Origin of the Mosses. 55 



the moss, are remarkably rich in wild-flowers and ferns, 

 the latter including the royal fern, or Osmunda, and in 

 early summer show great plenty of the white lychnis, 

 called, from not opening its petals till evening, the 

 vespertina. The pink-flowered lychnis, the "brid-e'en" 

 or "bird's eye" of the country people, is, like the telegraph 

 office, "open always." Here we may perceive the use of 

 Latin or botanical names; for "bird's eye" is applied to 

 many different plants in different parts of England, so 

 that a botanist at a distance who might chance to read 

 these lines could not possibly tell what flower was meant, 

 whereas, in "Lychnis vespertina" there is certainty for all. 

 Whoever is fond of blackberries and wild raspberries 

 would do well to make acquaintance with these pretty 

 lanes; whoever, too, is fond of solitude a state not fit 

 for all, nor for any man too prolongedly, but a true friend 

 to those who can use it. If we would thoroughly enjoy 

 life, we should never overlook the value of occasional 

 solitude. It is one of the four things which we should 

 get a little of, if possible, every day of our lives, namely, 

 reading, good music, sport with little children, and utter 

 seclusion from the busy world. 



The number of mosses and moors in the neighbour- 

 hood of Manchester makes it interesting as in the case 

 of the Cheshire meres, to know something of their origin. 

 The wonderful discoveries of geology, with regard to the 

 crust of the earth, and the successive deposition of the 

 strata of which it is composed, claim our attention 

 scarcely more than the history of the surface, which has 



