100 
RURAL HOURS, 
The rude fences about several fields in these new lands were 
prettily bordered with the Canadian violet, white and lilac ; the 
chinks and hollows of several old stumps were also well garnished 
with these flowers ; one does not often see so many together. 
Upon one of these violets we found a handsome colored spi- 
der, one of the kind that live on flowers and take their color from 
them ; but this was unusually large. Its body was of the sizf 
of a well-grown pea, and of a bright lemon color ; its legs were 
also yellow, and altogether it was one of the most showy colored 
spiders we have seen in a long time. Scarlet, or red ones still larger, 
are found, however, near New York. But, in then' gayest aspect, 
these creatures are repulsive. It gives one a chilling idea of the 
gloomy solitude of a prison, when we remember that spiders have 
actually been petted by men shut out from better companionship. 
They are a very common insect Avith us, and on that account 
more annoying than any otlier that is found here. Some of them, 
with great black bodies, are of a formidable size. These haunt 
cellars, and barns, and churches, and appear occasionally in in- 
habited rooms. There is a black spider of this kind, with a body 
said to be an inch long^, and leo-s double that leno-th. found in the 
Palace of Hampton Court, in England, which, it will be remembered, 
belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, and these great creatures are called 
Cardinals" there, being considered by some people as peculiar 
to that building. A huge spider, by-the-bye, with her intricate 
web and snares, would form no bad emblem of a courtier and 
diplomatist, of the stamp of Cardinal Wolsey. He certainly took 
^' hold with his hands, in kings' palaces," and did his share of 
mischief there. 
Few people hke spiders. No doubt these insects must have 
