ll of grassy mounds and broken ground, overgrown with thickets and
floored with rough turf. It is a very enchanting place in spring, and
indeed at all times of the year; many flowers grow there, and the birds
sing securely among the bushes. I have always imagined that the Red
Deeps, in _The Mill on the Floss_, was just such a place, and the
scenes described as taking place there have always enacted themselves
for me in the quarry. I have always had a fancy too that if there are
any fairies hereabouts, which I very much doubt, for I fear that the
new villas which begin to be sprinkled about the countryside have
scared them all away, they would be found here. I visited the place
one moonlight night, and I am sure that the whole dingle was full of a
bright alert life which mocked my clumsy eyes and ears. If I could
have stolen upon the place unawares, I felt that I might have seen
strange businesses go forward, and tiny revels held.

That afternoon, as I drew near, I was displeased to see that my little
retreat was being profaned by company. Some brakes were drawn up in
the road, and I heard loud voices raised in untuneful mirth. As I came
nearer I was much bewildered to divine who the visitors were. They
seemed on the point of departing; two of the brakes were full, and into
another some men were clambering. As I came close to them I was still
more puzzled. The majority of the party were dressed all alike, in
rough brown clothes, with soft black felt hats; but in each of the
brakes that were tenanted sat a man as well, with a braided cap, in a
sort of uniform. Most of the other men were old or elderly; some had
white beards or whiskers, almost all were grizzled. They were talking,
too, in an odd, inconsequent, chirping kind of way, not listening to
each other; and moreover they were strangely adorned. Some had their
hats stuck full of flowers, others were wreathed with leaves. A few
had chains of daisies round their necks. They seemed as merry and as
obedient as children. Inside the gate, in the centre of the quarry,
was a still stranger scene. Here was a ring of elderly and aged men,
their hats wreathed with garlands, hand-in-hand, executing a slow and
solemn dance in a circle. One, who seemed the moving spirit, a small
wiry man with a fresh-coloured face and a long chin-beard, was leaping
high in the air, singing some rustic song, and dragging his less active
companions round and round. The others all