• From “a Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Act II. Sc. 1.

      OBERON.—My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou remember’st
    Since once I sat upon a promontory,
    And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin’s back,
    Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
    That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
    And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
    To hear the sea-maid’s...

  • Elizabeth told Essex

    That she could not forgive

    The clemency of Deity

    However — might survive —

    That secondary succor

    We trust that she partook

    When suing — like her Essex

    For a reprieving Look —

  • Farewell dear babe, my heart's too much content,

    Farewell sweet babe, the pleasure of mine eye,

    Farewell fair flower that for a space was lent,

    Then ta'en away unto eternity.

    Blest babe why should I once bewail thy fate,

    Or sigh the days so soon were terminate;

    Sith thou art settled in an everlasting...