LY, 
88; 
re’s 
nic 
of 
to 
ns, 
are 
11d 
he 
) a 
ts, 
nd 
t ” 
iis 

VIOLET. 39 
favorite flower ; and in the eyes of many, the fact will 
not be one of its slightest charms. There is not a more 
exquisite passage in the whole range of English poetry 
than that in ‘‘ Twelfth Night,” where the Duke, list- 
ening to plaintive music, desires 
“ That strain again ; it had a dying fall : 
Oh, it came o’er my ear like the sweet South 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
Stealing and giving odor.” 
Shakspeare employs his beloved flower as the type 
of modesty and maidenhood. Indeed, poets are con- 
tinually using this retirmg blossom as an emblem of 
those qualities. 
‘* She steals timidly away, 
Shrinking as violets do in Summer’s ray.”—Moors. 
Barry Cornwall gives it the preference over the rose : 
“ The king told Gyges of the purple flower ; 
It chanced.to be the flower the boy liked most : 
It has a scent as though Love, for its dower, 
Had on it all his odorous arrows tost ; 
For though the rose has more perfuming power, 
The violet—haply ’cause ’tis almost lost, 
And takes us so much trouble to discover— 
Stands first with most, but always with a lover.” 
~ 
‘‘No flowers grew in the vale, 
Kissed by the dew, wooed by the gale— 
None by the dew of the twilight wet, 
So sweet as the deep blue violet.”—L. Hi. L. 
«©When the grave shall open for me— 
I care not how soon that time may be— 










