66 
The Myrtle. 
As the lily is coupled with the rose, so is the myrtle with 
the bay ; but, here the former of the twain appears to be 
the poet’s favourite. Drayton, in his “ Muses’ Elysium,” has 
gathered a number of emblematical garlands, and appropriately 
enough makes 
“ The lover with the myrtle sprays 
Adorn his crisped tresses.” 
In an exquisite passage in Keats’ “Sleep and Poetry,” that 
poet tells of 
“ 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, 
Creep through the shade with noisy fluttering, 
Nibble the little cupped flowers, and sing.” 
Leigh Hunt, translating from Catullus, speaks of 
“A myrtle-tree in flower, 
Taken from an Asian bower, 
Where, with many a dewy cup, 
Nymphs in play had nursed it up.” 
Poetic allusions to this favourite flower—this emblem of 
« Love, the lord of all ”—might be multiplied to infinity ; for 
who is’ there that loves it not that knows it, and, knowing it, 
does not praise its loveliness ? Not only are its blossoms so 
beautiful, but, even when flowerless, the deep, lustrous green 
of its foliage gains the admiration of all beholders, and reminds 
one of what Professor Wilson (of “ Noctes Ambrosianse ” fame) 
remarked : “ They are shrubs, whose leaves of light have no 
need of flowers.” 
Evelyn informs us that myrtles were introduced into England 
long before the invention of greenhouses ; but in that case, our 
forefathers must have had some method of sheltering them 
from the cold, which was apparently more severe in former 
times than at present; and yet, now-a-days, it is only in the 
warmer counties, such as Cornwall and Devonshire, of our 
uncongenial and ever varying clime, that it can stand un¬ 
defended the test of winter. Those beautiful and fragrant 
myrtle hedges which ancient and modern authors have so 
frequently dilated upon, are only to be found beneath the ever 
blue and cloudless skies of sunnier climes than ours. It is in 
