Chapter VII: August, 1851 (ÆT. 34) 367

Return to Concord—An Ill-managed Menagerie—A Summer
Evening—A Musical Performer—The Moon and the Clouds—The
Nearness of the Wild—Travelling—Profitable Interest—The
Spread of Inventions—The Inspiring Melodies—An Unheeded
Warning—Sounds of a Summer Night—The Moon’s War with
the Clouds—First Signs of Morning—The Dawn—Thistle
and Bee—Cool Weather—Delight in Nature—The Snake
in the Stomach—The Haying—Dogs and Cows—British
Soldiers in Canada—Liberty in Canada—Canadian
Fortifications—Prehensile Intellects—The Poet and
his Moods—Knowing one’s Subject—The Revolution of
the Seasons—Rattlesnake-Plantain—The Creak of the
Crickets—Botanical Terms—The Cardinal-Flower—The
Canadian Feudal System—Government—The Flowering of
the Vervain—The Conspicuous Flowers of the Season—The
Visit to Canada—De Quincey’s Style—Charity and
Almshouses—Men observed as Animals—The Price Farm
Road—Snake and Toad—An August Wind—Cutting Turf—Burning
Brush—The Telegraph—The Fortress of Quebec—A Faithful
Flower—Potato Balls—The Seal of Evening—Solitude in
Concord—The Names of Plants.