Myrtle. 
Mortus communis. Narvurar Orver: Myrtacee—Myrtle Family. 
THENS adopted the Myrtle as an emblem. of municipal 
» authority, and the victors in the Olympic games were crowned 
= with wreaths of it; it was also sacred to Venus, the goddess 
" of love, and her temples were encompassed with groves of 
Ne 2d Myrtle. We find in Virgil, that in Baiae (a small town in 
co Ny ‘Campania, on the coast between Cumae and Puteoli, a 
: Wi a favorite resort of the Romans on account of its warm baths and 
“%e pleasant location), “there was a large Myrtle grove, where a warm, 
IteV sudorific vapor rose from the earth.” King Faunus beat Bona Dea, 
OS his wife, to death with myrtle rods, because she lowered the dignity of 
© a queen by becoming intoxicated with wine. He afterward repented 
sf his severity, deified, and paid her divine honors. It is a handsome, 
S24 ornamental evergreen shrub, grown usually in the greenhouse, and was 
much admired by the ancients for its elegance and fragrance. 
jane, 
H, love! thou sternly dost thy power maintain, $ 
And wilt not bear a rival in thy reign; 
Tyrants and thou all fellowship disdain. 
—Dryden. 
OVE knoweth every form of air, OVE is a pearl of purest hue, 
And every shape of earth; But stormy waves are round it, 
And comes, unbidden, everywhere, And dearly may a woman rue 
Like thought’s mysterious birth. The hour that first she found it. 
—Willis. —Miss Landon, 
SUBTLE, unbound power, 
That slips the soul from its prison fair 
And makes it buoyant and lighter than air. 
. —C.H.T. 
RUE, ah! true, and well I mark Faith yet fuller, more complete, 
All your words would teach — While my lips attest 
And my soul beyond the dark It is love makes heaven sweet — 
\ Stretches forth to reach Love is more than rest! 
Bs —Mary B. Dodge. 
as _ 217 
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[ak ay 
