PANSIES, VIOLAS, SWEET VIOLETS 279 



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



The Lily I condemned for thy hand, 



And buds of Marjoram had stol'n thy hair.' " 



Sonnet xcix. 



" They are as gentle 

 As zephyrs blowing below the Violet, 

 Not wagging his sweet head." 



Cymbeline. 



" If music be the food of love, play on ; 

 Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, 

 The appetite may sicken, and so die. 

 That strain again ! it had a dying fall : 

 O ! it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound 

 That breathes upon a bank of Violets, 

 Stealing and giving odour." 



Twelfth Night. 



And it was not Shakespeare alone of the great writers 

 who loved the Violet. Its appeal was equally powerful 

 to all. It made the same impression on Chaucer as on 

 Milton. 



One would expect so old a British flower to have a 

 common name. That it has not may be attributed to 

 the natural charm of the Latin name Viola, of which 

 Violet and Violetta (the latter applied to a miniature 

 strain of garden Violas) are affectionate diminutives. 

 Cockneys sometimes perpetrate the atrocity Voylat in 

 naming it, but for the most part it is pronounced cor- 

 rectly. Speaking of pronunciation, it may be well to 

 point out that Viola is frequently rendered incorrectly. 

 It is pronounced Vi-o'-la ; it should be Vi'-o-la, the 

 accent being on the first syllable. 



That grand old mediaeval gardener Gerard used brave 

 words of the Violet : " There be made of them garlands 

 for the head, nosegaies and poesies, which are delightfull 

 to looke on and pleasant to smell to, speaking nothing 

 of their appropriate vertues : yea, gardens themselves 



