To eternity doth rest.”
The Maiden in The Lover’s Complaint (l. 92, vol. ix. p. 638) thus speaks of her early love,—
“Small show of man was yet upon his chin;
His phœnix down began but to appear,
Like unshorn velvet, on that termless skin,
Whose bare out-bragg’d the web it seem’d to wear.”
Some of the characteristics of the Phœnix are adduced in the dialogue, Richard III. (act iv. sc. 4, l. 418, vol. v. p. 606), between Richard III. and the queen or widow of Edward IV. The king is proposing to marry her daughter,—
“Q. Eliz. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus?
K. Rich. Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good.
Queen. Shall I forget myself, to be myself?