Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/253

155 In Beaumont and Fletcher's "Two noble Kinsmen," is a scene which always forcibly reminds one of the above-quoted passage of Shakspeare. The jailor's daughter having become enamoured of Palamon, goes distraught at his escape from prison and desertion of her, and is seen sitting by the water-side by a neighbour, who thus relates her condition to her Father:—

As I late was angling

In the great Lake that lies behind the palace,

From the far shore, thick-set with reeds and sedges,

As patiently I was attending sport,

I heard a voice, a shrill one, and attentive

I gave my ear; when I might well perceive

'Twas one that sung, and by the smallness of it

A boy or woman. I then left my angle

To his own skill, came near, but yet perceived not

Who made the sound, the rushes and the reeds

Had so encompassed it; I laid me down

And listen'd to the words she sung; for then

Thro' a small glade cut by the fishermen

I saw it was your daughter.

She sung much, but no sense; only I heard her

Repeat this often: "Palamon is gone,

Is gone to the wood to gather mulberries,

I'll find him out to-morrow.

His shackles will betray him, he'll be taken;

And what shall I do then? I'll bring a beavy,

A hundred black-eyed maids that love as I do,

With chaplets on their heads of daffadillies,

With cherry lips, and cheeks like damask roses,

And all we'll dance an antic 'fore the Duke

And beg his pardon!" Then she talked of you, Sir;

That you must lose your head to-morrow morning,