328 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
descended to compare Himself—“ I am the true Vine ! ” No 
wonder that a plant so honoured should ever have been the 
symbol of joy and plenty, of national peace and domestic 
happiness. 
Diolets. 
(1) The Violets, Cowslips, and the Primroses, 
Bear to my closet. — Cymbeline , i. 5, 83. 
(2) It is I, 
That, lying by the Violet in the sun, 
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower, 
Corrupt with virtuous season. 
Measure for Measure, ii. 2, 165. 
(3) Where Oxlips and the nodding Violet grows. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1, 250. 
(4) To gild refined gold, to paint the Lily, 
To throw a perfume on the Violet, 
To smooth the ice, or add another hue 
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light 
To seek the beauteous eye of Heaven to garnish, 
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.— King John, iv. 2, 11. 
(5) I think the king is but a man, as I am ; the 
Violet smells to him as it doth to me. 
Henry V, iv. I, 105. 
(6) A Violet in the youth of primy nature, 
Forward, not permanent; sweet, not lasting. 
The perfume and suppliance of a minute ; 
No more.— Hamlet, i. 3, 7. 
(7) I would give you some Violets, but they withered all when my father 
died.— Ibid., iv. 5, 184, 
(S) Lay her i’ the earth, 
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
May Violets spring!— Ibid., v. 1, 261. 
(9) They are as gentle 
As zephyrs blowing below the Violet, 
Not wagging his sweet head.— Cymbeluie , iv. 2, 171. 
