MYRTLE. 89 



ConceaPd, she bathes in consecrated bow'rs, 

 The Graces unguents shed, ambrosial show'rs, 

 Unguents which charm the gods : she, last, assumes 

 Her splendid robes ; and all the goddess blooms." 

 Pope's Homer, and Pitt's Virgil. 



From the delightful perfume of the myrtle, 

 the delicacy of its blossoms, and the glossy 

 green of its perpetual foliage, it seems des- 

 tined to ornament the forehead of beauty, and 

 the temple of Venus, who was crowned with 

 myrtle by the loves, after her victory over 

 Juno and Pallas. It was with the branches 

 of this tree that the mother of Cupid revenged 

 herself on the audacious Psyche, who had 

 dared to compare her transitory charms to an 

 immortal beautv. It is also related, that 

 Venus being surprised by a troop of satyrs 

 as she was coming out of the bath, took re- 

 fuge behind a myrtle-bush, which increased 

 her attachment to this tree. 



We learn from mythological fables, that 

 crowns of myrtle were anciently called Nau- 

 cratites, from the following miraculous story 

 which is related of Herostratus, a Naucratian 

 merchant, who was overtaken by a terrible 

 tempest at sea, that threatened to destroy his 

 ship and all the mariners, until they implored 

 the assistance of a little statue of Venus which 

 he had brought into the vessel. Their sup- 

 plications being attended to by the goddess, 



