THE POETRY OP FLOWERS. 37 
The violet, while it pleases by its modest, retir¬ 
ing beauty, possesses the additional charm of the 
most exquisite of all perfumes, which, inhaled 
with the pure and invigorating breezes of spring, 
always brings back in remembrance a lively con¬ 
ception of that delightful season. Thus, in the 
language of poetry, “ the violet-scented gale ” is 
synonymous with those accumulated and sweetly- 
blended gratifications which we derive from odors, 
flowers, and balmy breezes ; and above all, from 
the contemplation of renovated nature, once more 
bursting forth into beauty and perfection. 
The jessamine, also, with its dark-green leaves, 
and little silver stars, saluting us with its delicious 
scent through the open casement, and impregnat¬ 
ing the whole atmosphere of the garden with its 
sweetness, has been sung and celebrated by so 
many poets, that our associations are with their 
numbers, rather than with any intrinsic quality in 
the flower itself. Indeed, whatever may have first 
established the rank of flowers in the poetical 
world, they have become to us like notes of music, 
passed on from lyre to lyre; and whenever a chord 
is thrilled with the harmony of song, these lovely 
images present themselves, neither impaired in 
their beauty, nor exhausted of their sweetness, for 
having been the medium of poetic feeling ever 
since the world began. 
It is impossible to expend a moment’s thought 
upon the lily, without recurring to that memorable 
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