The Heath

“ The mail-cart had driven away for the south.
Nor even now did she go back to the cottage. She wandered away through the wild moorland wastes—hour after hour, and aimlessly; and when, by chance, a shepherd or crofter came along the road, she left the highway and went aside among the heather, pretending to seek for wild-flowers or the like: for sometimes, if not always, there was that in the beautiful, tender Highland eyes which she would have no stranger see. ”

“ Then, too, when they got out upon open heathland, though the time of its crimsoning had not yet come—and a wide sweep of rolling valley, and dark belts of firwoods contrasting with the brighter, richer green of oak, she would point him out this or that old church tower in the distance, and expatiate upon the archaeological treasures contained within the same, and her wide eyes would go bright with love of her subject, and her cheeks glow with the soft sun-kiss and the bracing upland air—even her words would trip each other up in her anxiety to get out a description. ”

“ The way into Crawley along the main road, passing the modern hamlet of Lowfield Heath, is uneventful. The church, the “White Lion,” and a few attendant houses stand on one side of the road, and on the other, by the farm or mansion styled Heath House, a sedgy piece of ground alone remains to show what the heath was like before enclosure. Much of the land is now under cultivation as a nursery for shrubs, and a bee-farm attracts the wayfarers’ attention nearer Crawley, where another hamlet has sprung up. ”

“ Heath's cottage stands aloof from all other dwellings, quite by itself, for the houses stand wide apart in this suburban portion of the town, and he has selected the pretty place because of its quiet beauty, and comparative isolation. He has neighbors within sight, within hearing, too, should he choose to be vociferous; but the houses about him all stand within their own pleasant grounds. His nearest neighbor, on the one hand, has placed a fine orchard between them, and on the other hand, he has no neighbor at all; there is a vacant lot, well planted and pleasantly ruinous to see. ”

“ When these are dispersed, where will they find a new army? They are delivered into your hands.’
Hampstead Heath may be approached by two or three roads: there is the direct road up Haverstock Hill; or there is the way by the Gospel Oak and the Vale of Health; or, again, there is the road from the north, or that from Highgate. But the way by which the Convict Wardens would march from Hyde Park was most certainly that of Haverstock Hill; and they would emerge upon the Heath by one of the narrow roads known as Holly Hill, Heath Street, and the Grove,—probably by all three. ”

“ There's a great advantage in living so near the Heath. I'm sure the air here is admirable; don't you smell how fresh it is? And then, one gets fond of the place one's lived in for years. I believe I should find it hard to leave Dunfield.'
Emily smiled gently. ”

“ If one stray too far to the right, the spire of Christ Church makes a beacon towards the Lower Heath, by the edge of which is the way up from Hampstead Heath Station, passing, below this church, the tall elms of the Well Walk, that was the centre of Spa gaieties. If one bear rather to the left, that course should lead out on the Judges’ Walk, a grandly-shaded terrace looking over the West Heath and the country beyond. ”

“ Quoth the heathcock, “Is there aught but weeping with you?” And they answered, saying, “O our brother, we have neither strength nor power nor resource against a weasel.” At this the heathcock was grieved and gave up hope of life; and he said to them, “The fault is not yours, but mine own, in that I hearkened to you and plucked out my wing-feathers, wherewith I used to fly. Indeed, I deserve death for having hearkened to you, and I blame you not in aught.” ”

“ Beyond the town, the way continues to run south-westwards, along the foot of the East Anglian heights, which here form the watershed between the basin of the Ouse and that of the Thames. Their northern escarpment is, at this point, still in its primæval condition, a steep slope of virgin turf, known as Royston Heath, the common property of the township. The Heath has a far-reaching view and delicious air, and the Royston folk do well in jealously guarding against any usurpation of their rights in it. ”

“ Hath bathed her soil to-day.
I have seen the strong man die,
And the stripling meet his fate,
Where the mountain-winds go sounding by,
In the Roncesvalles' Strait.
"In the gloomy Roncesvalles' Strait
There are helms and lances cleft;
And they that moved at morn elate
On a bed of heath are left!
There's many a fair young face,
Which the war steed hath gone o'er;
At many a board there is kept a place
For those that come no more!"
"Alas! for love, for woman's breast,
If woe like this must be!
—Hast thou seen a youth with an eagle crest,
And a white plume waving free? ”

“ At the end of the village lived, on their own little freehold, two brothers named Billings. They loafed away their time in the day, and poached at night; gathering around them every evening in their cottage, which went by the name of " Bachelors' Hall," the most reckless characters in the place. It was very easy, after the Burghley Park experiences, for John Clare to fall into this kind of temptation, and night after night he spent at Bachelors' Hall, reciting his songs amidst the thumping applause of heavy fists and hob-nailed boots.
At home things began to look more dreary than ever. ”

“ Then she raised her face and smiled.
"You maun think me silly. I'm greetin' noo for joy, I cried then for sorrow. As mither used to say--'Women are kittle cattle'--aren't we?" and she smiled, until the light in her sweet eyes dried the tears as the sun dries the dew from the heather bells. "And I suppose," she added, "that's when I lost my ring--though I didna miss it till I had left Daldowie far behin' me."
"And where have you been," I asked, "since then? Both Hector and I searched the length and breadth of Galloway for you, but without avail." ”

“ Under the silken folds of the Union Jack, Dutch and British alike enjoy the same liberties and privileges; but it is not of the land under the brilliant Southern Cross that we now write.
The purple heather is blooming on the moors and hillsides of bonnie Scotland, and in the glens shots are heard. Grouse-shooting has commenced in the Highlands, and a party of four are stalking through the heather, on sport intent.
One is a young lady, just blossoming into glorious womanhood. She is a keen sportswoman, and can handle a gun as well as the best of them. ”

