Starveling9 note.
Quin.
Is all our company here?
-- 192 --
Bot.
You were best to call them generally, man
by man, according to the scrip1 note
.
Quin.
Here is the scroll of every man's name,
which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play
in our interlude before the duke and duchess, on
his wedding-day at night.
Bot.
First, good Peter Quince, say what the play
treats on; then read the names of the actors; and
so grow* note to a point2 note
.
Quin.
Marry, our play is—The most lamentable
-- 193 --
comedy3 note
, and most cruel death of Pyramus and
Thisby.
Bot.
A very good piece of work, I assure you,
and a merry4 note.—Now, good Peter Quince, call forth
your actors by the scroll: Masters, spread yourselves5 note.
Quin.
Answer, as I call you.—Nick Bottom, the
weaver.
Bot.
Ready: Name what part I am for, and
proceed.
Quin.
You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
Bot.
What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?
Quin.
A lover, that kills himself most gallantly
for love.
Bot.
That will ask some tears in the true performing
of it: If I do it, let the audience look to
their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in
some measure6 note
. To the rest:—Yet my chief humour
-- 194 --
is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or
a part to tear a cat in7 note, to make all split8 note
.
“The raging rocks,
“And shivering shocks9 note,
“Shall break the locks
“Of prison-gates:
“And Phibbus' car
“Shall shine from far,
“And make and mar
“The foolish fates.”
This was lofty!—Now name the rest of the players.
—This is Ercles' vein1 note, a tyrant's vein; a lover is
more condoling.
-- 195 --
Quin.
Francis Flute, the bellows-mender2 note.
Flu.
Here, Peter Quince.
Quin.
You must take Thisby on you.
Flu.
What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
Quin.
It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
Flu.
Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I
have a beard coming.
Quin.
That's all one; you shall play it in a mask,
and you may speak as small as you will3 note
.
Bot.
An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby
too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice;—Thisne,
Thisne,—Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby
dear! and lady dear!
-- 196 --
Quin.
No, no; you must play Pyramus, and,
Flute, you Thisby.
Bot.
Well, proceed.
Quin.
Robin Starveling, the tailor.
Star.
Here, Peter Quince.
Quin.
Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's
mother4 note
.—Tom Snout, the tinker.
Snout.
Here, Peter Quince.
Quin.
You, Pyramus's father; myself, Thisby's
father;—Snug, the joiner, you, the lion's part:—
and, I hope, here* note is a play fitted.
Snug.
Have you the lion's part written; pray
you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study5 note
.
Quin.
You may do it extempore, for it is nothing
but roaring.
Bot.
Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I
will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will
roar, that I will make the duke say, Let him roar
again, Let him roar again.
Quin.
An you should do it too terribly, you would
fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would
shriek; and that were enough to hang us all.
-- 197 --
All.
That would hang us every mother's son.
Bot.
I grant you, friends, if that you should
fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have
no more discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate
my voice so, that I will roar you as gently
as any sucking dove; I will roar you * note an 'twere
any nightingale5 note.
Quin.
You can play no part but Pyramus: for
Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as
one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely, gentleman-like
man; therefore you must needs play
Pyramus.
Bot.
Well, I will undertake it. What beard
were I best to play it in?
Quin.
Why, what you will.
Bot.
I will discharge it in either your straw-coloured
beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain
beard, or your French-crown-colour
beard, your perfect yellow.7 note
Quin.
Some of your French crowns have no hair
at all, and then you will play bare-faced.8 note—But,
-- 198 --
masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat
you, request you, and desire you, to con them by
to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood,
a mile without the town, by moon-light; there will
we rehearse: for if we meet in the city, we shall
be dog'd with company, and our devices known.
In the mean time I will draw a bill of properties9 note
,
such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not.
Bot.
We will meet; and there we may rehearse
more obscenely, and courageously. Take pains; be
perfect; adieu.
Quin.
At the duke's oak we meet.
Bot.
Enough; Hold, or cut bow-strings.1 note
[Exeunt.
-- 199 --
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].