MISNOMERS. 3 
my choice, and my huge Fern-book stands like 
a gallery of departed mistresses, each labelled 
with the fond name of a wild imagination ; a 
diminutive frond of Lastrea dilatata appears 
boldly as " Dryopteris ! " unmitigated Filix-mas 
does duty as Lastrea cristata ! " Oreopteris 
alone is right. Oh ! what happy days does my 
old Fern-book recall! — what pleasant wander- 
ings by banks and braes, by rock and river ! 
Each Fern has its own separate existence in 
my memory. I see once more the little 
brawling Gwendryth, from whose banks I drev/ 
my Dilatata to flaunt for a time under its 
fictitious character ; I hear the hearty welcome 
of the Welsh tailor, whose weather-beaten cot- 
tage stood beneath a weeping birch-tree by its 
side, where the poor fellow earned a scanty 
living for his consumptive wife and many 
children. From that first visit my mind 
travels to the last ; the gentle voice is hushed, 
the poor bed of straw empty, and lying in an 
inner room on a flower-bestrewed coffin is the 
