Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Spring
So forth issued the seasons of the year:
First, lusty Spring all dight in leaves of flowers,
That freshly budded and new blooms did bear,
In which a thousand birds had built their bowers,
That sweetly sung to call forth paramours.
Spenser.—The Fairy Queen, Book VI. On Mutability, Canto VII. Stanza 28.
Next came the loveliest pair in all the ring,
Sweet female Beauty hand in hand with Spring.
Burns.—Brigs of Ayr.
The spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries.
Shakespeare.—Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II. Scene 1. (Titania to Oberon.)
Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees,
Rock’d in the cradle of the western breeze.
Cowper.—Tirocinium, Line 43.
But when shall Spring visit the mouldering urn?
O when shall it dawn on the night of the grave?
Beattie.—The Hermit, Verse 4.