TJioUt. 83 
I'm as great as they, I trow, 
Since the day I found thee out, 
Little flower ! — I'll make a stir, 
Like a great astronomer. 
Modest, yet withal an elf, 
Bold, and lavish of thyself, 
Since we needs must first have met 
I have seen thee, high and low, 
Thirty years or more, and yet 
'Twas a face I did not know : 
Thou hast now, go where I may, 
Fifty greetings in a day. 
Ere a leaf is on the bush, 
In the time before the thrush 
Has a thought about its nest, 
Thou wilt come with half a call, 
Spreading out thy glossy breast 
Like a careless prodigal ; 
Telling tales about the sun, 
When there's little warmth or none. 
Wb7'dswortk. 
Shakspeare regarded the Violet as the emblem of 
constancy, as the following occurs in one of his son- 
nets: — 
Violet is for faithfulness, 
AYhich in me shall abide ; 
Hoping, likewise, that from your heart 
You will not let it slide. 
Shakspeare. 
