MYRTLE. 297 



" Nor had I passed in silence the late- flowering daffodil, the stalks 

 of the flexile acanthus, the pale ivy, or the myrtle that loves the 

 shore." DAVIDSON'S TRANSLATION. 



And again : 



f< Litora myrtetis laetissima." 



The same poet, in his Pastorals, alludes to the fragrance 

 of the Myrtle-blossom : 



" Et vos, 6 lauri, carpam, et te, proxima myrte ; 

 Sic positas quoniam suaves miscetis odores." 



' ' And you, ye laurels, I will crop ; and thee, O myrtle, next in 

 dignity to the laurel; for^thus arranged you mingle sweet perfumes." 



So Davidson translates this passage : the words in Italics 

 marking an interpolation, or rather a necessary explanation 

 of the preceding adjective. 



Thomson compares a young beauty growing up in re- 

 tirement to a Myrtle among the Apennines : 



" Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's self, 

 Recluse amid the close embowering woods : 

 As in the hollow breast of Apennine, 

 Beneath the shelter of encircling hills, 

 A myrtle rises, far from human eye, 

 And breathes its balmy fragrance o'er the wild." 



It was impossible that Spenser should omit the Myrtle 

 in the garden of Adonis : 



" Right in the middest of that paradise 

 There stood a stately mount, on]] whose round top 

 A gloomy grove of myrtle-trees did rise, 

 Whose shady boughs sharp steel did never lop, 

 Nor wicked beasts their tender buds did crop ; 

 But like a garland compassed the height. 

 And from their fruitful sides sweet gum did drop, 

 That all the ground, with precious dew bedight, 

 Threw forth most dainty odours and most sweet delight. 



And in the thickest covert of that shade 

 There was a pleasant arbour, not by art, 

 But by the trees' own inclination made ; 



