the branches* But this was a mere accidental 

 effe6lj for you may fee many pollard-oaks 

 with withered leaves, and covered with ivy ; 

 and yet not fee the tints fo happily arranged as 

 to produce an effect. 



In the fpring alfd we fometimes have a 

 pleafing appearance of a fimilar kind. About 

 the end of April, when the foliage of the oak 

 is jufl beginning to -expand, it's varied tints 

 are often delightfully contrafted with the deep 

 green of an ivy-bum, which has overfpread 

 the body, and larger limbs of the tree : and 

 the contraft has been ftill more beautiful, 

 when the limbs are covered, as we fometimes 

 fee them, with tufts of brimftone-coloured 

 mofs. 



All thefe plants BJ$.faraJztical, as the botanift 

 expreflively calls them. The tribes of mofTes, 

 lychens, and liver-worts make no pretence to 

 independence. They are abfolute retainers. 

 Not one of them gets his own livehood - t nor 

 takes the leaft ftep towards it. The ivy in- 

 deed is lefs dependent. He has a root of his 

 own, and draws nourimment from the ground: 

 but his character is mifreprefented, if his little 

 feelers have not other purpofes than merely 

 that of Ihewing an attachment to his potent 



neighbour. 



