6 
* 
He introduces it again more cheerfully in Sabrina’s 
song: — 
“ Whilst from off the waters fleet 
Thus I set my printless feet, 
O’er the cowslip’s velvet head, 
That bends not as I tread.” 
But, not to multiply quotations (for it is every poet’s 
theme), I will only select in addition a few very beautiful 
lines from Clare’s Village Minstrel, where he invests this 
little favourite with a devotional character: — 
“ Bowing adorers of the gale, 
Ye cowslips, delicately pale, 
Upraise your loaded stems: 
Unfold your cups of splendour, speak ! 
Who deck’d you with that ruddy streak 
And gilt your golden gems ? 
“ Ye lovely flowers of lowly birth, 
Embroiderers of the carpet earth. 
That stud the velvet sod j 
Open to spring’s refreshing air. 
In sweetest smiling bloom declare 
Your Maker and your God. ” 
The above quotations, and the thousand others of a 
similar character which crowd on the mind, bring to 
