Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being helped, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a bbc production from 1968 with Judi Dench among the principals. It is the two gentlewomen of Verona however, ‘bold, sharp-tongued but disarming’ that take the honours.
This is one of the early comedies on the intrigues of love and already shows Shakespeare’s verbal felicity and lyrical gusto. It has been plausibly argued that the somewhat awkward conclusion is by another hand. Kindly seed.