pfanC "bofte, "begeT^/, an^ "bijric/. ^yg 



a white heifer, he caused sweet Violets to spring from the earth, in 

 order to present her with herbage worthy of her. 



" We are Violets blue, 

 For our sweetness found, 

 Careless in the morning shades, 

 Looking on the ground ; 

 Love's dropp'd eyelids and a kiss, 

 Such our breath and blueness is. 

 lo, the mild shape, 

 Hidden by Jove's fears. 

 Found us first i' the swnrd, when she 

 F<jr hunger stooped in tears ; 

 Wheresoe'er her lips she sets 

 Said Jove, be breaths called Violets." 



In one of the poems of his ' Hesperides,' however, Herrick gives 

 a different version of the origin of Violets. According to the 

 wayward fancy of this old poet, Violets are the descendants of some 

 unfortunate girls, who, having defeated Venus in a dispute she 

 had with Cupid on the delicate point as to whether she or they 

 surpassed in sweetness, were beaten blue by the goddess in hier 



jealous rage. Some etymologists trace the Greek names Ion to 



la, the daughter of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys, and trans- 

 formed by Diana into a Violet in order conceal her from Phcebus. 



Another derivation of the name is found in the story that some 



nymphs of Ionia, who lived on the banks of the river Cytherus, first 

 presented these flowers to Ion, who had led an Ionian colony into 



Attica. The Greek grammarian Lycophron, who lived in the 



time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (about 280 years B.C.), was fond of 

 making anagrams, and from the name of the Queen Arsinoe ex- 

 tracfted " Violet of Juno." Shakspeare, calls these favourite flowers 



" Violets dim. 



But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 



Or Cytherea's breath." — IVmrers TaU'. 



In all eastern countries, the Violet is a favourite flower, and a 

 sherbet flavoured with its blossoms is a common drink at Persian 

 and Arabian banquets. So delicious is this beverage, that Tavernier 

 specially remembers that it is drunk by the Grand Seignior himself. 

 There is a legend, that Mahomet onc-e remarked: " The excellence 

 of the extract of Violets above all other extracts is as the excel- 

 lence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in Summer, 

 and it is hot in Winter." Another Oriental saying is, " The ex- 

 cellence of the Violet is as the excellence of El Islam above all 



other religions." At the floral games, instituted at Toulouse by 



Clemence Isaure in the early part of the fourteenth century, in the 

 time of the Troubadours, the prize awarded to the author of the 

 best poetical composition consisted of a golden Violet. The fair 

 founder of these games is stated, whilst undergoing a weary im- 

 prisonment, to have sent her chosen flower, the Violet, to her 

 knight, that he might wear the emblem of her constanc}-; and the 

 flower thus became, with the Troubadours, a symbol of this virtue. 



2 p — 2 