“ "This is nothing," cried she; "I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out, into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights: where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there, had not brought Heathcliff so low I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff, now; ”

“ Hartley went back to his bungalow with something to think about. He had always regarded Heath as a difficult and rather violently religious man. They had never been friends, and he knew that they never could be friends, but he respected the man even without liking him. Now he was quite convinced that Heath, after some deliberation with his conscience, had lied to him, and it made him angry. He had admitted, with the greatest reluctance, that he had been through Paradise Street, and seen the boy, and his declaration that he had not seen him again did not ring with any real conviction. ”

“ Mrs. Reinold Heath was rarely in a sunny mood at the hour when her coffee and rolls came to her, as she sat propped against the pillows of the elaborately hung bed in her French gray and old-rose room. The same hour which brought the breakfast tray brought Mrs. Heath's social secretary and those duties which lie incumbent upon a leader of society's most exploited and inner circles.
Mrs. Heath, kimono-clad in the flooding morning light, looked all of her fifty years as she nodded curtly to her secretary. It was early winter and a year had passed since Stuart had left Cape Cod. ”

“ From 1588 until he died, Hatton was Chancellor of the University of Oxford. He wrote a few books on law or the drama, and had a considerable library.
[Pg 211]
HEATH, BENJAMIN
Arms.—Sa., 3 heathcocks arg., membered gu. Heath.
[Colle. Medicina Practica. Pisauri, 1617.]
Benjamin Heath (born 20th April 1704, died 13th September 1766) was a son of Benjamin Heath, a merchant of Exeter. He inherited a considerable fortune from his father, and as a young man travelled much on the Continent.
Mr. Heath spent all his life in the pursuit of literature and the collection of books. ”

“ In passing rapidly through the villages which lie under the Blenheim aegis, one's sense of the orderly and the beautiful is certainly gratified. The white cottages and pretty porches overgrown with jasmine and honeysuckle, the small gardens just now blazing with gorgeous hollyhocks, and often well stocked with fruit-trees, seem at first sight to leave little to be desired.
But look deeper. Talk with the peasantry, and you will find discontent everywhere. Not a grumbling, unreasonable discontent, but a deep sense that things are very far from what they should be. ”

“ No purgatory, and no everlasting flame, is needed to purify the sins of Heathcliff; his grave on the hillside will grow as green as any other spot of grass, moor-sheep will find the grass as sweet, heath and harebells will grow of the same colour on it as over a baby's grave. ”

“ I was very sick and weary, and I lay my head upon the mane of my nag, while Heath threw a leg across his saddle pommel, and straightened his slight figure; we both gazed earnestly.
The river lay in the hollow or ravine to the left, and a few farm-houses sat among the trees on the hill-tops beyond. A battery was planted at each house, and we could see the lines of red-clay parapets marking the sites. From the roof of one of the houses floated a speck of canvas,—the revolutionary flag. A horseman or two moved shadow-like [Pg 153] across a slope of yellow grain. ”

“ In former times every shepherd had his hut on the Downs. Sometimes it was a cave scooped out of the side of a bank, lined with heath or straw, and covered with sods of turf or hawthorn boughs. Here in rough weather the shepherd took refuge and watched his sheep. Sometimes he would read or otherwise amuse himself. ”

“ He was an honest and kindly young fellow and he worked hard. There was no flaw in his record, and Heath believed that he was under the influence of a very genuine religious feeling. He frequently came to see Heath, who knew his character thoroughly, and knew that he was weak in many respects. He talked enthusiastically of the girl he was going to marry, and Heath saw him off on the liner when Rydal got his leave and, full of glad anticipation, went away to bring out his wife. ”

“ Take this picture of a Norfolk village. "A stranger cannot enter the village without being struck with surprise at its wretched and desolate condition. Look where he may, he sees little else but thatched roofs—old, rotten, and shapeless—full of holes and overgrown with weeds; windows sometimes patched with rags, and sometimes plastered over with clay; the walls, which are nearly all of clay, full of cracks and crannies; and sheds and outhouses—where there are any—looking as if they had been overthrown very early in the present century, and left in the hopeless confusion in which they fell." ”

“ Foxes would sometimes kill the young lambs, and ravens pick out the eyes of a poor ewe that had fallen down some steep part of the hill. Buzzards and wild turkeys frequented the Downs, and at times even an eagle made its appearance.
When June came sheep-shearing was performed with patriarchal joviality and good-fellowship. The men formed themselves into companies, and appointed a captain and a lieutenant. The former was distinguished by a cap with a gold band, the latter wore a silver one. Then they met at the cottage of the captain, where they had a feast and arranged their plans. ”

“ That one whose birth was so ignominious, who for years had been a poor labourer, a gardener, a coalheaver, a cobbler, and at one time nothing more nor less than a tramp, should stand up in the metropolis of England, and not only have thousands crowding to hear him, but amongst them men of thought and rank, was enough to tempt the sincerest and most sensible of men to pride and self-exaltation. ”

“ I had been out all day, and came home dog-tired. I turned in early and left Heath reading a theological book in the veranda. I said, I remember, 'I'm absolutely beat, Padré; I have had enough to-day to give me nine or ten hours without stirring,' and he looked up and said, 'Don't complain of that, Atkins; there are worse things than sound sleep.' It struck me then that he hadn't known what it was for weeks, he looked so gaunt and thin, and I thought again of that other night that we had neither of us spoken about. ”

“ He moved suddenly like a man who is awakened from a thought heavier than sleep, and listened with a hunted look, the look of a man who is afraid of footsteps; he stood up, gathering his loose limbs together and watching the door. Steps came up the staircase, steps that stumbled a little, and if Heath had possessed Mhtoon Pah's art of reading the walk of his fellow creatures, he would have known that he might expect a woman and not a man. ”