d that is usually made of
all sorts to serve as sauce both for fish and flesh." And to the same
effect the "Boke of Nurture"--

"Yet make moche of Mustard, and put it not away,
For with every dische he is dewest who so lust to assay."

(L. 853).

MYRTLE.

(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"--

"The roofe
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade,
Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf."

_Paradise Lost_, iv.

In heathen times the Myrtle was dedicated to Venus, and from this arose
the custom in mediaeval 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 k