52 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



in a nutting excursion in my early boyish days, when, wan- 

 dering from my noisy companions, I came to a glade of sur- 

 passing beauty, watered by a tiny limpid rill, when I looked 

 at the green sward, and the mossy hillocks, and the wild 

 flowers, and the encircling copse of hazel intermingled with 

 oak and ash, the autumnal tints of whose foliage was 

 gilded by the beams of the afternoon sun, my admiration of 

 the beautiful gave place to awe ; for I thought surely this 

 lovely spot must be the playground of fairies, who may be 

 here though unseen. Fleeing, and yet trying not to seem 

 to flee, I steered towards the edge of the copse, casting at 

 times a sidelong glance lest some of the green-coated little 

 folk * should be at my heels ; and guided by the sound of 

 my youthful companions I was truly glad when I reached 

 them in safety. Oh that, in riper years, I oftener felt the 

 presence of Him who is invisible, and that whether in the 

 field, in the family, in the sanctuary, or in the closet, I 

 were oftener constrained to say, " Surely the Lord is in this 

 place and I knew it not ; this is none other than the house 



* The fairy -folk being one of the names by which these little fays were 

 spoken of, explains the origin of the name of one of our stateliest native 

 flowers Fox-glove, *. e. Folk's-glove. Our Scotch name, bloody fingers, is 

 a kind of translation of Digitalis purpurea. 



