rother; the small old-world peace- 

 ful villages; the hUls of so pure and fresh a green, 

 their lower slopes and valleys purple and dark with 

 beech and pine ; when I find how persistently it all 

 comes back to me, and how vivid and beautiful the 

 impression is, I am not quite sure that I was wholly 

 right in my philosophy, and that his delusion was 

 nothing but a delusion. 



