100 
RURAL HOURS. 
The loide fences about several fields in thesj new lands were 
prettily bordered Avith. the Canadian violet, white and lUac ; 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 Aiolets Ave found a handsome colored spi- 
der, one of the kind that liA’e on flowers and take their color from 
them ; but this was unusually large. Its body was of the siz<» 
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 Ave haA*e seen in a long time. Scarlet, or red ones still larger, 
are found, howeA'er, near Ncav York. But, in their gayest aspect, 
these creatures are repulsive. It gives one a chilling idea of the 
gloomy sohtude of a prison, when Ave remember that spiders have 
actually been petted by men shut out from better companionship. 
They are a verj"^ common insect Avith us, and on that accoimt 
more annoymg than any other that is foimd here. Some of them, 
Avith great black bodies, are of a formidable size. These haunt 
cellars, and barns, and clnu'ches, and appear occasionally in in- 
habited rooms. There is a black spider of this kind, AA-ith a body 
said to be an inch long, and legs double that length, found in the 
Palace of Hampton Com-t, in England, which, it will be I’emembered, 
belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, and these great creatm'es are called 
“ Cardinals” there, being considered by some people as peculiar 
to that building. A huge spider, by-the-bye, with her intricate 
Aveb and snares, Avould form no bad emblem of a courtier and 
diplomatist, of the sUimp of Cardinal Wolsey. lie certainly took 
“ hold Avith his hands, in kings’ palaces,” and did his share of 
mischief there. 
Few people like spidem. No doubt these insects must have 
