284 WILD FLOWERS OP 



we with propriety omit to indicate its existence ; for 

 as PETER PIFDAE, has shrewdly remarked in one of 

 his serio-comico epistles 



" In our journey through life, my dear Joan, I suppose 

 We shall oft meet a BRAMBLE, and sometimes a Rose !" 



And as to the truth of this supposition there can exist 

 very little doubt. It must be admitted that there are 

 too many Brambles in society, ever ready to apply a 

 check to our progress ; but all that concerns us on the 

 present occasion is to put the best face we can lotani- 

 cally upon the thorns and weeds that now in such 

 profusion beset our path. Before we assume a crown 

 of "furrow weeds" it becomes necessary to "look 

 out" for the brambles now abundantly flowering and 

 spreading out their little spinous arms in every hedge; 

 for, without caution, undoubtedly we shall have a 

 detainer lodged against us ; or at the least a deodand 

 will be levied on the luckless garment that by any 

 accident comes in contact with the stern and surly 

 Hook-bearer. 



" Ferat rulus asper amomum," 



says Yirgil the rough bramble shall bear spices but 

 we have not as yet arrived at that wished-for consum- 

 mation. Still it may be possible perhaps to mitigate 

 the sharpness of its thorns, by considering that it has 

 a few redeeming claims upon our attention, and 

 though we may not be altogether inclined to submit 

 to the diet of " apricocks and dewberries" (the latter 

 being the blue fruit of the creeping Bramble, Rubus 

 ccesius), assigned by the Queen of the Fairies to 

 Master Puck, yet a leaf of fine Raspberries, a rasp- 

 berry and currant tart, (not forgetting the cream,) or 

 even a dish of raspberry jam, is by no means unpalat- 

 able. 



