FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Which knitting their rank branches part to part, 



With wanton ivy-twine entrail'd athwart ; 



And eglantine and caprifole among, 



Fashion'd above within their inmost part, 



That neither Phoebus' beams could through them throng, 



Nor jEolus' sharp blast could work them any wrong." 



FAIRY QUEEN, b. iii. 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, clustered 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 or 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 : from 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, 



