xxviii MEMOIR. 



gathered many pleasant reminiscences. The follow- 

 ing spring, too, he was late in coming up, owing to 

 a return of his ailment during the Easter vacation, 

 when he was again a prisoner to his room at home. 

 Writing on April 23d (1862), during this period of 

 confinement, he says, " I see the tree-tops tipped 

 with green, and hear the thrush's voice, telling me 

 of old times, and asking me why I keep house, and 

 I've no doubt spring is here. So I want to be out 

 again, and to greet her as an old friend." And 

 presently he was out again, revelling in the spring 

 sunshine with his friends, the birds. But this is 

 not the intended quotation. Sufficiently recovered 

 from this illness for the journey back to Oxford, 

 he returned there on May 9th to find the place 

 "shaded with its great green trees, and with its 

 grey old walls looking almost joyous." It was not, 

 however, till two evenings later that he "came in 

 for the full benefit of the May aspect of things," as 

 he describes it, when he took a long ramble into the 

 country to Wytham, and first saw the rich pastoral 

 country which surrounds Oxford in its summer dress. 

 His account of this walk, written (again to the same 

 friend) on May 12th, tells forcibly of his appreciation 

 of all country sights and sounds. 



"... Your letter arrived yesterday morning," 

 he says, "and of course my evening was at once 

 laid out for me, and now I come to what I ought 



