IVY. 
237 
it has once embraced: it clothes it with its own 
leaves in that inclement season when its dark 
boughs are covered with hoar-frost. The faithful 
companion of its destiny, it falls when the tree 
is cut down: death itself does not relax its 
grasp, and it continues to adorn with its verdure 
the dry trunk which once supported it.” 
These ideas, equally refined and pathetic, 
have the additional merit of truth. The Ivy is 
attached to the earth by its own roots, and de¬ 
rives no nourishment from the substances to 
which it clings. The protector of ruins, it 
adorns the dilapidated walls which it holds to¬ 
gether : it will not accept every kind of support, 
but its attachments end only with its life. 
