18 INTRODUCTION. 



are renewed every time he witnesses their faded remains. 

 Hardly a moment passes over the solitary collector amid 

 such secluded scenes, without some grand effect being 

 produced in the surrounding landscape, or in the ap- 

 pearance of the sky above him ; some wonderful trans- 

 formation of nature, as though the spot where he stands 

 were her tiring-room, and she were trying on robe after 

 robe to see which became her best ; some striking in- 

 cident, which might well inspire him with the wish to 

 catch the happy moment, and give it a permanent exist- 

 ence. Such are the simple, refining, and enduring 

 pleasures which the cryptogamic botanist enjoys in the 

 pursuit of his favourite study amid the scenes of nature. 

 Add to all these recommendations this last important 

 advantage, that these plants can be observed and col- 

 lected without interruption throughout the whole year, 

 and in situations where other vegetation is reduced to 

 zero. They can be studied alike under the cloudy skies 

 of December, as when illumined by the sunshine of June. 

 When the flowers and ferns have vanished, when the 

 lights are fled, and the garlands are dead, the deserted 

 banquet-hall of Flora is still relieved by the presence of 

 these humble retainers, whose fidelity is proof against 

 every change of circumstance, and whose better qualities 

 are displayed when the storm is wildest and the desola- 

 tion most complete. They are no summer friends. As 

 Ruskin has beautifully observed, " Unfading as motion- 

 less, the worm frets them not, and the autumn wastes 

 not. Strong in lowliness, they neither blanch in heat, 

 nor pine in frost. To them, slow-fingered, constant- 

 hearted, is intrusted the weaving of the dark eternal 



