To throw a perfume on the violet
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.
Shakespeare informs us in "King John."[39] With the utmost delicacy of perfection he describes Titania's favorite haunt as
a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.[40]
In truth, the tiny flower seems to nod among its leaves.
Shakespeare makes the elegant Duke in "Twelfth Night," who is lounging nonchalantly on his divan, compare the music he hears to the breeze blowing upon a bank of violets[41] ([see page 44]).
[38] "The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III.
[39] Act IV, Scene II.
[40] "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; Act II, Scene II.
[41] Act I, Scene I.