" Here unmolested, from whatever sign 

 The sun proceeds, I wander. Neither mist 

 Nor freezing sky, nor sultry, checking me, 

 Nor stranger intermeddling with my joy." COWPER. 



THE HEDGES. 



ITH the changing year 

 comes a perceptible change 

 in the foliage and fruitage 

 of the fences of the lane, 

 which as well as the banks, 

 attract our notice, by a 

 beautypeculiar to themselves. 

 Even in the depth of winter, 

 the various kinds of mosses 

 which cover the trunks and 

 roots of some ancient trees 

 and parts of a decrepit wall ; 

 the grey-hued lichens which 

 cling to wood and stone ; the 

 various shaped and different 

 coloured fungi ; and (in 

 sheltered spots) the still green 

 fronds of the Polypody and Male Fern, afford a 

 pleasing study to the lover of nature, so wonderfully 

 are they adapted to the places they occupy, and so 

 full of modest beauty. Simple as mosses and lichens 



