216 BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 



dedication of the poppy to the goddess of the harvest is associated 

 with a pleasing custom. The poets tell us that the seeds of the white 

 poppy were the first food tasted by the disconsolate Ceres, after the 

 loss of her beloved daughter Proserpine, who was stolen by Pluto 

 when she was gathering flowers. The ancients had a very different 

 opinion of the poppy from that entertained in modern times ; for, in- 

 stead of regarding it as injurious to the corn fields, they looked upon 

 it as a trophy of triumph, and believed that no corn was good except 

 it had a mixture of poppies. And when the reaper offered to Ceres 

 his thanksgivings for the harvest, the ears of ripe corn and the seeds of 

 the poppy served for an expression of his gratitude. It was the white 

 poppy which was thus consecrated by the Greeks, as professor Martyn 

 has shown in his notes on Virgil. The ancient statues of Ceres were 

 decorated with ears of corn mingled with the heads of poppies. This 

 elegant decoration ornaments the colossal statue of Ceres, which was 

 brought to this country from the temple of Eleusisby Dr. Clarke, and 

 which, after being shipwrecked off Beachy Head, in fulfilment of 

 the predictions of the poor Eleusinians, who believed that the loss of it 

 would be followed by the annual failure of their harvests, was eventu- 

 ally rescued from destruction, and deposited with safety at Cambridge, 

 where it is now to be seen. 



The great reverence which was paid to many plants by the ancients, 

 rendered the odorous myrtle an object of great regard amongst them. 

 The Arabs have a tradition that *' Adam fell down from paradise with 

 three things : — the myrtle, which is the chief of sweet scented flowers 

 in this world; an ear of wheat, which is the chief of all kinds of food 

 in this world ; and pressed dates, which are the chief of the fi-uits of 

 this world." 



The Greeks dedicated the myrtle to Venus, either because it grows 

 near the sea, whence she is said to have arisen, or because its sweet 

 and unfading foliage renders it a suitable tribute to the goddess of 

 beauty. 



The Roman ladies were accustomed to bathe beneath myrtle trees 

 on the flrst of April ; and after having bathed, they adorned their heads 

 with its leaves, and offered sacriflces at the shrine of Venus. 



The myrtle was held sacred also for its medicinal powers, and the 

 invalid partook of its berries with a hopeful heart. At Athens the 

 magistrates always wore wreaths of flowers on their heads, as sym- 

 bolical of their office, and the myrtle was usually in request for this 



