They, in their smocks, came nearer; both with the sea were wet.
Before that time, the maidens were always clean and neat;
Now the wretched drudges with cold and frost were quaking;
Little of late had they eaten, and with the March-like winds were chilled and shaking.
[1217]
The time had come already for snows to melt away,
And, with each other vying, the little birds, each day,
Again their songs would warble, as soon as March was ended;
But in the snow, and ice-cold, the maids were found forlorn, and unbefriended.
[1218]