We have a greyhound, called May Flower, of excelling grace and symmetry--just of the color of the May blossom--like marble with the sun upon it; and she kills every hare she sees--takes them up in the middle of the back, brings them in her mouth to my father, and lays them down at his feet. I assure you she is quite a study while bringing the hares--the fine contrast of color--her beautiful position, head and tail up, and her long neck arched like that of a swan--with the shade shifting upon her beautiful limbs, and her black eyes really emitting light! MARY RUSSELL MITFORD: _Letter to Sir William Elford_, in the former’s ‘Life,’ by L’Estrange. * * * * * [Sidenote: Pleasure in a glow-worm.] Did you ever see a glow-worm half way up a high tree? We did last night. It was a tall elm, stripped of large branches almost to the top, as the fashion is in this country, but the trunk clothed with little green twigs, upon one of which the glow-worm hung like a lamp, looking so beautiful! MARY RUSSELL MITFORD: _Letter to Sir William Elford_, in the former’s ‘Life,’ by L’Estrange. * * * * * [Sidenote: Love of field flowers.] In truth, nothing can be more vulgar than my taste in flowers, for which I have a passion. I like scarcely any but the common ones. First and best I love violets, and primroses, and cowslips, and wood anemones, and the whole train of field flowers; then roses of every kind and color, especially the great cabbage rose; then the blossoms of the lilac and laburnum, the horse-chestnut, the asters, the jasmine, and the honeysuckle; and to close the list, lilies of the valley, sweet peas, and the red pinks which are found in cottagers’ gardens. This is my confession of faith. MARY RUSSELL MITFORD: _Letter to Sir William Elford_, in the former’s ‘Life,’ by L’Estrange. * * * * * [Sidenote: Pet robin.]