THE CHILDREN'S BOWER; OR, WHAT YOU LIKE. BY KENELM HENRY DIGBY. Sæpe sub exiguo munere magna latent. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1858. 270. C. 08. THE CHILDREN'S BOWER, &c. CHAPTER I. Na fine day, amidst all the triumph of the summer's youth, in a southern county of England, some strangers are passing outside the wall of a well-wooded park, "Nunc frondent silvæ, nunc formosissimus annus." The nightingale, the cuckoo, and the linnet, have long opened the beautiful season in these groves; the lark is singing over head; only the heat at this hour suspends the full concert. "The birds are chirping faintly, It scarcely is a song; But the breath of green creation And toilsome men are basking It is Wednesday, the 2nd of July, 1856. But, lo! something • Blackie. VOL. I. B |