pfaat "bore, Isege'^/, anel Isjjrlc/", 389 



their origin from the behef tliat Ivy in some form countera<5led the 



eflfecfts of wine. On this point, Coles says : " Box and Ivy last long 



green, and therefore vintners make their garlands thereof; though, 

 perhaps, Ivy is the rather used because of the antipathy between 

 it and wine." Kennett tells us that, in olden times, "the booths 

 in fairs were commonly dressed with Ivy-leaves, as a token of 

 wine there sold, the Ivy being sacred to Bacchus; so was the 

 tavern bush, or frame of wood, drest round with Ivy forty years 

 since, though now left off for tuns or barrels hung in the middle of 

 it. This custom gave birth to the present pra(ftice of putting out 

 a green bush at the door of those private houses which sell drink 

 during the fair." De Gubernatis says, that the Ivy to be seen 

 over the doors of Italian wine-shops has the same signification as the 

 Oak-bough — it is a precaution to render the wine innocuous. Che'ruel 

 tell us that the French, in suspending Ivy at the door of their 



cabarets, intend it as a symbol of love. Ivy, which clings and 



embraces, has been adopted as the emblem of confiding love and 



friendship. There is an old Cornish tradition which relates that 



the beauteous Iseult, unable to endure the loss of her betrothed, the 

 valiant Tristan, died broken-hearted, and was buried in the same 

 church, but, by order of the king, their graves were placed far 

 asunder. But soon from the tomb of Tristan came forth a branch 

 of Ivy, and from the tomb of Iseult there issued another branch. 

 Both gradually grew upwards, until at last the lovers, represented 

 by the clinging Ivy, were again united beneath the vaulted roof of 



the sanctuary. In Greece, the altar of Hymen was encircled 



with Ivy, and a branch of it was presented to the newly-married 

 couple, as a symbol of the indissoluble knot. It formed the crown 

 of both Greek and Roman poets; and in modern times, female love, 

 constancy, and dependence have been expressed by it. PViendship 

 is sometimes symbolised by a fallen tree, firmly embraced by the 

 verdant arms of the Ivy, with the motto: "Nothing can part us." 



In Northern mythology. Ivy, on account of its black colour, 



was dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder, and offered to the elf 



who was supposed to be his messenger. When, in Germany, 



they drive the cattle for the first time to pasture, they deck them 

 with a branch of Ivy fashioned into a crown. They believe also 

 that he who carries on his head a crown of Ivy acquires the faculty 

 of recognising witches. In the Tyrol, a similar belief holds good, 

 only there, Rue, Broom, Maidenhair, and Agrimony must be bound 

 together with Ground-Ivy in a bundle, which is to be kept about the 



person. In Ross-shire, it is a May-day custom for young girls 



to pluck sprays of Ivy with the dew on them that have not been 



touched by steel. Ivy has long been used in decorating churches 



and houses at Christmas : thus old Tusser dire(5ts : — " Get Ivye 

 and Hull [Holly] , woman, deck up thine house." It seems in the 

 middle ages to have been regarded as a most favoured and auspi- 

 cious plant ; one old song couples the Ivy and Holly as plants well 



