212 WILD FLOWERS OF 



THE LADY FERN. 



When in splendour and beauty all nature is crown'd, 

 The Ferns are seen curling half hid on the ground, 

 But of all the green brackens that rise in the burn, 

 Commend me alone to the sweet Lady-Fern. 



Polypodium, indented, stands stiff on the rock, 

 With his sori expos'd to the tempest's rough shock ; 

 0n the wide chilly heath Aquilina, stands stern, 

 Not once to be nam'd with the sweet Lady-Fern. 



To the rambler who heaths and dark ravines explores, 

 Northern Blechnum appears crouching low on the moors ; 

 But like a rough savage with manners to learn, 

 Its rough frond seems a foil to the soft Lady-Fern. 



Filix-mas, in a circle, lifts up his green fronds, 

 And the Heath-fern* delights by the bogs and the ponds ; 

 Through their crisp scented tufts though with pleasure I turn, 

 The palm must still rest with the fresh Lady-Fern. 



By the fountain I see her, just sprung into sight, 



Frail her texture, and bent as though shiv'ring with fright ; 



To the water she shrinks I qan scarcely discern 



In the deep humid shadows the pale Lady-Fern. 



Where the water is pouring for ever she sits, 

 And beside her the Ouzel and Kingfisher flits ; 

 There, supreme in her beauty, beside the full urn, 

 In the shade of the rocks droops the tall Lady-Fern. 



If sweeter the Maiden-Hair^ scents to the gale, 

 If taller King Osmund's \ crown'd glories prevail, 

 Though darker Sea Spleenwort, well pleas'd I return 

 To the thicket that shelters the fair Lady-Fern. 



Her delicate pinnae there droop in the shade, 

 By whispering Aspens and Wood Vetches made ; 

 In the pattering ravine there stands one grey Hern 

 Embower'd in the fronds of the tall Lady-Fern. 



* Aspidium Oreopteris. t Asplenium trichoraanes. 



t Osmunda regalis, the " Flowering Fern." 

 The common name of the Heron. 



