Xll 
INTRODUCTION. 
to every country walk—a charm both present in itself 
and borrowed from a distance,—an unfailing pleasure 
to the passing moment, and a happy remembrance of 
the past: the Enchanter’s Nightshade may cast a soothing 
spell over a dark and gloomy mood of the mind : who 
is there whom even the “ Green Turf” does not delight ? 
Who,—to quit the wild for cultivated ground,—Who, 
“ to dull forgetfulness a prey,” would wish the Rose, 
the Pink, the Sweet Pea, the Tulip, or the Narcissus, 
to be other than they are in nature or in name ? Who 
does not feel that the spirit of romance and poetry is 
unfadingly thrown over the “ Royal Oak,” the “ Brave 
Old Oak,” and the “Ivy Green,” the “Misletoe Bough,” 
and the “Bonny Blue Bell,” the “ Thistle so true,” and 
the very “Bank whereon the Wild Thyme grows”? 
Nay, do not fear that these names will ever give place 
to others ! They will last as long as the mother earth 
that bears the plants themselves: the nation will no 
longer be itself when the Rose, the Leek, the Shamrock, 
and the Thistle cease to be “Household Words,”—when 
they cease to be the cognizance and the badge of St. 
George, St. David, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew, the 
heroes and saints of the “olden time.” As it has been 
in the days before us, so do we find it to be yet, and 
so will it be after we are gone, with the well-known 
English names of our common butterflies and moths. 
By these will they still be known when the fancies 
and conceits which in vain try to supersede them, have 
sunk into deserved oblivion. The gay science numbers 
some of all classes in her ranks:—the nobleman’s or 
gentleman’s son at school and at college ; the apprentice 
lad of the great city who may one day rise to be Lord 
Mayor of London ; the country clergyman in the quiet 
parsonage of the sequestered village ; the decent trades-' 
