tice 
kept 
sing 
nn's 
still 

PRIMROSE. 59 
But yet, methinks, I love thee best 
When bees are nurst on whitethorn breast, 
When Spring-tide pours in, sweet and blest, 
And joy and hope come dancing ! 
When music from the feathered throng 
Breaks forth in merry marriage song, 
And mountain streamlets dash along, 
Like molten diamonds glancing ! 
Oh ! pleasant ’tis to scan the page, 
Rich with the theme of bygone age, 
When motley fool and learned sage, 
Brought garlands for the gay pole; 
When laugh and shout came ringing out 
From courtly knight and peasant lout, 
In “Hurrah for merry England, and the raising 
of the Maypole!” 
When the good old times had carol rhymes, 
With morris games and village chimes ; 
When clown and priest shared cup and feast, 
And the greatest jostled with the least, 
At the “raising of the Maypole !” 

++ 
PRIMROSE. 
( Youth.) 
«The primrose I will pu’, the firstling of the year.” —Burys, 
HE Primrose, emblematical of youth, has received 
innumerable deservedly warm encomiums from 
our poets, but none sweeter than those popular lines of 
Carew : 
«¢ Ask me why I send you here 
This firstling of the infant year ; 






























