sentence "Do not touch the evidence which time has recorded of the days gone by" largely in his mind. Within the church of Ashby Puerorum we observed an interesting early sixteenth-century brass to Richard Littlebury, his wife, and quiverful of ten children. Also in the pavement under the communion table a fine incised marble slab to a priest, who is shown in Eucharistic vestments.
"TENNYSON'S BROOK" Then our road dipped down into a Devonshire-like lane, deep in shade, with high hedgerows on either side, and branching trees overhead, through the rustling foliage of which the softened sunshine shone in a subdued golden-green, delightfully grateful and refreshing to the eye. At the foot of the dip we crossed a little "babbling brook" on a little one-arched bridge,—a brook that flows past the foot of Somersby rectory garden, about half a mile away, and is locally known as "Tennyson's brook." One cannot but believe that this is the exception to the rule, and supplied the poet with the subject of his well-known poem. In this belief the stream had a special charm for us; of itself, though pleasant enough to look upon, it is insignificant, but the magic art of a great poet has made it as famous as many a mighty river, such is the power of the pen; a power that promises to rule the world, and dictate even to dictators! We halted here a little while and watched the tiny clear-watered stream flowing on brightly blue, sparkling and rippling in the light, and here and there, beneath the grassy banks and bramble bushes, showing a lovely translucent tawny tint, and again a tremulous yellow where it glided
