noon
It was early summer , or perhaps latter spring , and the most genial weather that either spring or summer ever brought , possessing a character , indeed , as if both seasons had done their utmost to create an atmosphere and temperature most suitable for the enjoyment and exercise of life . To one accustomed to a climate where there is seldom a medium between heat too fierce and cold too deadly , it was a new development in the nature of weather . So genial it was , so full of all comfortable influences , and yet , somehow or other , void of the torrid characteristic that inevitably burns in our full sun-bursts . The traveller thought , in fact , that the sun was at less than his brightest glow ; for though it was bright , -- though the day seemed cloudless , -- though it appeared to be the clear , transparent morning that precedes an unshadowed noon , -- still there was a mild and softened character , not so perceptible when he directly sought to see it , but as if some veil were interposed between the earth and sun , absorbing all the passionate qualities out of the latter , and leaving only the kindly ones . Warmth was in abundance , and , yet , all through it , and strangely akin to it , there was a half-suspected coolness that gave the atmosphere its most thrilling and delicious charm . It was good for human life , as the traveller , felt throughout all his being ; good , likewise , for vegetable life , as was seen in the depth and richness of verdure over the gently undulating landscape , and the luxuriance of foliage , wherever there was tree or shrub to put forth leaves . The path along which the traveller was passing deserved at least a word or two of description : it was a well-trodden footpath , running just here along the edge of a field of grass , and bordered on one side by a hedge which contained materials within itself for varied and minute researches in natural history ; so richly luxuriant was it with its diverse vegetable life , such a green intricacy did it form , so impenetrable and so beautiful , and such a Paradise it was for the birds that built their nests there in a labyrinth of little boughs and twigs , unseen and inaccessible , while close beside the human race to which they attach themselves , that they must have felt themselves as safe as when they sung to Eve .