(12) _Perdita._

Violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes
Or Cytherea's breath.

_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (120).

(13) _Duchess._

Welcome, my son; Who are the Violets now,
That strew the green lap of the new-come spring?

_Richard II_, act v, sc. 2 (46).

(14) _Marina._

The yellows, blues,
The purple Violets and Marigolds,
Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave
While summer-days do last.

_Pericles_, act iv, sc. 1 (16).

(15)

These blue-veined Violets whereon we lean
Never can blab, nor know not what we mean.

_Venus and Adonis_ (125).

(16)

Who when he lived, his breath and beauty set
Gloss on the Rose, smell to the Violet.

_Ibid._ (936).

(17)

When I behold the Violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white,

* * * * *

Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow.

_Sonnet_ xii.

(18)

The forward Violet thus did I chide:
"Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly died."

_Ibid._ xcix.

There are about a hundred different species of Violets, of which there
are five species in England, and a few sub-species. One of these is the
Viola tricolor, from which is descended the Pansy, or Love-in-Idleness
(_see_ PANSY). But in all the passages 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
neighbourhood of Stratford-on-Avon. For all the eighteen passages tell
of some point of beauty or sweetness 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 m