96 
BRITISH FERNS . 
has been recommended for dressing and preparing 
chamois leather. As a material for packing fruit, &c. 
it is invaluable. This plant was undoubtedly the 
original fearn of our Saxon ancestors, from the abun¬ 
dance of which the names of so many towns and 
villages have originated ; such as Farnborough, Farn- 
ham, &c. It is to this fern we may attribute chiefly 
the many superstitions, legends, and proverbs con¬ 
nected with ferns generally. It seems to have been 
associated with our popular fancies for many a long 
day. Shakspeare speaks of the “ fern-seed by which 
we walk invisible.” Ben Jonson says : 
“ I ha ' 1 no medicine, sir, to walk invisible,— 
No iern-seed in my pocket.” 
There was a homely proverb, once in common use. 
which we may quote : 
%i When the fern is as high as a spoon, 
You may sleep an hour at noon ; 
When the fern is as high as a ladle, 
You may sleep as long as you’re able; 
When the fern begins to look red, 
Then milk is good with brown bread.” 
The beauty and pleasant associations of this luxuriant 
fern are celebrated in song by a modern poetess, who 
says, in her appropriate lines,— 
“ Have ye to learn how the Eagle Fern 
Does in its heart enshrine 
An oak-tree, like that which the hunter Herne 
Haunted in days * long syne 5 ? 
