Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Ivy
He was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk,
And suck’d my verdure out on’t.
Shakespeare.—The Tempest, Act I. Scene 2. (Prospero to Miranda.)
Usurping ivy, briar, or idle moss;
Who, all for want of pruning, with intrusion
Infect thy sap, and live on thy confusion.
Shakespeare.—Com. of Errors, Act II. Scene 2. (Adriana to Antipholus of S.)
As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone,
And hides the ruin that it feeds upon.
Cowper.—The Progress of Error, Line 285.
The noisome weeds that without profit suck the soil’s fertility from wholesome flowers.
Shakespeare.—Richard II., Act III. Scene 4. (The Gardener and Servants.)