: SONG

ON

MAY MORNING.

NOW the bright Morning-ftar, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her

Ver. 1. Now the bright Morning-ftar, day's harbinger,] So Shakspeare, Midf. N. Dr. A. iii. Ș. ult.

"And yonder fhines Aurora's harbinger." T. WARTON. Ver. 2. Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her &c.] So Spenfer, in Aftrophel, ft. iv.

"As fommers lark that with her fong doth greet
"The dancing day, forth coming from the east."

And in the Faerie Queene, i. v. 2.

"At laft, the golden orientall gate

"Of greatest heaven gan to open fayre;

"And Phoebus, fresh as brydegroome to his mate,
"Came dauncing forth, fhaking his deawie hayre."

And Peele, David and Bethfabe, edit. 1599.

"As when the fun, attir'd in gliftring robe,

"Comes dancing from his oriental gate, &c."

And Niccols, in his poem The Cuckow, 1607. Of the east. "Through which the daies bright king came dancing out." And in the context he calls the cock, "Daies harbinger." And G. Fletcher, as Mr. Bowle obferves, in Christ's Vict. C. i. 82. "A ftarre comes dancing up the orient." T. WARTon. I must add a beautiful paffage from P. Fletcher's Locufts, 1627, p. 96.

"The lovely Spring

"Comes dauncing on; the primrose ftrewes her way,
"And fattin violet." ToDD.

The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowflip and the pale primrose.

Ver. 3. The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowflip &c.] So Niccols, in the defcrip-

tion juft eited, of May.

"And from her fruitful lap eche day she threw

"The choiceft flowres."

Befide the inftance brought by Doctor Newton from K. Richard the Second, we have in the fame play, A. iii. S. iii.

“ The fresh green lap of fair king Richard's land."

As in Lycidas, v. 138.

These

little to the

“ On whose fresh lap the swart-star sparely looks.") pimpose.

So alfo R. Greene, of Aurora, as cited in England's Parnaffus,

1600, p. 415. The same image, exactly occurs in Ariosts: see the papage from Ots Fur and next have.

"And fprinckling from the folding of her lap

"White lillies, rofes, and fweet violets."

Mr. Bowle adds these illuftrations, Spenser, Faer. Qu. ii. vi. 15. Of flowers.

Nature them forth throwes

"Out of her fruitfull lap.”

Again, ibid. vii. vii. 34.

"Then came faire May, the fayreft mayd on ground,
Deckt all with dainties of her feafons pryde,

"And throwing flowres out of her lap around."

Ver. 4.

Tale, A. iv. S. v.

T. WARTON.

the pale primrofe.] In the Winter's

"Pale primrofes,

"That die unmarried."

Again, in Cymbeline, A. iv. S. ii.

"The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose."

T. WARTON.

Whence perhaps Crashaw, with remarkable elegance, Poems, p. 87, Paris edit. 1652:

Hail, bounteous May, that doft inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm defire ;
Woods and groves are of thy dreffing,

Hill, and dale, doth boast thy bleffing!
Thus we falute thee with our early fong,
And welcome thee, and with thee long.

"The dew no more will weep

"The primrofes pale cheek to deck." TODD.

Ver. 10. And welcome thee,] So Chaucer, Knightes Tale, v. 1511. edit. Tyrwhitt.

"O Maye, with all thy floures and thy grene,

"Right welcome be thou fair freshe May."

Compare v. 3. Carew alfo, in his defcription of the Spring, thus welcomes May:

“The vallies, hills, and woods, in rich array,

"Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May." TODD.

* This beautiful little Song presents an eminent proof of Milton's attention to the effect of metre, in that admirable change of numbers, with which he defcribes the appearance of the May Morning, and falutes her after he has appeared; as different as the fubject is, and produced by the tranfition from Iambicks to Trochaicks. So, in L'Allegro, he banishes Melancholy in Iambicks, but invites Euphrofyne and her attendants in Trochaicks. TODD.

Cloride bella, che per l'aria vola Dietro all' Aurora, all'apparir del Sole, Edal raccolto lembo della stola

Gigli spargendo va, rose e viole.

Ariosto, Orl. Fur.
Canto 15. V. 57.

See also Guido's beautiful picture.

MISCELLANIES.