Our English Scene
What is this quality ? Perhaps if we could define it we should lose it. It is a gentleness, a serenity: built is more than that. Our trees, o∎er- grown into fantastic shapes, moss-sided-and venerable, contribute to thi, magic character. The variety of birds and bushes adds something too: the birds in their ceaseless flitting and business in the close woods and hedges give a secrecy and an intimacy which are not found abroad, es.n in such haunted spots as. the forest-rides of Fontainebleau, or the Tuscan slopes of Vallombrosa and Fiesolel We lack grandeur, at lea,L in the south, and our towns arc usually blots instead of brooches on the bosom of nature ; but in recompense for this our countryside has character that is best described by that old-fashioned word " gladness" ; a quality reflected in our jocund folk-songs.
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