104 FLORAL EMBLEMS. 



CRUELTY. 



STINGING NETTLE. <Urtica pi/ulifera. 



" And rampant nettles lift the spiry head." 



Bloomfield. 



" Some so like to thorns and nettles live, 



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



Waller. 



The nettle carries its cruel venom in a bag 

 at the base of the sting, always ready to per- 

 forate the incautious, and throw in its vege- 

 table poison, which, like slander, attacks even 

 the brave when it can act slyly. But, neither 

 the sting of the nettle, nor the tooth of a viper 

 is so much to be dreaded as the tongue of a 

 slanderer. 



