322 VIOLA. [CLASS V. OUDER I. 



and splendid various coloured sorts are seen at almost every florioul- 

 tural exhibilion in the country. As a low border flower, perhaps few 

 surpass it either in the beauty or variety of its colours, and it continues 

 putting out its blooms during the whole of the Summer months. And 

 may we not in the contemplation of these floral gems, with the poet 

 Smart, exclaim — 



" Immense Creator ! whose all powerful hand 



Framed universal being, and whose eye 



Saw, like thyself, that all things form'd were good ; 



Where shall the timorous bard thy praise begin. 



Where end the purest sacrifice of song 



And just thanksgiving? — 



O thrice illustrious ! were it not for thee, 



Those pansies that, reclining from the bank, 



Vievv through the immaculate pellucid stream 



Their portraiture in the inverted heaven. 



Might as well change their triple boast, the white. 



The purple and the gold, that far outvie 



The Eastern monarch's garb, e'en with the dock, 



E'en with the baneful hemlock's irksome green." 



It has been recommended either in the form of an extract, or boiled 

 in milk, for the cure of epilepsy, asthma, and in various cutaneous 

 diseases ; and stated by some authors to have been used with success 

 when all other remedies have failed, especially in that kind of diseased 

 skin called crusta lactea, but in the hands of modern practitioners it 

 has failed : formerly too, its decoction was thought to possess the pro- 

 perty of removing from the eye specks and scars, caused by ulcerations, 

 and also to be an excellent remedy for coughs, and a good diuretic. 

 How it obtained the name of Heart's-ease I know not. Herrick says— 



" Frolic virgins once there were, 

 Over loving living here ; 

 Being here their ends deny'd. 

 Ran for sweethearts mad and died. 



Love in pitie for their tcares. 

 And their loss in blooming years, 

 For their restlesse here spent houres. 

 Gave them Heart's-ease turned to floures.'' 



These are not, however, the only virtues that they are said to 

 possess ; for the poets say — 



" Are not Pansies emblems meet for thought ? 

 The pure, the chcqucr'd — gay and deep by turns ; 

 A lino for every mood the bright things wear 

 In their soft velvet coats." 



G. V. lu'tea, Hudx. (Fig. .302.) yelUuv Mountain Violet, or ifellow 

 Pansy, Stem ascending, much branched at the base ; leaves crcnated, 



