179 
LOVE. 
MYRTLE. 
See, rooted in the earth, her kindly bed, 
The unendangered myrtle, decked with flowers, 
Before the threshold stands to welcome us ! 
WORDSWORTH. 
The oak has ever been consecrated to Ju¬ 
piter,— the laurel to Apollo,—the olive to 
Minerva,—and the myrtle to Venus. Among 
the ancients the myrtle was a great favourite, 
for its elegance, and its sweet and glossy ever¬ 
green foliage. Its perfumed and delicate 
flowers seem destined to adorn the fair fore¬ 
head of love, and are said to have been made 
the emblem of love, and dedicated to beauty, 
when Venus first sprang, from the sea. We 
are informed by mythological writers that 
when the fair goddess first appeared upon the 
waves, she was preceded by the houris, with 
a scarf of a thousand colours, and a garland 
of myrtle. 
Wordsworth appropriates myrtle wreaths 
to youthful heads, and conjures them to drop 
from those of declining years : 
Fall, rosy garlands, from my head ! 
Ye myrtle wreaths, your fragrance shed 
Around a younger brow! 
N 2 
