The Works of Ben Jonson/Volume 6/The Sad Shepherd/Act 1 Scene 1
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THE SAD SHEPHERD.
ACT I. SCENE I.
Sherwood Forest.
A distant prospect of hills, valleys, cottages, a castle,
river, pastures, herds, flocks, &c. Robin Hood's
bower in the foreground.
river, pastures, herds, flocks, &c. Robin Hood's
bower in the foreground.
Enter Æglamour.
Ægl. Here she was wont to go! and here! and here![1]
Just where those daisies, pinks, and violets grow:
The world may find the spring by following her;
For other print her airy steps ne'er left.
Her treading would not bend a blade of grass,
Or shake the downy blow-ball from his stalk!
But like the soft west wind she shot along,
And where she went, the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot.
[Exit.
Just where those daisies, pinks, and violets grow:
The world may find the spring by following her;
For other print her airy steps ne'er left.
Her treading would not bend a blade of grass,
Or shake the downy blow-ball from his stalk!
But like the soft west wind she shot along,
And where she went, the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot.
[Exit.
- ↑ Here she was wont to go!] Goff has imitated this passage among many others, and as it is the most poetical one in his play, I will subjoin it."As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot," is exquisitely improved from Persius—Quicquid calcaverit, hie rosa fiat! So true genius should copy."This was her wonted place—nor can she be
Far from the spring she has left behind: that rose
I saw not yesterday, nor did that pink
Then court my eye; she must be here, or else
That graceful marygold would sure have closed
Its beauty in its wither'd leaves, that violet
Would too have hung its velvet head, to mourn
The absence of her eyes."
Careless Shepherdess, Act 5.