It is as unnecessary to discuss the degrees of probability in Halpin's
identifications as it was for him to elaborate them. Certainly it is likely
that Shakespeare intended a compliment to his queen; it is possible that
the "mermaid on a dolphin's back" was a reminiscence of a pageant which he
might have visited Kenilworth at the age of eleven to see; and it may be
true that he meant to hint at Leicester.

On the other hand, I think that another explanation is more obvious and
more rational. Shakespeare had to introduce into his play the magic herb
which was to alter the loves of those into whose eyes it was squeezed. We
may reasonably guess that he had read somewhere one of the many popular
legends that explain why the violet is purple, why the rose is red, _etc._;
there are some in Ovid's _Metamorphoses_[93] which Shakespeare read in
Golding's translation. He saw an opportunity of paying a graceful
compliment to Elizabeth by saying that the magic flower, once white, had
been empurpled by a shaft of Cupid's drawn at the fair vestal and imperial
votaress, who yet passed on untouched;

"And maidens call it love-in-idleness"

--a popular name for the common pansy.

NOTES ON THE INTRODUCTION

[1] For _The Knightes Tale_, see Prof. Skeat's edition (modern spelling) in
the "King's Classics," and his excellent introduction.

[2] was named

[3] realm