THE VIOLET. 
27 
But his happiest allusion to it is in that exquisite passage 
in the “ Twelfth Night:” — 
“ That strain again ; it had a dying fall: 
Oh ! it came o’er my ear like the sweet south, 
That breathes upon a bed of violets, 
Stealing and giving odour.” 
Neither does Milton forget it; it is one of the favoured 
flowers with which he strews the bower of Adam and 
Eve in Paradise. 
But much of the imagery of the poets turns on the 
blue colour of the violet; and as the specimen here 
chosen is the white one, happily for one who fears being 
tedious, yet knows not what to reject where all are so 
beautiful, the field of quotation is narrowed. 
The violet was considered an emblem of constancy; 
probably from its blossoms being generally blue, which 
was esteemed an unchanging colour: — 
“ Violet is for faithfulness 
Which in me shall abide, 
Hoping likewise that from your heart 
You will not let it slide.” 
I have ventured to extend this symbolical character 
to the white variety ; the flowers of which are larger 
