'Oh, what a lovely afternoon it was! A Welsh afternoon could not have
been lovelier. In fact, it carried my mind back here. The sun,
shining on the buttercups and the grey-tufted standing grass, made
the meadows look as though covered with a tapestry that shifted from
grey to lavender, and then from lavender to gold, as the soft breeze
moved over it. And many of the birds were still in full song; and
brilliant as was the music of the skylarks, the blackbirds and
thrushes were so numerous that the music falling from the sky seemed
caught and swallowed up by the music rising from the hedgerows and
trees.
'I lingered at one of the gates through which we passed to enjoy the
beauty undisturbed by the motion of my own body.
'"I have often wished," Mr. D'Arcy said, "that I had a tithe of your
passion for Nature, and all your knowledge of Nature. To have been
born in London and to have passed one's youth there is a great loss.
Nature has to be learnt, as art has to be learnt, in earliest youth."
'"What makes you know that my chief passion is love of Nature?" I
asked.
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