1.32 
THE MORAL OF FLOWERS. 
England, it bears without injury the milder winter of 
Devonshire and Cornwall. It is supposed by some to 
have been brought here by Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir 
Francis Carew in 1585, after their residence in Spain. 
Others assign a later date to its introduction; but Evelyn 
rather corroborates the former notion as to the time of 
its first appearance amongst us, by stating, in 1678, 
that “ he knew of a myrtle near eighty years old, which 
had been continually exposed, unless during very sharp 
seasons a little straw had been thrown upon it.” 
Gifted as it is both by nature and story, the myrtle 
seems to be the very subject for the muse; and we find 
when Milton enumerates “ flowers worthy of paradise ” 
he does not forget it. Beautifully does he represent 
Eve, yet unfallen, in a bower “ of roses intermixed 
with myrtle ” at her “ pleasant task,” “ oft stooping to 
support each flower of slender stalk,” 
' --“ them she upstays 
Gentle with myrtle hand, mindless the while 
Herself, though fairest unsupported flower, 
From her best prop so far, and storms so nigh.” 
And again, when he twines the funeral chaplet for 
Lycidas, for which he culls every thing that is fair and 
