184 PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
(3) Venus, with young Adonis sitting by her, 
Under a Myrtle shade began to woo him. 
Passionate Pilgrim , xi. 2. 
(4) Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle.— Ibid. , xx. 12. 
(5) Which a grove of Myrtles made.— Ibid ., xxi. 4. 
(6) Then sad she hasteth to a Myrtle grove. 
Venus and Adonis, 865. 
Myrtle is of course the English form of myrtus; but the 
older English name was Gale, a name which is still applied 
to the bog-myrtle. 1 Though a most abundant shrub in the 
South of Europe, and probably introduced into England 
before the time of Shakespeare, the Myrtle was only grown in 
a very few places, and was kept alive with difficulty, so that it 
was looked upon not only as a delicate and an elegant rarity, 
but as the established emblem of refined beauty. In the Bible 
it is always associated with visions and representations of 
peacefulness and plenty, and Milton most fitly uses it in the 
description of our first parents’ “ blissful bower ”— 
“The roofe 
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade, 
Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew 
Of firm and fragrant leaf.”— Paradise Lost , iv. 
In heathen times the Myrtle was dedicated to Venus, and 
from this arose the custom in mediaeval times of using the 
flowers for bridal garlands, which thus took the place of 
Orange blossoms in our time. 
“ The lover with the Myrtle sprays 
Adorns his crisped cresses.”— Drayton, Muse's Elysium. 
‘ e And I will make thee beds of Roses, 
And a thousand fragrant posies, 
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle 
Embroidered o’er with leaves of Myrtle.” 
Roxburghe Ballads. 
1 “Gayle; mirtus .”—Catholicon Anglicum, p. 147, with note. 
