THE STORY OE A BLADE OF GRASS. 
21 
Agau, in the song of the fairy :—• 
* To wander everywhere 
Swifter than the moon’s sphere : 
And I do serve the fairy queen, 
To dew her orbs upon the green.” * 
It was on the “ green plot/'t too, that Quince and his 
companions held the rehearsals of their revels. It is in 
the allusion to Grass that the consolation which Gaunt 
offers to the banished Bolingbroke derives its cheeriug 
freshness and its sunny hope; he tells him 
“ All places that the eye of Heaven visits 
Are, to a wise man, happy ports and havens. 
■*•#■&** 
Suppose 
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air, 
And thou art flying to a fresher clime. 
Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it, 
To lie that way thou go’st, not that thou com’st. 
Suppose the singing birds, musicians; 
The grass whereon thou tread'st, the presence strew'd; 
The flowers, fair ladies, and thy steps, no more 
Than a delightful measure or a dance.”{ 
The most noble of Shakspere's songs are those 
which partake most of the rural character, and these 
embody choicer, fresher, quainter allusions to green 
things than the songs of any other poet, either ancient 
or modern, of this or other countries. 
Where shall we find anything which bears comparison 
* Midsummer Night’s Dream, Actii., sc. 1. 
+ Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act i'ii., sc. 1. 
J King Bichard II., Act. i., sc. 3 
