THE LADY FERN AND ITS KIN. 181 



" When in splendour and beauty all nature is crowned 

 The fern is seen curling, half hid in the ground, 

 But of all the green brackens that rise by the burn, 

 Commend me alone to the sweet lady fern. 



By the fountain I see her just spring into sight, 

 Her texture as frail as though shivering with fright; 

 To the water she shrinks, I can scarcely discern 

 In the deep humid shadows the soft lady fern. 



Where the water is pouring, forever she sits 

 And beside her the Ouzel, the Kingfisher flits; 

 There supreme in her beauty, beside the full urn 

 In the shade of the rock, stands the tall lady fern." 



The following lines from Howitt were sent to the author 

 by a lady who suggests that the last one may have 

 been intended as a hint to those vandals who delight to 

 uproot and carry away all they can find of a rare plant, 

 simply because it is rare. 



"And when thou art in lonely glen, 



Keep by the running burn, 

 And do not pluck the strawberry flower 



Nor break the lady fern." 



In my opinion the most quaint and descriptive poem upon 



Pinna of variety ovatum. A common form. 



this species is the one by Calder Campbell, parts of 

 which preface this chapter. 



The fronds of the lady fern spring in circular tufts 

 from a large horizontal rootstock and often reach a 



