Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie
Without a monument!—bring thee all this;
Yea, and furr’d moss besides, when flowers are none,
To winter-ground thy corse.”[76]
Cymbeline, Act iv. Sc. 2.
COVERING THE DEAD WITH LEAVES.
Bishop Percy asks, “Is this an allusion to the ‘Babes in the Wood,’ or was the notion of the redbreast covering dead bodies general before the writing of that ballad?” Mr. Knight says, “There is no doubt that it was an old popular belief, and the notion has been found in an earlier book of natural history.” John Webster, writing in 1638, says:
“Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren,
Since o’er shady groves they hover,
And with leaves and flowers do cover