5 JUNE 1897, Page 15

CORRESPONDENCE,

WESTMORLAND LILIES. [To THZ EDITOR or Tag " SPECTATOH.1 SIR.—A.oree of wild lilies of the valley ! It sounds like the Elysian fields themselves, and in truth I am not far wrong in giving the name to the lily woods of Arnside Knott. So be persuaded to turn from the haunts of men awhile, and stroll through some quiet peaceful fields and some broken upland ground, where the orchis, the vetch, the hyacinth, and the globeflower are making a turkey pattern on the freshest green carpet, and I will introduce you to a Paradise

" Of cool, sweet smells 'Mid the droop of heaven's bells."

You skirt along the shores of Morecambe Bay, and as we go the tide is out. The burnished golden sand, with the rays of the sun, just beginning to think of rest behind that wonderful outline of hills, almost burns your eyes with its extraordinary glow, nigh touching flame. Through a pleasant north country farm you wander, and begin to climb the lily slopes of Arnside. The woods where this fairy-flower has elected to dwell in such profusion cover perhaps three or four hundred acreis of ground, and the beds of lilies are literally all over them, spreading in patches of from a quarter to a whole acre. Above them grow the nutwood, the dog-rose, and the bramble, while here and there the firs and yews give the scene a quiet distinctive dignity. Below the trees there is nothing but cool, broad, shady leaves, and the little bells of the "

Mai-

blame," as the Germans call our lily :—

"The stooping lilies of the valley

That love with shades and dews to daily, And bending droop on slender threads With broad hood leaves above their heads, Like white-robed maids in summer hours, Beneath umbrellas, shunning showers."

Not a sound can be heard except the bird's song; verily a place to dream in, and perhaps it is true, as is said, that the scent of the lily of the valley has a narcotic influence, for fancies and imaginings take possession of one's scent-soothed soul. The lilies seem a cool, pure world of themselves ; far away, indeed, is the stress and turmoil of the real world, for at this moment nothing seems real save acres of lily of the valley,—at any rate, for half an hour! Through a cutting in the wood the mighty and well-beloved outlines of the hills stand clearly against the horizon from Coniston Old Man to Kentmere. Helvellyn, Fairfield, and Red Screes rear their heads straight in front of us. Mountain peaks in the distance, and lilies of the valley all around us, verily " a sight for sair een." We do not need Gerarde's famous decoction of the blossoms, which he says is good against the goat and corn- forteth the heart ; " the comfort enters into us with the sight

of the fells and the scent of the flowers. We make no dye from our lovely lily leaves, beautiful colour though it be. We distil no famous aqua aurea from their bell-like flowers to preserve us, as in olden days, from contagious maladies; the lily beds of Arnside are just the joyous playground of

children and a dreamland for their elders.

And the tide covers the golden sands with its deepest blue of southern hue, the birds are quieting one by one, while the Arnside lilies, as the old sixteenth-century herbalist pat it, "comfort the heart."—I am, Sir, &c.,

Nutwood, Grange-over-Sands. A. M. WAKEFIELD.