Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

The Shepherds’ Holiday (from Pan’s Anniversary)

First Nymph.
THUS, thus begin, the yearly rites

Are due to Pan on these bright nights;

His morn now riseth and invites

To sports, to dances, and delights:

All envious and profane, away!

This is the shepherds’ holiday.

Second Nymph.
Strew, strew the glad and smiling ground

With every flower, yet not confound;

The primrose drop, the spring’s own spouse,

Bright day’s-eyes, and the lips of cows,

The garden-star, the queen of May,

The rose, to crown the holiday.

Third Nymph.
Drop, drop you violets, change your hues

Now red, now pale, as lovers use,

And in your death go out as well,

As when you lived unto the smell:

That from your odour all may say,

This is the shepherds’ holiday.