which endeared it to those old garden 

 lovers who were as yet undisturbed 

 by the doubling and trebling, and other 

 manifestations of man's handiwork, 

 which have come with advancing 

 years. 



The Greeks, to whom the idea of 

 pure sylvan beauty was a meadow, 

 speak of violets growing there. So 

 does the great Milton, but Shakespeare 

 knew better where to find the first- 

 lings of the spring : 



" I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, 

 Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows." 



He has Perdita call the violet " dim," 

 Milton calls it " glowing," each in his 

 heart intent on a difi'erent point of 

 view, for Perdita thinks of her hid- 

 den love and compares it to this shy 

 blossom; Milton likens it to an em- 

 blem of triumphant love, and so calls 

 it glowing. With the joy of love in 

 his heart, Shakespeare elsewhere says, 

 41 



