IVIED RUINS. 65 



other birds ; and now these shy and wary birds, that 

 commonly avoid the haunts of man, constrained by 

 hunger, will approach our dwellings, to feed upon the 

 ripe berries of the ivy. Now too the blackbird and 

 the thrush resort to its cover, to conceal their nests. 

 These early-building birds find little foliage at this 

 period sufficient to hide their habitations ; and did not 

 the ivy lend its aid to preserve them, and no great 

 number are preserved, perhaps few nests would be hid- 

 den from the young eyes that seek them. The early 

 expansion of the catkins of the sallow (salix caprea), 

 and others of the willow tribe, whence the bee extracts 

 its first food, and the late blooming of this ivy, are in- 

 dispensable provisions for the existence of many of the 

 insect race ; the " young raven does not cry in vain," 

 nor is any thing abandoned by that power which called 

 it into being. 



We all seem to love the ivy, 



" The wanton ivy wreath 'd in amorous twines," 



more than any other uncultured evergreen that we pos- 

 sess ; yet it is difficult satisfactorily to answer why we 

 have this regard for it. As a lover of the lone, the ivy- 

 mantled ruin, I have often questioned with myself the 

 cause and basis of my regard for that, which was but a 

 fragment of what might have been formerly splendid, 

 and intrinsically possessed but little to engage admira- 

 tion, yet wreathed in the verdure of the ivy, was ad- 

 mired ; but was never satisfied, perhaps unwilling to 

 admit the answer that my mind seemed to give. The 

 ivy is a dependent plant, and delights in waste and ruin. 

 We do not often tolerate its growth when the building 

 is in repair and perfect; but, if time dilapidate the edi- 

 fice, the ivy takes possession of the fragment, and we 

 call it beautiful ; it adorns the castle, but is an indis- 

 pensable requisite to the remains of the monastic pile. 

 There is an abbey in the North of England, which has 

 been venerated by all its late possessors. It is trimmed, 

 made neat, and looks, perhaps, much as it did formerly, 

 except being in ruins. The situation is exquisite, the 

 remains are splendid, yet with many it fails to excite 

 F2 



