"The roofe Of thickest covert was inwoven shade, Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf."
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."
"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."
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.
[174:1] "Gayle; mirtus."--_Catholicon Anglicum_, p. 147, with note.
This garden has a world of pleasures in't, What flowre is this?
That was a faire boy certaine, but a foole, To love himselfe; were there not maides enough?
_Two Noble Kinsmen_, act ii, sc. 2 (130).
Crown'd with rank Fumiter and Furrow-weeds, With Burdocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckoo-flowers.
Crow-flowers, Nettles, Daisies, and Long Purples.
_Hamlet_, act iv, sc. 7 (170). (_See_ CROW-FLOWERS.)
Look for thy reward Among the Nettles at the Elder Tree.
_Twelfth Night_, act ii, sc. 5 (17).[176:1]
I tell you, my lord fool, out of this Nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
The Strawberry grows underneath the Nettle.
I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a Nettle against May.
_Troilus and Cressida_, act i, sc. 2 (190).
We call a Nettle but a Nettle, and The fault of fools but folly.
_Othello_, act i, sc. 3 (324). (_See_ HYSSOP.)
Who do bear thy yoke As 'twer a wreath of roses, yet is heavier Than lead itselfe, stings more than Nettles.
The Nettle needs no introduction; we are all too well acquainted with it, yet it is not altogether a weed to be despised. We have two native species (Urtica urens and U. dioica) with sufficiently strong qualities, but we have a third (U. pilulifera) very curious in its manner of bearing its female flowers in clusters of compact little balls, which is far more virulent than either of our native species, and is said by Camden to have been introduced by the Romans to chafe their bodies when frozen by the cold of Britain. The story is probably quite apocryphal, but the plant is an alien, and only grows in a few places.