Note 1. In time of yore when shepherds dwelt. This poem was copied from the Cosens MS. by Dr. Grosart, and printed in his ed. of Breton, in Chertsey Worthies’ Library, on p. 19, of Daffodils and Primroses; As the MS. contains poems on the death of Sidney, it is surmised that the date of writing must be shortly after 1586. Mr. Bullen quotes this poem in the Introduction to his Lyrics from Elizabethan Romances, and says: “There can be no harm in quoting here one little poem, a description of love-making in the happy days of pastoral simplicity, when girls did not look for costly presents (rings, chains, etc.) from their lovers, but were content with a row of pins or an empty purse,—the days when truth was on every shepherd’s tongue and maids had not learned to dissemble. Whether there was ever such a time, since our first parents were driven out of Paradise, we need not stop to enquire. The old poets loved to talk about it.” [back]
