'THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 125 



In "Sonnet XCIX" he writes: 



The forward violet thus did I chide: 



Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal the sweet that smells 



If not from my love's breath*? The purple pride 



Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells 



In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed. 



Bacon deemed it most necessary "to know what 

 flowers and plants do best perfume the air," and 

 he thought "that which above all others yields the 

 sweetest smell is the violet, and next to that the 

 musk- rose." (See page 44.) 



"Perhaps of all Warwickshire flowers," writes a 

 native of Shakespeare's country, "none are so plenti- 

 ful as violets; our own little churchyard of White- 

 church is sheeted with them. They grow in every 

 hedgebank until the whole air is filled with their 

 fragrance. The wastes near Stratford are sometimes 

 purple as far as the eyes can see with the flowers of 

 viola canina. Our English violets are twelve in 

 number. The plant is still used in medicine and 

 acquired of late a notoriety as a suggested cancer 

 cure; and in Shakespeare's time was eaten raw with 

 onions and lettuces and also mingled in broth and 

 used to garnish dishes, while crystallized violets are 

 not unknown in the present day." 



