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Lo! see soone after, how more bold and free
Her bared bosome she doth broad display.
Lo! see soone after, how she fades and falls away!
"So passeth, in the passing of a day
Of mortall life, the leafe, the bud, the flowre;
Ne more doth florish after first decay,
That earth was sought to deck both bed and bowre
Of many a lady and many a paramoure.
Gather therefore the rose whilest yet is prime,
For soone comes age, that will her pride deflowre:
Gather the rose of love whilest yet is time,
Whilest loving thou mayst loved be with equal crime."
Well does the excelling beauty and exquisite perfume of this praised flower merit our admiration. We may say with the Poets, Beaumont and Fletcher—
Nature picked several flowers from her choice banks,
And bound them up in thee—sending thee forth
A posy for the bosom of a queen.
In the garden scene already quoted from, in the "Two Noble Kinsmen," is this exceedingly poetic and graceful passage; it has few equals.
| Emilia. | Of all flowers Methinks a Rose is best. |
| Servant. | Why, gentle Madam? |
| Emilia. | It is the very emblem of a maid: For when the west wind courts her gently, How modestly she blows, and paints the sun With her chaste blushes! When the north comes near her. |
