BACHELOR’S BUTTONS/BUDS

HOST OF THE GARTER

What say you to young Master Fenton?

he capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth,

he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells

April and May; he will carry’t, he will carry’t;

’tis in his BUTTONS; he will carry’t.

—Merry Wives of Windsor [Act III, sc. 2]

TITANIA

An odorous chaplet of sweet summer BUDS

As is in mockery set.

—A Midsummer Night’s Dream [Act II, sc. 1]

LAERTES

The canker galls the infants of the spring,

Too oft before their BUTTONS be disclosed,

And in the morn and liquid dew of youth

Contagious blastments are most imminent.

—Hamlet [Act I, sc. 3]

ARCITE

O Queen Emilia, Fresher than May,

sweeter Than her gold BUTTONS

on the boughs, or all

Th’ enameled knacks o’ th’ mead or garden . . .

——Two Noble Kinsmen [Act III, sc. 1]