44 
we are eagerly longing for the time, when 
Daisies pied, and violets blue. 
And lady smocks all silver white, 
And cuckoo buds of yellow hue. 
Do paint the meadows with delight. 
How gracefully linked together in perfect poesy are the 
few sweet Spring Flowers which our divine Shakspeare repre¬ 
sents the fair Perdita as wishing for to present to her guests— 
O Proserpina, 
For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let’st fall 
From Dis’s waggon! Daffodils n 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty. Violets, dim. 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes. 
Or Cytherea’s breath. Pale primroses. 
That die unmarried, ere they can behold 
Bright Phoebus in his strength; a malady 
Most incident to maids. Bold oxlips, and 
The crown-imperial; lilies of all kinds. 
The flower-de-luce being one. 
Having culled most of Shakspeare’s floral gems for intro¬ 
duction in other parts of the present volume, I will only 
select one or two more groups of flowers, and then pass on to 
(he fables, &c., connected with those fonning the illustrations 
of Spring. 
Ben Jonson —‘‘rare Ben Jonson”—has a most beautiful 
scene in “ Pan’s Anniversary,” where all the flowers familiarly 
known are thus lightly yet richly grouped. 
