306 WILD FLOWERS OF 



injury is sustained. Act upon the same principle 

 with the nettles of life, and all petty annoyances will 

 lose their power of mischief. " Grapple with difficul- 

 ties," says WITHERING, " and thus overcome them" 

 as indicated iu the following lines :- 



"Tender-handed, stroke the nettle, 



And it stings you for your pains ; 

 Orasp it like a man of mettle, 



And it soft as silk remains ! 

 So it is with human natures, 



Use them kindly, they rebel ; 

 But be rough as nutmeg-graters, 



And the rogues obey you well !" 



Probatum est. The popular idea, however, may be 

 thus philosophically explained. The poison is ineffec- 

 tive unless introduced into a wound. The extreme 

 tenuity of the sting catches the flesh of the hand, 

 however gently it may attempt to touch the nettle ; 

 but a rough unfriendly grasp disturbs its delicate 

 mechanism, and ruptures the poison-bags; the venom 

 is therefore unable to flow along the orifice of the 

 sting, and no injury is sustained. 



The stalks of Nettles may be employed, like flax, 

 for the manufacture of a coarse kind of linen, and this 

 seems to have been formerly done to some extent, for 

 " Nettle-cloth," made from nettles, is mentioned by 

 Lord BACON", in his Sylva Sylvarum. It is perhaps 

 still manufactured in a homely way in some parts of 

 Scotland, for CAMPBELL, the late author of the Plea- 

 sures of Hope, has asserted that he had dined from a 

 nettle table-cloth, and slept on nettle sheets. Nettles 

 are also mentioned as an ingredient in spring salads 

 in an old MS. ballad entitled Lenten Stuffi, in the 



