19/22 It set them talking of the Pageant, of Corona's 'May Queen' dress, of the lines (or, to be accurate, the line and a half) she had to speak. This led to her repeating some verses she had learnt at the Greycoats' School. They began-- "I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and bowers." And Corona was crazy over them, because (as she put it) "they made you feel you were smelling all England out of a bottle." Brother Copas told her of the man who had written them; and of a lovelier poem he had written _To Meadows_-- "Ye have been fresh and green, Ye have been filled with flowers, And ye the walks have been Where maids have spent their hours. |