Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies.
Lycidas, l. 142.
Familiar Miltonic Words
In many of the dialects the word is found in the compound rathe-ripe, coming early to maturity, for the use of which we have evidence as far back as the seventeenth century, in an epitaph on two little children who died in 1668 and 1670:
Such early fruites are quickly in their prime,
Rathe ripes we know are gathered in betime;
Such Primroses by Death’s impartiall hand
Are cropped, and landy’d up at Heaven’s command.
Another familiar Miltonic word is scrannel (Yks. Lan. Not. Nhp. War.), lean, thin; of the voice: weak, piping.
And when they list, their lean and flashy songs