104 
FLORAL EMBLEMS. 
CRUELTY. 
Stinging Nettle. — Urtica pilulifera. 
“ And rampant nettles lift the spiry head.” 
Bloomfield. 
“ Some so like to thorns and nettles live, 
That none foi them can, when they perish, grieve.” 
Waller. 
The nettle carries its cruel venom in a bag 
at the base of the sting, always ready to per¬ 
forate the incautious, and throw in its vege¬ 
table poison, which, like slander, attacks even 
the brave when it can act slyly. But, neither 
the sting of the nettle, nor the tooth of a viper 
is so much to be dreaded as the tongue of a 
slanderer. 
