e death of the young. I suppose
these ideas must have arisen from a sort of pity for flowers that were
only allowed to see the opening year, and were cut off before the full
beauty of summer had come. This was prettily expressed by H. Vaughan,
the Silurist:

"So violets, so doth the primrose fall
At once the spring's pride and its funeral,
Such early sweets get off in their still prime,
And stay not here to wear the foil of time;
While coarser flowers, which none would miss, if past,
To scorching summers and cold winters last."

_Daphnis_, 1678.

It was from this association that they were looked on as apt emblems of
those who enjoyed the bright springtide of life and no more. This
feeling was constantly expressed, and from very ancient times. We find
it in some pretty lines by Prudentius--

"Nos tecta fovebimus ossa
Violis et fronde frequente,
Titulumque et frigida saxa
Liquido spargemus odore."

Shakespeare expresses the same feeling in the collection of "purple
Violets and Marigolds" which Marina carries to hang "as a carpet on the
grave" (No. 14), and again in Laertes' wish that Violets may spring from
the grave of Ophelia (No. 8), on which Steevens very aptly quotes from
Persius Satires--

"e tumulo fortunataque favilla.
Nascentur Violae."

In the same spirit Milton, gathering for the grave of Lycidas--

"Every flower that sad embroidery wears,"

gathers among others "the glowing Violet;" and the same thought is
repeated by many other writers.

There is a remarkable botanical curiosity in the structure of the Violet
which is worth notice: it produces flowers both in spring and autumn,
but the flowers are very different. In spring they are fully formed and
sweet-scented, but they are mostly barren and produce no seed, while in
autumn they are very small, they have no petals and, I believe, no
scent, but they produce abundance of seed.[313:1]

I need say nothing to recommend the Violet in all its varieties as a
garden plant. As a useful medicinal plant it was formerly in high
repute--

"Vyolet an erbe cowth
Is knowyn in ilke manys mowthe,
As bokys seyn in here language,
It is good to don in potage,
In playstrys to wondrys it is comfortyf,
W{h} oyer erbys sanatyf:"

_Stockholm M