NATURE NOTES 
178 
the yellow iris (Iris Pseiid-acorus), the great water dock, comfreys, and nodding 
grasses and sedges. At Laleham most of the parly went up to the church 
and admired the square ivied tower, the low, red-tiled brick porch with a 
curious dormer window above it in the roof of the nave, the old transition 
Norman pillars, and the quaintly lighted altar. Some, too, lingered over the 
simple grave of Matthew Arnold, who lies buried here in the churchyard of the 
village where he was born, and where he passed so many years of his life. From 
the church it was only a short walk back to the river, then veiled in evening 
shadows ; over the ferry to the opposite bank, where fumitory, the yellow 
vetchling, and the feathery white crowns of some umbellifers graced the hedge. 
The way then led along a lane, where trails of the dog rose flowered high above 
reach, and the elder and guelder-rose blossoms mixed with the yet green haw- 
berries. From the tranquillity of the lane, broken only by the evening songs of 
blackbird and nightingale, the party emerged on to the noisy Saturday night 
shopping of the Chertsey High Street. But the fragrance of the gathered 
blossoms, the pleasant walk by the river, and the old world appearance of some 
of the houses in the High Street overcame even the prosaic noise of the country 
market place, and it was a happy party that left the sights and scenes of the 
country for the toilworn metropolis. 
June 25. — A large and representative company made a pilgrimage to Stan- 
more principally with a view to visiting “ The Grove,” by kind permission of Mrs. 
Brightwen, F.Z.S., f'.E.S., Vice-President. Mr. John \V. Odell acted as guide 
and met the party at .Stanmore station. A brief halt was made at the church- 
yard, in which there still remain the ruins of the Church which was in use before 
the present building was erected. In the centre of the ruins there is situated a 
tomb which might well have been the resting place of a naturalist, for on it are 
carved “creeping things innumerable,” not to mention birds and butterflies, 
stoats eating eggs and lizards swallowing flies. Buried beneath the monument, 
however, lies a celebrated beauty, who in time gone by gave sittings to Ary 
Scheffer. Afterwards, by the kind invitation of the Rector, the Rev. S. F. L. 
Bernays, the members and their friends visited the Rectory grounds, in which at 
least thirty-seven kinds of birds have built their nests and reared their young. At 
the time there was on the ornamental water a very interesting nest built by a 
semi-wild duck who had furnished it with an elaborate roof. Other features 
which excited admiration in what is altogether a delightful spot, were a beautiful 
hornbeam with branches down to the ground, a peculiar tree belonging to the 
beech family, and a fasciated lily. 
After leaving the Rectory the party walked direct to the Vine Inn, on 
Stanmore Common, where a good tea was taken, a feature of which was the 
surprising number of new laid eggs which made their appearance unasked for. 
It transpired afterwards, however, that these were a present from Mrs. Bright- 
wen. An object on the window-sill of the Inn which gave rise to considerable 
discussion was a fern growing inside a whisky bottle. It seemed to be flourishing 
in spite of the neck being apparently closed by roots, though the porous nature 
of what soil had been provided no doubt allowed sufficient air to enter the bottle. 
After tea a move was made to “The Grove,” where Mrs. Brightwen herself 
received the party in her conservatory and conducted it through her charming 
museum. It was, however, with great sorrow that some of the party noticed that 
Mrs. Brightwen from time to time took advantage of a chair when giving these 
pleasing little descriptions of the various objects in her collection which every one 
appreciates so highly. Interesting as are Mrs. Bright wen’s writings with which 
Selbornians are familiar, it stands to reason that Mrs. Brightwen’s own person- 
ality in the centre of the beautiful spot in which she has carried on her life’s work 
must needs have a greater attraction for those who are privileged to meet her. 
On leaving the house the tour was made through the grounds and conservatories, 
where many a rare and curious British plant, many a strange importation from 
foreign lands was seen and graphically described by Mr. Odell, in whose charge 
they are. Space does not allow of anything like an exhaustive list being given, 
but one might mention the woad with which the ancient Britons dyed their naked 
bodies blue, the lady’s slipper orchid and the variety of snap-dragon, known as 
“ peloria,” which has secondarily acquired a regular corolla owing to each jtetal 
producing a spur. These were out of doors. In the houses were the curious 
flowers of the Aristolochia or Dutchman’s Pipe, seedlings of Cacti, Loophar 
