33o 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
sages in which Shakespeare names the Violet, he alludes to 
the purple sweet-scented Violet, 
of which he was evidently very 
fond, and which is said to be 
very abundant in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Stratford-on-Avon. For 
all the eighteen passages tell of 
some point of beauty or sweet¬ 
ness in the flower that attracted 
him. And so it is with all the 
poets from Chaucer downwards 
—the Violet is noticed by all, 
and by all with affectation. I 
need only mention two of the 
greatest. Milton gave the Violet 
a chief place in the beauties of 
the “ Blissful Bower ” of our first 
parents in Paradise—• 
“ Each beauteous flower, 
Iris all hues, Roses, and Jessamin 
Rear’d high their flourish’t heads between, and wrought 
Mosaic ; underfoot the Violet, 
Crocus and Hyacinth with rich inlay 
Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone 
Of costliest emblem . v —Paradise Lost , book'iv. ; 
and Sir Walter Scott crowns it as the queen of wild flowers— 
‘ ‘ The Violet in her greenwood bower, 
Where Birchen boughs with Hazels mingle, 
May boast itself the fairest flower 
In glen, in copse, or forest dingle.” 
Yet favourite though it ever has been, it has no English name. 
Violet is the diminutive form of the Latin Viola, which again is 
the Latin form of the Greek tov. In the old Vocabularies 
Viola frequently occurs, and with the following various transla¬ 
tions :—“ Ban-wyrt,” i. e. Bone-wort (eleventh century Vocab¬ 
ulary) ; “ Cloefre,” i. e. Clover (eleventh century Vocabulary); 
