1892 A SONNET 295 



MALVERN 1892 



1 To doze upon a sunny hill in June, 



And hear the lullaby that Nature lends ; 



To drink the cup that sweet contentment blends 

 "With sweetlier love of those whose hearts shall soon 

 Reverberate with joy, as they attune 



Their praise to praises that achievement sends I 



This is to feel that bounteous Nature bends 

 A mother's smile on manhood in its noon. 



But when the shadows of the twilight come, 

 And high Ambition needs must fold his wings, 



"While voices both of hearts and hills grow dumb, 

 Can she still bring the smile that now she brings ? 

 Yea, by the memory of brighter things, 



I'll trust her in the night that calls me home.' 



journal, May and June 1892. — Had a delightful 

 visit from the Butchers and Mr. H. Graham, later on 

 the Comptons, and Mr. Edmund Gosse, full of witty 

 and wise sayings. Lord Compton sang more divinely 

 than ever, and the Principal of Brasenose played the 

 piano. It was a real musical feast. 



Professor Le Conte came to stay here ; we had 

 Mr. Gore and one or two others to meet him. 



To Miss G. E. Bomanes. 



94 St. Aldate's, Oxford : June 10, 1892. 



My dearest Charlotte, — I received your letter of 

 the 6th inst., together with the pair of slippers ; the 

 latter are the very things which are required when 

 occasion again arises. 



Ever since you left we have been having Italian 



