THE MANTLE OF MOSS. 305 



Earth's verdant mantle to protect the germ 



Of plant and insect life from winter's cold, 

 'Midst which the tiuy branches, without harm, 

 Luxuriate in hues of green and gold. 

 And forms which tyro puzzle to unfold, 



VII. 



Then Bryum, — with its tufts of pleasant green, 



Silvery bright, lurid, and paly red ; 

 And thready footstalks, tipp'd with graceful mien 



Of drooping capsule, whose projecting lid 

 Conceals the double row of curious teeth, — 



Clothing with verdure every bant and wall. 

 The woodland, mountain-cliff, and e'en beneath 



The crystal dripping of the waterfall, 

 WiU raise luxuriantly its branches tall. 



VIII. 



Bartraraia, with its apples, loves the shade 



Of shelving cliffs, whence rise its cushions pale ; 

 Hookeria clothes with shining'frond the glade. 



Where 'raid the moisten'd copsewood ever trail 

 Loose grass and woodland florets ; overhead 



The curled Bristle decks the spreading bough; 

 While in the neighbouring streamlet's rocky bed 



The lanky stems of Fontinalis grow, 

 Shelter'd alike from winter's cold and summer's glow. 



IX. 



When sultry July with its fervid beam 



Has parch'd the Mosses on the lowland mead, 



