amaranth, for instance, which is the emblem of immortality, received its
name, "never-fading," from the Greeks on account of the lasting nature
of its blossoms. Accordingly, Milton crowns with amaranth the angelic
multitude assembled before the Deity:--

"To the ground,
With solemn adoration, down they cast
Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold.
Immortal amaranth, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but soon, for man's offence,
To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows
And flowers aloft, shading the font of life," &c.

And in some parts of the Continent churches are adorned at
Christmas-tide with the amaranth, as a symbol "of that immortality to
which their faith bids them look."

Grass, from its many beneficial qualities, has been made the emblem of
usefulness; and the ivy, from its persistent habit of clinging to the
heaviest support, has been universally adopted as the symbol of
confiding love and fidelity. Growing rapidly, it iron clasps:--

"The fissured stone with its entwining arms,
And embowers with leaves for ever green,
And berries dark."

According to a Cornish tradition, the beautiful Iseult, unable to endure
the loss of her betrothed--the brave Tristran--died of a broken heart,
and was buried in the same church, but, by order of the king, the two