4 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



waters; that the stream, though exceedingly rapid, and 

 hurrying from out its channel whatever tended to pollute 

 or to obstruct its course, left unchanged the deep stain 

 impressed on its stones, that after generations might re- 

 member the martyrdom of St. Winifred. 



Observe also the scarlet lichens which diversify this time- 

 worn stone with their bright cornelian-tinted tubercles and 

 greenish crust, growing profusely on the vast masses of 

 Stonehenge, and incrusting many a memory-haunted tree or 

 ruin. The white coral-crusted lichen, too, is here, of snowy 

 whiteness, and bearing on its surface mimic pillars, resembling 

 corallines; and close beside, appears the crab-eye lichen, 

 indigenous to rocks in the north of England, and yielding a 

 crimson or purple dye. The tartareous lichen has also its 

 own specific character. It grows ofttimes on old trees and 

 mosses, which it covers with yellow saucers, in a manner 

 analogous to incrustations formed by springs that abound 

 in calcareous particles and flow over beds of moss or river- 

 weeds. A few tufts grow here, but amongst the stones 



