Hath taken Virtue for his star of life,
May pluck the flow’rets of that pleasance pure.
Come, Queen belovèd, for thy shining hair
Accept this wreath from hands of innocence!
To me alone of all mankind is given
Converse to hold and company with thee,
Hearing thy voice, although thy face be hid.
To the end of life, as now, may I be thine![468]
This passion for natural beauty as the background of emotional life recurs throughout. The Trœzenian women as they enter tell of their informant—not “some one talking near the place where men play draughts,” as in the Medea, but a woman in a picture:—
Where waters leap,