444 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Would be to find where violet beds were nestling, 

 And where the bee with cowslip-bells was wrestling." 



" Gay villagers, upon a morn of May, 

 When they have tired their gentle limbs with play, 

 And formed a snowy circle on the grass, 

 And placed in midst of all that lovely lass 

 Who chosen is their queen ; with her fine head 

 Crowned with flowers, purple, white, and red ; 

 For there the lily and the musk-rose sighing, 

 Are emblems true of hapless lovers dying : 

 Between her breasts, that never yet felt trouble, 

 A bunch of violets, full-blown, and double, 

 Serenely sleep." 



Ebn Abrumi, an Arabian poet, compares blue eyes 

 weeping to Violets bathed in dew *. 



Lord Byron has the same simile : 



" I saw thee weep, the big bright tear 



Came o'er that eye of blue ; 

 And then methought it did appear 

 A violet dropping dew." 



How beautiful is the following passage in the Winter's 

 Tale ! 



" violets, dim, 



But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 

 Or Cytherea's breath." 



In Cymbeline, Belisarius, speaking of the two young 

 princes, says, 



. " They are as gentle 



As zephyrs, blowing below the violet, 

 Not wagging his sweet head." 



In Twelfth Night again, the poet has some exquisite 

 lines upon this flower, where the duke, listening to plain- 

 tive music, desires 



See Carlisle's Specimens of Arabian Poetry, 75. 



