THE VIOLET. 201 



bathed in the Alpheus, wearing its flowers for a chap- 

 let in the gardens of Pisa." 



The old Greek poets, in their admiration of the 

 violet, prettily feigned that when lo was changed 

 into a cow, the earth "honouring her/' brought forth 

 the violet for her to feed upon ; and Jane Taylor, 

 in her delightful "Nursery Rhymes," as prettily, 

 though quite unintentionally, re-echoes the idea of 

 its being a favourite food of the cow : 



" Where the purple violet blows 

 Pretty cow go there and dine." 



Nicander, however, ignores this fable, and sub- 

 stitutes for it the legend already mentioned. 



There is, probably, no land in which the violet 

 grows and it abounds in every part of Europe, in 

 Barbary, Palestine, Japan, China, and America in 

 whose language its praises have not been sung. To 

 refer to them would be to form a perfect authologia, 

 and I must, therefore, not make the attempt, but will 

 only give the lines of a Welsh poet : 



" Clwys yw'r crinllys, ar'y dorllann 

 Pan font newydd dorri 'allan ; 

 Chwerthin byddant ar yr eira, 

 Pan fo'n amdo ar'y brynia. 

 Maent yn glws 

 O Maent yn glws !" 



Which may be rendered : 



" Beautiful are violets on the broken bank 

 When starting into sudden bloom ; 

 All trustfully they smile upon the snow 

 That coldly shrouds the hills above. 

 They are beautiful ! 

 Oh, they are beautiful !" 



K 3 



