"Primrose, firstborn child of Ver,
Merry springtime's harbinger,
With her bells dim...."

And many have wondered how Shakespeare or Fletcher came to write of
the "bells" of a primrose. Mr. W.J. Linton proposed "With harebell
slim": although if we must read "harebell" or "harebells," "dim" would
be a pretty and proper word for the color of that flower. The
conjecture takes some little plausibility from Shakespeare's elsewhere
linking primrose and harebell together:

"Thou shalt not lack
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
The azured harebell, like thy veins...."
_Cymbeline_, iv. 2.

I have always suspected, however, that there should be a semicolon
after "Ver," and that "Merry springtime's harbinger, with her bells
dim," refers to a totally different flower--the snowdrop, to wit. And
I have lately learnt from Dr. Grosart, who has carefully examined the
1634 edition (the only early one), that the text actually gives a
semicolon. The snowdrop may very well come after the primrose in this
song, which altogether ignores the process of the seasons.




SAMUEL DANIEL