Faunus.

But tell me, wench, hast done 't so trick indeed,
That heaven itself may wonder at the deed?

Flora.

Not Iris, in her pride and bravery,
Adorns her arch with such variety;

Nor doth the milk-white way, in frosty night,
Appear so fair and beautiful in sight,

As done these fields, and groves, and sweetest bowers,
Bestrew'd and deck'd with parti-coloured flowers.
Along the bubbling brooks and silver glide
That at the bottom do in silence slide,
The water-flowers and lilies on the banks,
Like blazing comets, burgeon all in ranks;
Under the hawthorn and the poplar-tree,
Where sacred Phoebe may delight to be,
The primrose and the purple hyacinth,
The dainty violet, and the wholesome minth,
The double daisy, and the cowslip, queen
Of summer flowers, do overpeer the green;
And round about the valley as ye pass,

Ye may ne see for peeping flowers the grass:
That well the mighty Juno, and the rest,
May boldly think to be a welcome guest
On Ida's hills, when to approve the thing
The Queen of Flowers prepares a second spring.

Silvanus.

Thou gentle nymph, what thanks shall we repay
To thee that makest our fields and woods so gay?

Flora.

Silvanus, when it is thy hap to see

My workmanship in portraying all the three;

First stately Juno with her port and grace,

Her robes, her lawns, her crownet, and her mace,
Would make thee muse this picture to behold,

Of yellow oxlips bright as burnish'd gold.

Pomona.

A rare device: and Flora well, perdy,
Did paint her yellow for her jealousy.

Flora.

Pallas in flowers of hue and colours red;
Her plumes, her helm, her lance, her Gorgon's head,
Her trailing tresses that hang flaring round,

Of July-flowers1 so graffed in the ground,
That, trust me, sirs, who did the cunning see,
Would at a blush suppose it to be she.

Pan.

Good Flora, by my flock, 't were very good
To dight her all in red resembling blood.

Flora.

Fair Venus of sweet violets in blue,

With other flowers infix'd for change of hue;

Her plumes, her pendants, bracelets, and her rings,
Her dainty fan, and twenty other things,
Her lusty mantle waving in the wind,
And every part in colour and in kind;
And for her wreath of roses, she nill dare
With Flora's cunning counterfeit compare.
So that what living wight shall chance to see
These goddesses, each placed in her degree,
Portrayed by Flora's workmanship alone,
Must say that art and nature met in one.

1 July-flowers, gilliflowers, stocks, or sometimes, wall-flowers.

Silvanus.

A dainty draught to lay her down in blue,
The colour commonly betokening true.

Flora.

This piece of work, compact with many a flower,
And well laid in at entrance of the bower,
Where Phoebe means to make this meeting royal,
Have I prepared to welcome them withal.

XVIII. THE SONG OF PARIS AND ENONE.

Enone.

FAIR and fair, and twice so fair,

As fair as any may be;

The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any lady.

Paris.

Fair and fair, and twice so fair,

As fair as any may be;

Thy love is fair for thee alone,

And for no other lady.

Enone.

My love is fair, my love is gay,
As fresh as bin the flowers in May,

And of my love my roundelay,

My merry merry merry roundelay,
Concludes with Cupid's curse,—

They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!

Both.

They that do change, &c.

none.

Fair and fair, &c.

Paris.

Fair and fair, &c.

Thy love is fair, &c.

Enone.

My love can pipe, my love can sing,
My love can many a pretty thing,
And of his lovely praises ring
My merry merry roundelays,
Amen to Cupid's curse,—
They that do change, &c.

Paris.

They that do change, &c.

Fair and fair, &c.

Both.

XIX. THE HARVESTERS' SONG.

From The Old Wives' Tale (1595), probably acted about 1590.

ALL ye that lovely lovers be,
Pray you for me.

Lo, here we come a-sowing, a-sowing,
And sow sweet fruits of love;

In your sweet hearts well may it prove!

Lo, here we come a-reaping, a-reaping,

To reap our harvest-fruit;

And thus we pass the year so long,
And never be we mute.

ROBERT GREENE.

Greene's stories and pamphlets are sprinkled with verses, many of them pastoral in character. The first two here given are from his Menaphon (1589), a pastoral romance on the model of the Arcadia.

(1560?-1592.)

xx. DORON'S DESCRIPTION OF SAMELA.

LIKE to Diana in her summer-weed,

Girt with a crimson robe of brightest dye,
Goes fair Samela.

Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feed,
When wash'd by Arethusa fount they lie,
Is fair Samela.

As fair Aurora in her morning-grey,
Deck'd with the ruddy glister of her love,
Is fair Samela.

Like lovely Thetis on a calmed day,

When as her brightness Neptune's fancy move,
Shines fair Samela.

Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams,
Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory

Of fair Samela.

Her cheeks, like rose and lily, yield forth gleams,
Her brows bright arches framed of ebony:

Thus fair Samela

Passeth fair Venus in her bravest hue,

And Juno in the show of majesty,

For she's Samela.