Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."[344:B]

Another duty, not less important, was to lull their mistress asleep on the bosom of a violet or a musk-rose:—

"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,

Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;

Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight."[344:C]

And again, with still greater wildness of imagination, but with the utmost propriety and adaptation of imagery, are they drawn in the performance of similar functions:—

"Titania. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;