1. 1500
  2. elizabeth
Elizabeth of Bohemia

You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly satisfy our eyes
More by your number than your light,
You common people of the skies;
What are you when the moon shall rise?

You curious chanters of the wood,
That warble forth Dame Nature's...

Poet: Sir Henry Wotton
Compliment to Queen Elizabeth

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...

Poet: William Shakespeare