68 SYLVAN WINTJiR. 



false taste. Hence arise the numerous absurdities 

 of gaudy decoration. In the same manner a dis- 

 like to any particular colour shows a squeamish- 

 ness which should as little be encouraged. 

 Indeed, when you have only one colour to deal 

 with, as in painting the wainscot of your room, 

 the eye, properly enough, gives a preference to 

 some soft, pleasant tint, in opposition to a glaring, 

 bold one ; but when colours act in concert (as is 

 the case in all scenery), red, blue, yellow,^light 

 green, or dingy green, are all alike, the virtue 

 of each consists solely in its agreement with its 

 neighbours.' * 



One little extract from the charming writings 

 of Mr. Leo Grindon must be given in support of 

 the theme of praise which has been here attempted 

 of the beautiful Yew. In his ' Trees of Old Eng- 

 land ' Mr. Grindon says, ' Nature gives the Yew a 

 very different abiding-place from the cemetery ; 

 and rightly viewed and understood, perhaps, the 

 Yew may prove, after all, notwithstanding its 

 possession of deadly sap, to be a tree that should 

 contribute ideas rather of cheerfulness than of 

 * 'Forest Scenery,' pages 128-9. 



