5 October 1868 – 11 October 1868

To Southampton. Lunch at Dr. Bond's ; then with a party to the New Forest — Miss Webster, Mr. and Mrs. Hankin, etc. Swan-Green, Queen's Bower, rich red sunset through the trees ; old oak and brook hke old friends now, yet how little they care for us ! This longing for Nature to return us some friendship, some affection, created Naiads, Dryads, and Oreads. Yet how should a Poet turn back to these ? and what then is he to do nowadays with his faculty of imaginative song ? Cross Ober or Over-Green and pick some Butcher's-Broom.