* * * * *
Oh! that so fair a flower so soon should fade,
And through untimely tempest fade away."
Daphnidia, 232.
In another place he speaks of it as "the Primrose trew"—Prothalamion; but in another place his only epithet for it is "green," which quite ignores its brightness—
"And Primroses greene
Embellish the sweete Violet."
Shepherd's Calendar—April.
Shakespeare has no more pleasant epithets for our favourite flower than "pale," "faint," "that die unmarried;" and Milton follows in the same strain yet sadder. Once, indeed, he speaks of youth as "Brisk as the April buds in Primrose season" ("Comus"); but only in three passages does he speak of the Primrose itself, and in two of these he connects it with death—
"Bring the rathe Primrose that forsaken dies,
* * * * *
And every flower that sad embroidery wears."—Lycidas.