And I will make thee beds of roses, The shepherd swains shall dance and sing, SIMON WASTELL.-Born, 1562; date of death, and incidents of life, unknown. HUMAN LIFE. LIKE as the damask rose you see, Or like a blossom on a tree, Or like a dainty flow'r of May, Or like the morning to the day, kirtle, an outward skirt, or mantle. ' embroider, lit., to emborder, to ornament with needlework along the borders of anything. 5 swain, lit. a servant; then, a young man, a peasant The rose withers, the blossom blasteth, The gourd consumes,—the man he dies. Michael Drayton was born in Warwickshire, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His greatest work was "Poly-olbion; or a Description of England" (1613), which unites the learning of a historian, an antiquary, a naturalist, and a geographer, with the imagination of a poet. His poems were published separately. SUMMER'S EVE. CLEAR had the day been from the dawn, All checkered was the sky, Thin clouds, like scarfs of cobweb lawn, 1 The swan was fabled to sing just before it died. The wind had no more strength than this, To make one leaf the next to kiss, The flowers, like brave embroidered1 girls, Looked as they most desired To see whose head with orient2 pearls The rills that on the pebbles played And to itself the subtle air Such sovereignty assumes, THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT.1 FAIR stood the wind for France 1 embroidered,-see note 4, p. 21 2 orient, eastern, where the sun rises (oriens, rising, L.) 1 Agincourt is a village in the Province of Artois, now the department of the Pas de Calais. The battle of Agincourt was fought on October 25th, 1415, between the English, under Henry V., and the French, under the Dauphin of France. Henry had not more than 10,000 men. Yet, having well begun, By fame been raisèd. Nor more esteem me :- Loss to redeem me. "Poictiers and Cressy' tell, Than when our grandsire grcat,1o The Duke of York12 so dread, Poictiers, won in 1356 by Edward, 'Cressy, won in 1346 by Edward III.; the Black Prince bearing the brunt of the battle. 10 Edward III. was the great grandfather of Henry V., who was the grandson of the Duke of Lancaster, Edward's third son, The lily was the royal symbol on 12 Brother of Henry. He was killed 13 vaward-vanward, the leading division. |