| (1) | Euphronius. | I was of late as petty to his ends
As is the morn-dew on the Myrtle-leaf
To his grand sea. | | Antony and Cleopatra, act iii, sc. 12 (8). | | | (2) | Isabella. | Merciful Heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled Oak
Than the soft Myrtle. | | Measure for Measure, act ii, sc. 2 (114). | | | (3) | | Venus, with young Adonis sitting by her,
Under a Myrtle shade began to woo him. | | Passionate Pilgrim (143). | | | (4) | | Then sad she hasteth to a Myrtle grove. | | Venus and Adonis (865). | Myrtle is of course the English form of myrtus; but the older English name was Gale, a name which is still applied to the bog-myrtle.[174:1] Though a most abundant shrub in the South of Europe, and probably introduced into England before the time of Shakespeare, the myrtle was only grown in a very few places, and was kept alive with difficulty, so that it was looked upon not only as a delicate and an elegant rarity, but as the established emblem of refined beauty. In the Bible it is always associated with visions and representations of peacefulness and plenty, and Milton most fitly uses it in the description of our first parents' "blissful bower"— Paradise Lost, iv. In heathen times the Myrtle was dedicated to Venus, and from this arose the custom in mediÆval times of using the flowers for bridal garlands, which thus took the place of Orange blossoms in our time. "The lover with the Myrtle sprays
Adorns his crisped cresses."
Drayton, Muse's Elysium. "And I will make thee beds of Roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered o'er with leaves of Myrtle."
Roxburghe Ballads. As a garden shrub every one will grow the Myrtle that can induce it to grow. There is no difficulty in its cultivation, provided only that the climate suits it, and the climate that suits it best is the neighbourhood of the sea. Virgil describes the Myrtles as "amantes littora myrtos," and those who have seen the Myrtle as it grows on the Devonshire and Cornish coasts will recognise the truth of his description.
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