242 MUSIC OF THE GROVE. 



I also give an extract from that charming poet, 

 Michael Drayton. 



Clear Anker, on whose silver-sanded shore, 



My soul-shrin'd saint, my fair idea, lies ; 

 O blessed brook, whose milk-white swans adore 



That crystal stream refined by her eyes ! 

 Where sweet myrrh-breathing Zephyr in the Spring 



Gently distils his nectar-dropping showers, 

 Where Nightingales in Arden sit and sing 



Amongst the dainty dew-impearled flowers; 

 Say thus, fair brook, when shalt thou see thy queen ? 



Nor must Edmund Spencer be omitted. His 

 beautiful description of the garden of Adonis is 

 well known. 



There is continual Spring and harvest there, 



Continual, both meeting at one time ; 

 For both the boughs do laughing blossoms bear, 



And with fresh colours deck the wanton prime, 

 And eke at once the heavy trees they climb, 



Which seem to labour under their fruits load : 

 The whiles the joyous birds make their pastime 



Amongst the shady leaves, their sweet abode, 

 And their true loves without suspicion tell abroad. 



In making a selection from our own Shak- 

 speare, it is difficult, where there are so many 

 beauties, to know what to fix upon. The follow- 

 ing sonnet cannot, however, but be pleasing to 

 every one, and it contains a delightful description 

 of the opening Spring. 



