My gentle Pucke come hither: thou remembreſt,

Since once I ſat vpon a promontory,

And heard a Mearemaide, on a Dolphins backe,

Vttering ſuch dulcet and hermonious breath,

That the rude ſea grewe ciuill at her ſong,

And certaine ſtarres ſhot madly from their Spheares,

That very time, I ſaw (but thou could'ſt not)

Flying betweene the colde Moone and the earth,

Cupid, all arm'd: a certaine aime he tooke

At a faire Veſtall, throned by weſt,

And loos'd his loue-ſhaft ſmartly, from his bowe,

As it ſhould pearce a hundred thouſand hearts:

But, I might ſee young Cupids fiery ſhaft

Quencht in the chaſt beames of the watry Moone:

And the imperiall Votreſſe paſſed on

In maiden meditation, fancy free.

Yet markt I, where the bolt of Cupid fell.

It fell vpon a little weſterne flower;

Before, milke white; now purple, with loues wound,

And maidens call it, Loue in idleneſſe.

Fetch mee that flowre: the herbe I ſhewed thee once.

The iewce of it, on ſleeping eyeliddes laide,

Will make or man or woman madly dote,

Vpon the next liue creature that it ſees.

Fetch mee this herbe, and be thou here againe

Ile put a girdle, roûd about the earth, in forty minutes.