Excerpt from Essays in Romance: And Studies From Life Through moss and ivy, and sings a song whereof the bur den is clear to those who listen through the summer night. Where huge cliffs that might front Ocean itself are hung with festoons of ivy, and fringed with golden furze. Where the spring wild -flowers earliest begin to bloom. Where beneath the solemn branches of the wide spreading trees the blue hyacinth, and the wood-sorrel, and the sweet violet, and the wild geranium disperse the gloom. Where the owl sweeps softly through the dark ness or blinks at the passers-by from her nest high among the bushy ivy on the rocks. Where the thrush discourses exquisite music through the April twilight, thankin g God in her sweet fashion that since He has denied her immortality, her lines upon His earth have fallen in pleasant places. Where in breezy May the roving gipsy of the Spring finds a voice that might suit the dreamiest and most pensive of birds. Where when in J une after noons deep languor falls upon the wood, the inarticulate well-pleased thanksgiving of the cushat rises from far-ofi' woodland depths. Where the thorn is white with blossoms - snow-flakes that do not melt in the sunlight - and the lilac and the laburnum make all the hillside gay. Where the garden is full of old-fashioned roses and old-fashioned herbs, that diffuse a fragrance like that which clings to the brocaded dress of your great great grandmother which has been put away religiously ever since she wore it one memorable night when the Prince danced with her in his palace of Holyrood. Where the dovecot is as old fashioned as the flowers, and the haunt now only of the light-winged swallow - the odour of grand old pigeon pasties growing faint, dying away, in the distance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.