62 FOOTNOTES FROM 



occupy a far higher position in the ranks of vegetation. 

 Uninviting and apparently lifeless although their ex- 

 ternal aspect may appear, they are found, when subjected 

 to the microscope, to have their own peculiar beauties 

 and wonders. Simple as is their construction, being 

 entirely composed of an aggregate of minute cells united 

 together in various ways by intercellular matter, and 

 completely destitute of stems, leaves, and all those parts 

 which enter into our ideas of perfect plants, yet by a 

 wonderful compensation they are so extensively diver- 

 sified in their form and appearance, as to present to the 

 student of nature, a field for his inquiry, as wide and 

 wondrous, as the display of green foliage and blossoms 

 of every hue which glow in the summer sun. To the 

 Pre-Raphaelite landscape painter, intent upon seeking 

 materials for the foregrounds of his sketches, they possess 

 an indescribable interest. Through their instrumentality 

 the miserable hovel, with its rough unmortared walls, 

 becomes a charming and romantic object. The old dyke 

 by the wayside, commonplace and disagreeable although 

 it may look when newly constructed, becomes a pleasing 

 feature in the landscape when garnished with the grey 

 rosettes, eccentric patches, and nebulae of the lichens; 

 and the rude, rugged rock acquires an additional wild- 

 ness and picturesqueness through the affluent display of 

 these plants. Along with the wallflower and the ivy, 

 they decorate the mouldering ruin, and harmonize its 

 otherwise haggard and discordant features, by. their sub- 

 dued and varied colouring, with the gentler forms and 

 the softer tone of the scenery around. Thus nature 

 takes back into her bosom the falling works of human 



