XVI PEE FACE. 



In conclusion, the Author begs to remind the reader that what he 

 has here chiefly attempted is to facilitate in some measure the ama- 

 teur's first steps in the study of the vegetation of the British Isles. 

 In this he may have been more or less successful ; but, at the best, 

 the beginner must not hope that any Work will enable him to ascer- 

 tain the name of a plant without trouble, or, indeed, without a con- 

 siderable degree of care and patience in its examination ; descriptions 

 can in this respect never supply the place of well-executed figures, 

 still less of named specimens for comparison. The Author will, 

 however, feel amply rewarded for the labour he has bestowed in 

 preparing them, if in any instance it may have had the effect of in- 

 spiring a young naturalist with that taste for the science which he 

 himself imbibed from the Work he has taken for his model, and 

 which has been to him, through life, a never-ending source of 

 occupation, interest, and happiness. 



