Xll INTRODUCTION. 



to every country walk a charm both present in itself 

 and borrowed from a distance, an unfailing pleasure 

 to the passing moment, and a happy remembrance of 

 the past: the Enchanter's Nightshade may cast a soothing 

 spell over a dark and gloomy mood of the mind: who 

 is there whom even the "Green Turf" does not delight? 

 Who, to quit the wild for cultivated ground, Who, 

 "to dull forgetfulness a prey," would wish the Rose, 

 the Pink, the Sweet Pea, the Tulip, or the Narcissus, 

 to be other than* they are in nature or in name? Who 

 does not feel that the spirit of romance and poetry is 

 unfadingly thrown over the "Royal Oak," the "Brave 

 Old Oak," and the "Ivy Green," the " Miseltoe Bough," 

 and the "Bonny Blue Bell," the "Thistle so true," and 

 the very "Bank whereon the Wild Thyme grows"! 1 

 Nay, do not fear that these names will ever give place 

 to others! They will last as long as the mother earth 

 that bears the plants themselves: the nation will no 

 longer be itself when the Rose, the Leek, the Shamrock, 

 and the Thistle cease to be " Household Words," when 

 they cease to be the cognizance and the badge of St. 

 George, St. David, St. Partrick, and St. Andrew, the 

 heroes and saints of the "olden time." As it has been 

 in the days before us, so do we find it to be yet, and 

 so will it be after we are gone, with the well-known 

 English names of our common butterflies and moths. 

 By these will they still be known when the fancies 

 and conceits which in vain try to supersede them, have 

 sunk into deserved oblivion. The gay science numbers 

 some of all classes in her ranks: the nobleman's or 

 gentleman's son at school and at college; the apprentice 

 lad of the great city who may one day rise to be Lord 

 Mayor of London; the country clergyman in the quiet 

 parsonage of the sequestered village; the decent trades- 



