erected over them, whence issued the measured sound of the saw and the
occasional voices of the workmen, almost concealed by their subterranean
position, were placed in the hollows. At the far side of the coppice,
the operation of hewing down the underwood was still proceeding, and the
sharp strokes of the axe and the bill, softened by distance, came across
the monotonous jar of the never-ceasing saw. The surface of the ground
was prettily tumbled about, comprehending as pleasant a variety of hill
and dale as could well be comprised in some thirty acres. It declined,
however, generally speaking, towards the centre of the coppice, along
which a small, very small rivulet, scarcely more than a runlet, wound
its way in a thousand graceful meanders. Tracking upward the course of
the little stream, we soon arrived at that which had been the ostensible
object of our drive--the spot whence it sprung.

It was a steep irregular acclivity on the highest side of the wood,
a mound, I had almost said a rock, of earth, cloven in two about the
middle, but with so narrow a fissure that the brushwood which grew on
either side nearly filled up the opening, so that the source of the
spring still remained concealed, although the rapid gushing of the
water made a pleasant music in that pleasant place; and here and there
a sunbeam, striking upon the sparkling stream, shone with a bright and
glancing light amidst the dark ivies, and brambles, and mossy stumps of
trees, that grew around.

This mound had apparently been cut a year or two ago, so that it
presented an appearance of mingled wildness and gaiety, that contrasted
very agreeably with the rest of the coppice; whose trodden-down flowers
I had grieved over, even whilst admiring the picturesque effect of the
woodcutters and their several operations. Here, however, reigned the
flowery spring in all her glory. Violets, pansies, orchises, oxslips,
the elegant woodsorrel, the delicate wood anemone, and the enamelled
wild hyacinth, were sprinkled profusely amongst the mosses, and lichens,
and dead leaves, which formed so rich a carpet beneath our feet.
Primroses, above all, were there of almost every hue, from the rare and
pearly white, to the deepest pinkish purple, coloured by some diversity
of soil, the pretty freak of nature's gardening; whilst the common
yellow blossom--commonest and prettiest of all--peeped out from amongst
the boughs in the stump of an old willow, like (to borrow the si