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There the most daintie paradise on ground Itselfe doth offer to his sober eye, -The painted flowres, the trees upshooting hye, The dales for shade, the hills for breathing space, The trembling groves, the christall running by; And that, which all faire works doth most aggrace, The art which all that wrought appeared in no place. Faery Queene. They had taken ship for London, as Mr. and Mrs.
And for that thei liue aftre a chast sort: thei are neither skourged with Blastynges, ne Haile, ne Pestilence, ne suche other euilles. No manne toucheth a woman there, aftre she hath conceiued, ne yet in the time of her flowres. Thei eate none vncleane beastes, ne knowe what Sacrifisyng meaneth. Euery man there is his owne Iudge, acordyng to Iustice.
Straightwaie closynge mine eyen to gette a cleare vision of ye same, I am minded of deare friendes whose feete have kept time with mine along ye shaded wayes. Here, before me on my table, hathe my servante placed freshe flowres from countrie hedgerowe and garden, to sweeten the close aire that cometh in from ye swelterynge streetes.
Through the columns is a glimpse of the Eastern Gateway where, carved in three panels over the entrance, is the following inscription: So forth issew'd the seasons of the yeare, First lusty spring all dight in leaves and flowres.
"To bring the summer home The summer and the May-O!" This was not confined to young people or to country-folk. Chaucer says that on May-day early "fourth goth al the court, both most and lest, to fetche the flowrès fresh, and braunch, and blome," and Henry VIII. kept May-day very orthodoxly in the early years of his reign. Milkmaids have been connected with May-day customs from an early period.
"Then doth the joyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne, When bonfiers great with loftie flame, in every towne doe burne; And yong men round about with maides, doe daunce in every streete, With garlands wrought of Motherwort, or else with Vervain sweete, And many other flowres faire, with Violets in their handes, Whereas they all do fondly thinke, that whosoever standes, And thorow the flowres beholds the flame, his eyes shall feele no paine.
Enter Burgers & Women with bowghs & flowres. Cap. 'Tis Kramis -time, In which it is a custome with the people To deck their dores with Garlonds, Bowghes, and flowres That are most gratious. Or. I remember. Stand close. Burg. Strew, strew: more Garlonds and more Flowres. Up with the Bowghes!
To go a-Maying "to fetche the flowrès fresh" is indeed the best part of the whole affair.
Quotations on gateways chosen by Garnett. On the eastern gateway, "So forth issew'd the seasons of the yeare first, lusty spring all dight in leaves and flowres then came the jolly sommer being dight in a thin cassock coloured greene, then came the autumne all in yellow clad lastly came winter cloathed all in frize, chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill," from "The Faerie Queene," by Edmund Spenser.
The incident is precisely like Palamon's first sight of Emily in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, and almost in the very words of Palamon the poet addresses his lady: Ah, sweet, are ye a worldly crëatúre Or heavenly thing in likeness of natúre? Or are ye very Nature, the goddéss, That have depainted with your heavenly hand This garden full of flowrës as they stand?
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