of our ivy-clad cottages-such an exceeding wealth of quiet and surpassing loveliness that, for a moment, we are constrained to pause in wondering admiration.

Oaks, where we stand, growing from either bank, fling their branches across from side to side, and meet and interlace midway. But at one spot there is an opening in the leafy shroud, and through the 'vignette' thus woven by the natural and untrained garlands of oak foliage we see the blue sky, and though it is but a patch of uniform colour and we cannot now see as we could at night the contrasting beauty of the stars- the golden nails,' as a pretty fancy loves to consider them, of the floor of heaven-the sunny blue serves to throw out in strong relief the autumnal colouring of the oak leaves.

From looking up at the sky and at the leafy canopy stretching immediately over us let us turn to look at our lane. Its roadway, margined on either side by broad and bright-green bands of grass-the verdant turf now level, now sloping, and now undulating-winds and turns in serpentine fashion as it gently ascends through bands of

shadow and bands, or breaks, of sunshine until it is lost in the near distance by overarching trees.

As far as we can see this avenue of greenery is bordered by the wealthy verdancy of its hedgebanks and canopied by foliage, and when the roadway disappears from sight it seems to wind up amongst trees. Going into the lane the pleasant sound of running water falls upon the ear. It flows from a tree-bordered meadow on our right and, passing through a tiny arch under the roadway to the opposite side, its moist banks provide a congenial home for clustering but now flowerless forms of Crowfoot and Daisy. The little stream, passing on by the leaning bole of a large Oak, covered by Moss, grey Lichen and sprays of trailing Ivy, trickles away down the lane in the direction from which we have come and, keeping by the hedgeside, is soon lost from view.

A few yards further on our lane widens out, and, at this spot, is no longer overarched by trees. But the greensward on either side is, in places, brightly starred by the blossoms of the Hawkweed, whilst the clustered foliage of the

hedgebanks makes merry with the open sunshine. For the moment the Brambles carry the palm of beauty. The purple of their stems contrasts with their still green leaves and blends with those leaves which have put on their autumnal tints. On the same bush there is the greenish white of late buds, the pink blush of tardy blossoms, and the green, red, and black colours of autumnal fruit. In the bramble stems, too, there is variety; for whilst their prevailing colour is purple they are, in places, overspread by vermilion hues: and, where this hue is spread upon the stem, the adjacent foliage is dyed with the same rich colour. Strongly contrasting with the vermilion leaves are others of bright yellow, approaching gold, and others of greenish white. Now they are sombre in the hue of green, now flushed with crimson, now green and purple-blotched, but always beautiful. The Hawthorns, too, in the same hedgebank, with stems and twigs ashen and purple, are clothed with foliage of varying shades, from golden to dark and shining green, all set off in contrast against the brilliant red of the glistening haws. Dogrose leaves are here just

being overspread with their autumnal flush, and do not, as yet, show conspicuously, but the pinkish red of maple twigs and the red flush of the maple foliage attracts attention to this beautiful shrub-half shrub, half tree-whilst the yellowing leaves of the Hazel, standing out from the hedge-top, and the sombre leaves and purple stems of the modest Blackthorn lend their own peculiar features to the scene.

Underneath the mass of outside greenery, where shadows nestle at the base of the hedgebanks, we note the shining tips of the ever-green Hartstongue, the broader fronds of the Male Fern, and graceful forms of Polystichum angulare peeping out modestly from their shady habitats-the fronds of these familiar Ferns emerging from the bed of trailing Ivy which forms the innermost covering of the hedgebank.

As the lane begins to narrow again between its verdant banks, two Oaks, on either side of the way, interlace their leafy branches overhead. But the sunlight again comes in, as we pass beyond them, upon the hedgebank shrubbery now rising higher as we continue our way-Field Maples, on

either side, with waving leaves of yellow, edged and blotched with brown, standing out in relief against the mass of normal green, their winged samaras, yellowish green tinged with a delicate flush of pink, peeping out in pretty clusters between the leaves. Below the Maples are smaller shrubs of Blackthorn, Bramble, and trailing Dogrose. A Willow, rising from the left-hand hedgebank, shows its fast yellowing leaves, tall forms of Bracken, still green and uncoloured, save that the tips of one single pinnule is dyed with gold, grow from the clustering mass, whilst, as before, in the lowermost shady recesses of the bank are verdant Moss and glistening Ivy, the familiar gloss of the Hartstongue and large, conspicuous leaves of the now flowerless Primrose.

Away on either side of our lane are sloping meadows, bordered by and embowered in trees, and opened up to view as the lane widens. Three huge Oaks stand in a line near us in the park on our left, one of them having its great, hollow trunk split down to the ground. The large, mossy and lichen-covered limbs of these noble trees are flung to a great breadth on either side.