THE FOXGLOVE. 89 



spoils, a usurper of that which has been abandoned 

 by another. The tendril pendent from the orient 

 window, lightly defined in the ray which it ex- 

 cludes, twining with graceful ease round some 

 slender shaft, or woven amid the tracery of the 

 florid arch, is elegantly ornamental, and gives em- 

 bellishment to beauty ; but the main body of the 

 ivy is dark, sombre, massy ; yet, strip it from the 

 pile, and we call it sacrilege, the interest of the 

 whole is at an end, the effect ceases, 



" One moment seen, then lost for ever." 



Yet what did the ivy effect ? what has departed 

 with it ? This evanescent charm perhaps consists 

 in the obscurity, in the sobriety of light it occa- 

 sioned, in hiding the bare reality, and giving to 

 fancy and imagination room to expand, a plaything 

 to amuse them. 



We still retain the name of this plant as given by 

 Pliny, though we know no reason why it was so 

 called; but the word "helix/' winding about, or 

 twisting, is sufficiently apposite. 



The foxglove (digitalis purpurea) is found with 

 us in one or two places only, rather existing than 

 flourishing, manifesting, like many other plants, a 

 marked partiality to particular soils. It produces 

 an abundance of seed, yet seems to wander little 

 from the station its progenitors had fixed on, as if 

 that alone was congenial to its habits; but with 

 us the soil varies greatly. In the West of England, 



