Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/86

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PANSIES; OR LOVE IN IDLENESS.

Oberon.

My gentle Puck, come hither: thou remember'st Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea maid's music.

Puck.

I remember—

Oberon.

That very time I saw, (but thou could'st not) Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all armed : a certain aim he took At a fair vestal, throned by the west; And loosed his love shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce an hundred thousand hearts. But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon— And the imperial votress pass'd on In maiden meditation, fancy free; Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk white, now purple with Love's wound— And maidens call it "Love in idleness." Shakespeare.

Ophelia.

There's Rosemary—that's for remembrance; 'pray you, love, re- member: and there is Pansies, that's for thoughts.

Laertes.

A document in madness— thoughts and remembrance fitted. Ibid.

Most strangely true and beautiful hath grown
The fancy of that line—Pansies for thoughts;
And thought is changeful ever. So are now
The fair Ophelia's token flowers more fit
To be its emblems; for their varying hues,
Like thoughts, diversified with bright, and deep,
And gay, and sombre tints, mirror the mind
In every changeful mood. Some robe them still