Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/228

130 The soft green grass shall our carpet be,

O'er canopied high by the forest-tree;

And bank and brooklet, and far-off scene,

Like pictures shall show round our haunt, I ween,

And wind-flowers, and day's-eyes, and lilies fair,

And woodbines and briar-roses sweet and rare,

Shall be bower and garden.—Come with us there!

Spenser's "Shepheard's Calender" has many exquisite sketches of scenery, and in his June we find Hobbinol thus describing his favourite retreat.

Beautiful, in their rich, and calm, and sunlit Summer pride, are the rural scenes of our own dear England. Beautiful, even, is the memory of spots we have transiently beheld in such a season; for though we may dwell in them but an hour, we remember them for a life: and often do they rise before the mind's eye like pictures, gladdening many a lonely hour with their silent and dreamy eloquence; telling of the thousand "changes of time and tide," which we have seen and felt, since we gazed on the bright realities; and proving how precious is