94 SYLVA FLOUIFERA. 



of the heart, leaves no place for other senti- 

 ments. 



" The spiry myrtle with unwith'ring leaf 



Shines here and flourishes." Cowper. 



It was upon a memorable occasion, that 

 the myrtle was introduced into this country, 

 as it is said to have been brought from Spain 

 by Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Carew 

 in 1585, when they resided in Spain, and dis- 

 covered the preparations for the Spanish 

 armada against us. 



Sir Walter, we may presume, would lay this 

 emblem of love at the feet of his royal mistress, 

 who seems to have had no objection to such 

 acts of gallantry ; whilst Sir Francis, we may 

 conjecture, took no less pleasure in planting 

 Venus's favourite tree atBeddington in Surrey, 

 where he had about the same time planted 

 the first orange-tree that graced the British 

 soil. 



This account of the period when the myrtle 

 was introduced, seems confirmed by the writ- 

 ings of the prior and succeeding authors, for 

 in Dr. Turner's history of plants, which was 

 published in 1568, no mention whatever is 

 made of the myrtle ; but in 1597, Gerard 

 speaks of it as a plant of late introduction, as 

 he remarks that myrtles bear no fruit in Eng- 

 land. 



