108 BRITISH EVERGREENS, 



"Emongst the rest, the elamb'ring yvie grew, 

 Knitting his wanton arms with grasping hold, 

 Least that the poplar happely should rew 



Her brother's strokes, whose boughs she doth enfold 

 With her lythe twigs, till they the top survew. 

 And paint with pallid green her buds of gold." 



Spenser's Virgil's Gnat. 



The Ivy has certainly a very beautiful and picturesque appearance upon 

 old buildings, where it is often seen hanging in luxuriant and heavy masses; 

 as on the ruina of old castles, abbeys, churches, rocks, and stumps of trees. 

 It may often be seen growing in a soil that received no preparation from 

 man, with nothing to cling to but basaltic rocks; yet one column of rock 

 after another is surmounted: but it does not stop there — it scales the walls and 

 pushes onwards (in fact its motto is ^onward — onward,') until its evergreen 

 flag waves in the breeze, and in the storm upon the ramparts. 



"High from the fields of air look down. 



Those eyries of a vanished race; 



Where harp, and battle, and renown, 



Have passed and left no trace. 

 But thou art there serenely bright, 



Meeting the mountain's storms with bloom; 

 Thou that wilt climb the loftiest height. 

 Or crown the lowliest tomb; 

 Ivy, Ivy, all are thine. 

 Palace, hearth, and shrine." 



Mrs. Hkmans. 

 And Keats says of it — 



"The little chapel with the cross above, 

 Upholding wreaths of Ivy." 



We do not know a plant which claims more particular notice than the 

 Ivy. This '^rare old plant," as Dickens has sung, is not to be surpassed in 

 point of utility. Its viridity is perpetual; when all around it may be bleak 

 and bare, the Ivy appears fresh under every circumstance, and clothed in its 

 sombre beauty. In the pleasure-ground it cannot be dispensed with, for 

 nothing else can so eflfectually turn the bare hollow trunk into an object of 

 beauty. As a plant adapted for an ornamental fence or screen, it is fairly 

 unrivalled; it only requires the partial support of a few slight stakes, or a 

 rudely- constructed lattice, and in a short time it covers the whole in the 

 most graceful manner, completely shutting out the view on either side. For 

 covering walls or buildings, too, there is nothing to be compared to Ivy; and 

 it has this great merit, that no other plant usually employed for such a 

 purpose can so effectually preserve the masonry from that dampness and decay 

 which inevitably follow exposure to rain and beating winds; and which fre- 

 quently render detached dwelling-houses quite unhealthy. On this subject we 

 find a correspondent of the "Paper-hanger's and Upholsterer's Guide" says — 

 "The last thing I have to mention on the subject of damp relates to Ivy 

 on exterior walls of buildings; its efiect on walls is, that if it does not 



