THE VIOLET TRIBE. 67 



dropped off; it is an oblong shining case, which splits 

 into three pieces or valves, in the middle of each of 

 which stick the pale chesnut-coloured shining seeds. 



There is no material difference from this structure 

 in such other plants of the Violet tribe as you are 

 ever likely to meet with ; and therefore I shall sup- 

 pose that the whole may be recognized by the cha- 

 racters I have explained. 



Beautiful as they all are to look at, they would 

 produce anything rather than Heart's ease if you 

 were to eat them : for their roots have the property 

 of producing sickness in so powerful a manner that 

 they are sometimes used in medicine as emetics. I 

 would therefore advise you to confine your admira- 

 tion to their beauty or their fragrance. 



The Sweet Violet will have no rival among flowers, 

 if we merely seek for delicate fragrance, but her 

 sister, the Heartsease, who is destitute of all sweet- 

 ness, far surpasses her in rich dresses and gaudy 

 colours. She has become of late a special favourite 

 with florists, who cultivate I know not how many 

 distinct varieties, some of which have flowers of 

 yellow and purple, or all yellow, or all purple, or 

 nearly white, with every gradation of tint and depth, 

 which one can well imagine. Methinks, I hear my 

 young friends exclaim, are these fine plants, indeed, 

 our humble Pansy, changed by cultivation ? is it 

 possible that the little drooping weed, which we 

 have so often gathered among the stubble of corn- 

 fields in the autumn, can ever become the' gaudy 

 flower of the florist ? Even so indeed is it ; the 



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