
















180 LOVE, 
And Hartley Coleridge, in a paraphrase on 
Horace, thus introduces the myrtle as a fit deco- 
ration for the brow of youth, 
Nay, nay, my boy—’tis not for me, 
This studious pomp of eastern luxury 3; 
Give me no various garlands,—fine 
With linden twine ; 
Nor seek, when latest lingering blows 
The solitary rose. 
Earnest I beg—add not with toilsome pain,— 
One far sought blossom to the myrtle plain, 
For sure, the fragrant myrtle bough 
Looks seemliest on thy brow; 
Nor me mis-seems, while, underneath the vine, 
Close interweaved, I quaff the rosy wine. 
At Rome, the first temple dedicated to 
Venus was surrounded by groves of myrtle; 
and after the victory that goddess achieved 
ever Pallas and Juno, she was crowned with 
myrtle by Cupids. Surprised one day, on 
going out of a bath, by a troop of satyrs, she 
took refuge behind a myrtle bush; she also 
avenged herself with myrtle branches on the 
audacious Psyche, who had dared to compare 
her own transitory graces to those of an im- 
mortal beauty. 
Although triumphs are no longer celebrated 
in the Roman capitol, the Italian ladies have 




























