k some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every Cowslip's ear.

_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act ii, sc. 1 (10).[65:1]

"Cowslips! how the children love them, and go out into the fields on the
sunny April mornings to collect them in their little baskets, and then
come home and pick the pips to make sweet unintoxicating wine,
preserving at the same time untouched a bunch of the goodliest flowers
as a harvest-sheaf of beauty! and then the white soft husks are gathered
into balls and tossed from hand to hand till they drop to pieces, to be
trodden upon and forgotten. And so at last, when each sense has had its
fill of the flower, and they are thoroughly tired of their play, the
children rest from their celebration of the Cowslip. Blessed are such
flowers that appeal to every sense." So wrote Dr. Forbes Watson in his
very pretty and Ruskinesque little work "Flowers and Gardens," and the
passage well expresses one of the chief charms of the Cowslip. It is the
most favourite wild flower with children. It must have been also a
favourite with Shakespeare, for his descriptions show that he had
studied it with affection. The minute description in (6) should be
noticed. The upright golden Cowslip is compared to one of Queen
Elizabeth's Pensioners, who were splendidly dressed, and are frequently
noticed in the literature of the day. With Mrs. Quickly they were the
_ne plus ultra_ of grandeur--"And yet there has been earls, nay, which
is more, pensioners" ("Merry Wives," act ii, sc. 2). Milton, too, sings
in its praise--

"Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowering May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip and the pale Primrose."

_Song on May Morning._

"Whilst from off the waters fleet,
Then I set my printless feet
O'er the Cowslip's velvet head
That bends not as I tread."

_Sabrina's Song in Comus._

But in "Lycidas" he associates it with more melancholy ideas--

"With Cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
And every flower that sad embroidery wears."

This association of sadness with the Cowslip is copied by Mrs. Hemans,
who speaks of "Pale Cowslips, meet for maiden's early bier;" but these
are exceptions. All the other poets who have written of the Cowslip (and
they are very numerous) t