14} WILD FLOWERS. 



trifle as the very frequent occurrence of the nettle 

 plant wherever strawberries grow in any quantity. 



I have already said that the nettle is an object of 

 exquisite microscopic beauty, alluding more espe- 

 cially to the dense, fine hairs with which it is clothed, 

 and which will most amply repay minute investiga- 

 tion. They are the myriad stings, which in their 

 mechanism closely resemble the poisoned tooth of 

 the serpent. This examination is not one which can 

 be made by proxy, and, therefore, in lieu of describ- 

 ing its objects, I earnestly recommend the student 

 of God's works to make it for himself; assuring him 

 that neither this, nor any other amongst them, can 

 be productive of disappointment to him who inves- 

 tigates them in humility and the love of his Crea- 

 tor. And thus I leave him, deeming that the very 

 nature of his pursuits will be his best preservative 

 from the hapless doom of those whom Waller sings : 



" Some so like thorns and nettles live 

 That none for them can, when they perish, grieve." 



