Here on green banks the blushing vi'lets glow,
and this reading was retained till the edition of Warburton. It probably at last occurred to the poet that as people do not blush blue or purple, the epithet "blushing" was inapplicable to the violet.
[24] "Breathing" means breathing odours, and Wakefield quotes Paradise Lost, ii. 244:
his altar breathes
Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers.
[25] Pope rarely mentions flowers without being guilty of some mistake as to the seasons they blow in. Who ever saw roses, crocuses, and violets in bloom at the same time?—Steevens.
[26] The first reading was,
And his own image from the bank surveys.—Pope.
Pope submitted the reading in the note, and that in the text to Walsh, and asked which was the best. Walsh preferred the text.
Lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis,
Diffusos edera vestit pallente corymbos. Virg.—Pope.