THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. xiii 



unless he can do so he is conscious that he can 

 have no claim, as he has already said, upon the 

 reader's indulgence. 



In conclusion, the author would express the 

 earnest hope that his little volume may be the 

 humble means of increasing the popular taste for 

 the varied and exquisite forms of fern life : a taste 

 which is certain to have a softening and elevating 

 influence on the popular mind. May these grace- 

 ful and feathery forms crowd in vast numbers into 

 our dwelling houses, our gardens, and our places of 

 business, shedding their soft charms within the 

 rude rough sphere of this hurrying, pushing, hard, 

 and too practical modern life of ours. And if this 

 little volume may be the means of shedding even 

 the smallest additional ray of happiness on the 

 path of those who may read it, the knowledge of 

 such a result will be to the author the source of 

 the most sincere and heartfelt satisfaction. 



BRUNSWICK LODGE, 



SOUTH HACKNEY, 



March, 1875 



