Page 1295 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

ACT I IT

Scene I IT

Music. Enter Hymen with a torch burning; a boy in a white robe before,
singing and strewing flowers; after Hymen, a nymph, encompassed in her
tresses, bearing a wheaten garland; then Theseus between two other
nymphs with wheaten chaplets on their heads; then Hippolyta the bride, led

by Pirithous, and another holding a garland over her head, her tresses
likewise hanging; after her, Emilia holding up her train; then Artesius and
attendants.

BOY
[sings]
Roses, their sharp spines being gone,

Not royal in their smells alone,
But in their hue,
Maiden pinks, of odour faint,

Daisies smell-less, yet most quaint, [5]
And sweet thyme true,

Primrose, first-born child of Ver,
Merry springtime’s harbinger,
With harebells dim,

Oxlips, in their cradles growing, [10]
Marigolds, on death-beds blowing,
Lark’s-heels trim,

All dear Nature’s children sweet,
Lie ’fore bride and bridegroom’s feet,

Blessing their sense. [15]
He strews flowers.
Not an angel of the air,