Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Myrtle (Myrtus Communis)
Nor myrtle—which means chiefly love: and love
Is something awful which one dare not touch
So early o’ mornings.
E. B. Browning—Aurora Leigh. Bk. II.
The myrtle (ensign of supreme command,
Consigned by Venus to Melissa’s hand)
Not less capricious than a reigning fair,
Oft favors, oft rejects a lover’s prayer;
In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,
In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain.
Samuel Johnson—Written at the Request of a Gentleman. L. 3.
Dark-green and gemm’d with flowers of snow,
With close uncrowded branches spread
Not proudly high, nor meanly low,
A graceful myrtle rear’d its head.
Montgomery—The Myrtle.
While the myrtle, now idly entwin’d with his crown,
Like the wreath of Harmodius, shall cover his sword.
Moore—O, Blame Not The Bard.