ELM TREE. 



139 



They will, both in their branches and their roots. 

 Embrace each other ; twines of ivy round * 

 The well-grown oak ; the vine doth court the elm ; 

 Yet these are different plants/' 



Ford's Lover's Melancholy. 



" Come olmo, a cui la pampinosa pianta 

 Cupida s'avviticchi e si marite, 

 Se ferro il tronca, e turbine lo schianta, 

 Trae seco a terra la compagna vite ; 

 Ed egli stesso il verde, onde s'ammanta, 

 Le vsfronda, e pesta I'uve sue gradite. 

 Par che sen dolga, e piu che '1 proprio fato, 

 Di lei gl' incresca che gli muore allato." 



TassOj canto xx. 



" As the high elm, whom his dear vine hath twined 

 Fast in her hundred arms, and holds embraced, 

 Bears down to earth his spouse and darling kind. 

 If storm or cruel steel the tree down cast. 

 And her full grapes to nought doth bruise and grind. 

 Spoils his own leaves, faints, withers, dies at last, 

 And seems to mourn and die,, not for his own, 

 But for her loss, with him that lies overthrown." 



Fairfax's Translation. 



" The olive, that in wainscot never cleaves ; 

 The amorous vine that in the elm still weaves." 



W. Browne. 



Instances of this union are without end : the ivy too 

 is sometimes represented as twining around the trunk and 

 branches of the ehn : Titania says 



" The female ivy so 



Enrings the barky fingers of the elm." 



We are told, too, that notwithstanding their female 

 nature, no jealousy attends this rivalry : 



* It will be observed that round is here used in the sense of sur- 

 roun d. 



