SWEET-SMELLING PLANTS 



133 



being given — it is to be presumed by Cupid — against her, the god- 

 dess, in her jealous rage, behaved in a most unladylike manner, 

 falling upon her rivals and beating them until they became black 

 and blue. 



' Love on a day, wise poets tell, 



Some time in wrangling spent, 

 Whether the violets should excel, 

 Or she in sweetest scent.' — Herrick. 



Allusions to the Violet are common in all literature and to all 

 ages, and no flower, except perhaps the Rose, ever enjoyed so 

 universal a reputation. The Latin \^iiters constantly mention it. 

 Juvenal sa3^s that Violets ' of all colours ' shall be scattered over 

 his house in honour of the return of his friend Catullus, who had 

 been in imminent danger of shipwreck. From Horace we learn 

 that in Italy the Violet soon established itself on ground allowed to 

 go out of cultivation. In deserted olive plantations, he says, 

 Violets and Myrtles, with all the tribe of sweet-smelling flowers, 

 will soon shed their perfume. 



' "We are Violets blue, 

 For our sweetness found. 

 Careless in the morning shades, 

 Looking on the ground. 

 Love's dropp'd eyelids and a kiss, 

 Such our breaths and blueness is.' 



With Pliny they were great favourites. The white Violet he 

 calls ' the first messenger of spring ' ; and in another passage he 

 assigns to Violets generally the highest place among scented flowers 

 after Roses and Lilies. Mahomet alludes to them on at least two 

 occasions. He is reported to have said that ^ the excellence of the 

 Violet is as the excellence of El Islam above all other religions ' ; 

 and in the Koran he begs his followers to believe that * the 

 superiority of the extract of Violets above all other extracts is as 

 his superiority over the rest of men. ' In the contests of the ^ Gay 

 Science,' instituted by the troubadours at Toulouse, the prize 

 decided apon was to take the form of a Golden Violet. Subse- 

 quently the Violet was reserved for the first prize, while the second 

 was to be a silver sprig of J asmine, and the third a natural bough 

 of the Yellow Acacia — hence the name of ^Floral Games,' as applied 

 to the competitions. These games were still in existence at the 

 commencement of the present century, and some attempt was 

 made, we believe, to revive them not many years ago. 



A writer tells of his gathering Violets among the spring flowers in 

 his ramblings around New Orleans, but he was not attracted by 

 their odour, for American Violets are scentless ; though our sweet 



