296 Gilpin's forest sceneby. 



tribe, are very beautiful . The liue of the furze, 

 too, is pleasant, but, in bloom, its luxuriant yellow 

 is too powerful. Nothing can accompany it. 



But, among all the minuter plants, fern is the 

 most picturesque. I do not mean where it is 

 spread in quantities, but where it is sparingly 

 [and judiciously introduced. In itself it is beau- 

 tiful. We admire the form of its leaf — its elegant 

 mode of hanging, and its dark-brown, polished 

 stem. As an accompaniment, also, nothing is 

 better suited to unite the higher plants with the 

 ground ; while its bright-green hu.e in summer, 

 and its ochre tint in autumn, join each season 

 with its correspondent tinge. 



The Fern to wHcL. Gilpin refers is the Bracken — Pteris 

 aquilina. It is this particular species, indeed, that most 

 of the poets and many prose writers intend to indicate 

 when they speak — somewhat vaguely — of ' ferns ' as an 

 ornament to the landscape ; unaware, apparently, of the 

 great differences which exist between the numerous 

 species and varieties of Ferns to be found even in the 

 British Islands. Though in an English forest many 

 different species of our native Ferns are to be found, 

 it is the Bracken which forms the most prominent 

 and conspicuous feature amongst what our Author styles 



