22 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
with the magical scenery of the Midsummer Night?s 
Dream , and the Tempest ? Chaucer and Spenser are the 
only authors who dare be mentioned at such a moment. 
In his “ nodding violets” and “kissing cherries/' his 
“ green holly ” and “ strawberries ” which “ grow under¬ 
neath/' or in such passages as :—• 
“ The even mead that erst brought forth 
The peckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover.” 
Or that finest of wood songs in the English language, 
which the wild Caliban, in his rugged simplicity, babbles 
as if it were no better than mere drunken talk :— 
“ I pr’ythee let me bring thee where crabs grow ; 
And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts; 
Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how 
To snare the nimble marmozet; I’ll bring thee 
To clustering filberds, and sometimes I’ll get thee 
Young sea-mells from the rock.” 
The dew-spread grass has furnished many charming 
images to the poets. One sees therein the tears of 
heaven; another calls it manna; all agree that a dew- 
drop is more than a watery globule. 
“ So sweet a kiss the morning sun gives out 
To those fresh morning drops upon the rose.*” 
“-—- sip from herb the pearly tears 
Of morning dew, and after break their fast 
On greensward ground—a cool and grateful taste.”* 
A more delicious image still is that of Mickle, when 
he pictures the Spring as glistening with dew :— 
* Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act iv., sc. 3. 
+ Dry den’s Virgil— Georgies , B. iii. 
