THE HEARTS-EASE, OR PANSY. 139 



violet the flowers that attract our attention rarely ever set 

 their fruit ; this is produced later on in the year, by small 

 and insignificant petal-less flowers, that would very rarely 

 be noticed at all or their import regarded if a cursory 

 glance fell on them. The capsule opens by three valves, 

 and, if cut across before it is quite ripe for opening, makes 

 a very pleasing section, as indeed do many other similar 

 forms. Our readers, furnished with a sharp knife and 

 magnifying glass of small power, would find in such 

 sections much that would interest and delight them. 



The heart's-ease is abundantly met with almost 

 throughout Britain. Though found on hedge-banks and 

 waste ground, it seems in an especial degree a weed of 

 cultivation, hence it will be most freely found in corn-fields 

 and garden ground, It blossoms almost throughout the 

 entire floral season, expanding its attractive little flowers 

 in the early days of summer, and keeping up a succession 

 of blossom until late in autumn. 



The meaning of the generic name has already been 

 referred to in our remarks on the sweet violet. The 

 specific name tricolor, or three-coloured, needs no comment. 

 The name pansy is derived from the French word pensee. 

 Our minds at once turn to the passage in Shakespeare, 

 where Ophelia says, " There's pansies, that's for thoughts." 

 That the thoughts the plant is supposed to suggest are 

 altogether right and pleasant ones may be gathered from 

 its other names, heart's-ease and herb-constancy. It is 

 also sometimes by old writers dedicated to the Trinity, 

 because it has in each flower three colours like many of 

 the old monkish ideas, a somewhat strained and fanciful 

 one. The plant is in many old herbals called the Herla 

 Trinitatis. 



