132 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
plant is a most beautiful production, and there are few 
of the rich colours of autumn that surpass the fiery 
hues with which the foliage of the bramble is occasion¬ 
ally dashed. It is a moot point whether the white or 
blush-coloured blossoms are the most numerous; the 
authors of “ Rubi Germanica” say white prevails, and 
I think them correct; but Smiths says, “Flowers erect, 
handsome, of a delicate pink, rarely, if ever, white.” 
The prevailing hue is doubtless dependent on soil and 
climate, but in the same hedge, and on the same plant, 
nay, on the same stem, pink, blush, and white flowers 
may be seen side by side, and the white must be 
awarded the palm for highest beauty. As poetical 
references for this subject are not plentiful as black¬ 
berries, I must take refuge in a lyrical scrap from 
Hone's Table Book,t which I note down because written 
in the scene of my own boyish acquaintance with black¬ 
berries. 
THE BLACKBERRY BLOSSOM. 
WRITTEN IN EPPING FOREST. 
“ The maiden’s blush 
Sweet blackberry blossom, thou 
Wearest, in prickly leaves that rove 
O’er friend-like turning bough. 
Companionship 
Thine attributes, thou givest 
Likeness of virtue shielded safe 
From foes with whom thou livest. 
* “English Flora.” Ed. 182L, vol. ii, p. 4U0. 
f No. xxxii., p. 270. 
