298 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Which knitting their rank branches, part to part, 



With wanton ivy-twine, entrail'd athwart, 



And eglantine and caprifole among, 



Fashioned above within their inmost part, 



That neither Phoebus' beams could through them throng, 



Nor ^olus' sharp blast could work them any wrong." 



FAIRY QUEEN, b. Hi. c. 6. 



The Myrtle and the bay are continually coupled to- 

 gether by the poets, like the lily and the rose. And not 

 even the bay itself has been more sweetly sung than this 

 beautiful shrub : 



" And in the midst of all, cluster'd about 

 With bay and myrtle, and just gleaming out, 

 Lurk'd a pavilion, a delicious sight, 

 Small, marble, well-proportion'd, mellowy white, 

 With yellow vine-leaves sprinkled, but no more, 

 And a young orange either side the door." 



STORY OF RIMINI. 



" Never look'd the bay so fit 

 To surmount two eyes of wit, 

 Nor the myrtle to be seen 

 Two white kerchief'd breasts between ; 

 Nor the oak to crown a sword 

 For a nation's rights restored." 



DESCENT OF LIBERTY. 



" A sacred hedge runs round it ; and a brook, 

 Flowing from out a little gravelly nook, 

 Keeps green the laurel and the myrtle trees, 

 And odorous cypresses." 



^HUNT'S FoLiAGE:/rom Theocritus. 



There is another most exquisite passage about this shrub 

 in Keats's Sleep and Poetry : 



A myrtle, fairer than 



E'er grew in Paphos, from the bitter weeds 

 Lifts its sweet head into the air, and feeds 

 A silent space with ever-sprouting green. 

 All tenderest birds there find a pleasant screen, 

 Creep through the shade with noisy fluttering, 

 Nibble the little cupped flowers, and sing. 



