This wood engraving by Edward Burne-Jones appeared in the May, 1863 issue of the magazine Good Words accompanying a poem called Summer Snow:
“Soft falls the summer snow,
On the springing grass drops light,
Not like that which long ago
Fell so deadly cold and white;
This wears the Rose’s flush,
Faint, ere bloom hath quite foregone her,
Soft as maiden’s timid blush,
With the looks she loves upon her.”
Another engraving also appeared in the May issue of Good Words by T S Morten called “An Orphan’s Family Christmas” showing the figure of a young girl leaning against a mantelpiece of a fire, bearing a strong similarity to this Burne-Jones illustration. It is also possible that Burne-Jones may have had an engraving by George du Maurier in mind when he designed the illustration for Good Words; entitled ‘Non Satis’ it appeared in ‘Once a Week’ in 1860 and shows a woman in a long dress standing by a trellis covered with flowers, stooping slightly to pluck a rose from a bush beside her.
