37 
When the goddess of Beauty first sprang from the Sea, 
Her garland was form’d of the green Myrtle-tree, 
And the Houris of paradise gather’d the flow’r 
From the grove that environs Adonis’s bow’r; 
And in joyful remembrance of Venus’s birth 
They dropt a small sprig as a boon to the earth: 
Flora found the fair flow’ret and made it to grow 
As an emblem of Love in her garden below! 
Love listen’d with rapture, but made no reply, 
For a Hose in full bloom had attracted his eye; 
And resolving to have it and make it his own 
To entwine it with Myrtle round Venus’s throne, 
He pluck’d the sweet Hose and he bore it above, 
And render’d it sacred to Beauty and Love. 
Now the Sun in the west hid his diadem’d head, 
Eve’s mantle of mist o’er the garden was spread; 
The Nasturtium* emitted her flashes of light, 
And Convolvolus folded her leaves for the night , 
* The Nasturtium.—This plant is said to emit flashes of light 
after sun-set and during the night. 
