56 HARDY FEKNS. 
be no versatility of genius, but the Warwickshire 
artisan brings to the foundry or the loom a mind 
so concentrated on the work before him, as to 
constitute him a workman unsurpassed by any 
county in England. The language spoken by the 
people is essentially strong and truthful. They 
tell you their sorrows and their joys with a 
wonderful open-heartedness, and with a power of 
thought and freedom of language I have never 
heard equalled. Church and state are dear to a 
Warwickshire man in proportion as the parson 
''shows a good light," and the master gives a 
''fair wage for a fair day's work." But I have 
wandered away from Warwickshire lanes to War- 
wickshire people — a short digression — for many a 
white-washed cottage nestles beneath the spreading 
trees in the lanes, and many a welcome from old 
friends has greeted me as I appeared trowel in 
hand. 
The Warwickshire lanes abound in Polystichum 
aculeatum. It may be found in its varieties of 
lobatum and lonchitidioides, side by side, but the 
