286 WILD FLOWEBS OF 



T enjoy a ramble on the banks of Thames ; 

 And still remember, nor without regret 

 Of hours, that sorrow since has much endear'd ; 

 How oft, my slice of pocket store consum'd, 

 Still hung'ring, pennyless, and far from home, 

 I fed on scarlet hips and stony haws, 

 Or blushing crabs, or berries that emboss 

 The bramble, black as jet, or sloes austere." 



But the bramble has other claims upon our regard. 

 Even considered as a flower, the snowy corymbs of 

 the Rubus sub-erectus have a pleasing aspect in boggy 

 spots ; while in alpine localities there are species such 

 are It. Sprengelii, that blush with all the beauty of 

 fairy roses. The glandular brambles, especially, are 

 far from inelegant, and shrubs are sometimes found 

 bearing double flowers. Yet it must be admitted that 

 few poets, with all their love of nature, have looked 

 favourably upon the bramble, and ELLIOT almost 

 stands alone amongst bards, in extracting a pleasant 

 idea from it, as here subjoined. 



" The primrose to the grave is gone, 



The hawthorn flower is dead ; 

 The violet by the mossed gray stone 

 Hath laid her weary head ! 



But thou, wild Bramble ! back doth bring 



In all their beauteous power 

 The fresh green days of life's young spring, 



And boyhood's blossoming hour. 



Scorned Bramble of the brake ! once more 



Thou bidd'st me be a boy, 

 To gad with thee the woodlands o'er, 



In freedom and in joy." 



The bramble has its uses in the economy of nature, 

 perhaps more than even the beauteous rose, for it has 



