Her.
Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
The ear more quick of apprehension makes:
Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
It pays the hearing double recompence.
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound.
But why unkindly did'st thou leave me so?

Lys.
Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?

Her.
What love could press Lysander from my side?

Lys.
Lysander's love, that would not let him 'bide,

Fair Helena; who more engilds the night,
Than all yon fiery O's^{5 note} and eyes of light.
Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,
The hate, I bear thee, made me leave thee so?

Her.
You speak not, as you think: it cannot be.

Hel.
Lo, she is one of this confed'racy;
Now, I perceive, they have conjoin'd all three,
To fashion this false sport in spight to me.^{6 note}
Injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid,
Have you conspir'd, have you with these contriv'd
To bait me with this foul derision?
Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd,
The sisters vows, the hours that we have spent,
When we have chid the hasty-footed time
For parting us; O! and is all forgot?
All school-days friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Created with our needles both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion;
Both warbling of one song, both in one key;
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds
Had been incorp'rate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition;
Two lovely berries molded on one stem,
So with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
^{7 note}
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
And will you rend our ancient love asunder,

To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly;
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it;
Though I alone do feel the injury.

Her.
I am amazed at your passionate words:
I scorn you not; it seems that you scorn me.

Hel.
Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
To follow me, and praise my eyes and face?
And made your other love, Demetrius,
(Who even but now, did spurn me with his foot)
To call me goddess, nymph, divine, and rare,
Precious, celestial? wherefore speaks he this
To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander
Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
And tender me, forsooth, affection;
But by your setting on, by your consent?
What though I be not so in grace as you,
So hung upon with love, so fortunate;
But miserable most, to love unlov'd?
This you should pity, rather than despise.

Her.
I understand not what you mean by this.

Hel.
Ay, do, persevere, counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me, when I turn my back;
Wink each at other, hold the sweet jest up:
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
You would not make me such an argument:^{8 note}
But fare ye well, 'tis partly mine own fault,
Which death or absence soon shall remedy.

Lys.
Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse;
My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!

Hel.
O excellent!

Her.
Sweet, do not scorn her so.

Dem.
If she cannot entreat, I can compel.

Lys.
Thou canst compel no more than she entreat:
Thy threats have no more strength, than her weak Prayers.

Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do;
I swear, by that which I will lose for thee,
To prove him false, that says, I love thee not.

Dem.
I say, I love thee more than he can do.

Lys.
If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too.

Dem.
Quick, come—

Her.
Lysander, whereto tends all this?

Lys.
Away, you Ethiope!

Dem.
No, no, he'll seem
To break away; take on as he would follow,
But yet come not:—you are a tame man, go.

Lys.
Hang off, thou cat, thou burr; vile thing, let loose;
Or I will shake thee from me, like a serpent.

Her.
Why are you grown so rude? what change is this?
Sweet love!

Lys.
Thy love? out, tawny Tartar, out;
Out, loathed medicine: hated poison, hence.

Her.
Do you not jest?

Hel.
Yes, sooth, and so do you.

Lys.
Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.

Dem.
I would, I had your bond; for, I perceive,
A weak bond holds you; I'll not trust your word.

Lys.
What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so.

Her.
What, can you do me greater harm, than hate?
Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love?
Am not I Hermia? are not you Lysander?
I am as fair now, as I was ere-while.
Since night, you lov'd me; yet, since night, you left me;
Why then you left me—(O the gods forbid it!)
In earnest, shall I say?

Lys.
Ay, by my life;
And never did desire to see thee more.
Therefore be out of hope, of question, doubt;
Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest;
That I do hate thee, and love Helena.

Her.
O me, you jugler; oh, you canker-blossom,
You thief of love; what, have you come by night,
And stoll'n my love's heart from him?

Hel.
Fine, i'faith!
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
No touch of bashfulness? what, will you tear
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
Fie, fie, you counterfeit; you puppet, you.

Her.
Puppet; why, so: ay, that way goes the game.
Now, I perceive, that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urg'd her height;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem,
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak,
How low am I? I am not yet so low,
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.

Hel.
I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
I am a right maid, for my cowardice:
Let her not strike me. You, perhaps, may think,
Because she's something lower than myself,
That I can match her.

Her.
Lower! hark, again.—

Hel.
Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me;
I evermore did love you, Hermia,
Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you;
Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
I told him of your stealth unto this wood:
He follow'd you, for love I follow'd him,
But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too;
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I bear my folly back,
And follow you no further. Let me go.

You see, how simple and how fond I am.

Her.
Why, get you gone: who is't, that hinders you?

Hel.
A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.

Her.
What, with Lysander?

Hel.
With Demetrius.

Lys.
Be not afraid, she shall not harm thee, Helena.

Dem.
No, Sir, she shall not, though you take her part.

Hel.
O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd;
She was a vixen when she went to school;
And though she be but little, she is fierce.

Her.
Little, again? nothing but low, and little?
Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
Let me come to her.

Lys.
Get you gone, you dwarf,
You^{9 note}

Dem.
You are too officious,
In her behalf that scorns your services.
Let her alone, speak not of Helena,
Take not her part: for if thou dost intend
Never so little shew of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it.

Lys.
Now she holds me not;
Now follow, if thou dar'st; to try whose right,
Or thine, or mine, is most in Helena.

Dem.
Follow? nay, I'll go with thee cheek by jowl. [Exeunt Lysander and Demetrius.

Her.
You, mistress, all this coyl is long of you:
Nay, go not back.

Hel.
I will not trust you, I;
Nor longer stay in your curst company.
Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray;
My legs are longer, though, to run away. [Exeunt: Hermia pursuing Helena.

Enter Oberon and Puck.

Ob.
This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st,
Or else committ'st thy knaveries willingly.

Puck.
Believe me, King of shadows, I mistook,
Did not you tell me, I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?
And so far blameless proves my enterprize,
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;
And so far am I glad it did so sort,^{1 note}
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.

Ob.
Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to fight;
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fogs, as black as Acheron;
And lead these testy rivals so astray,
As one come not within another's way.
Like to Lysander, sometime, frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou, like Demetrius;
And from each other, look, thou lead them thus;
'Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep;
Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye,
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,^{2 note}
To take from thence all error with its might;
And make his eye-balls roll with wonted sight,
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream, and fruitless vision;
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend
With league, whose date 'till death shall never end.

Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
I'll to my Queen, and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release
From monsters view, and all things shall be peace.

Puck.
My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;
At whose approach, ghosts wandring here and there
Troop home to church-yard; damned spirits all,
That in cross-ways and floods have burial,
Already to their wormy beds are gone;
For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
They wilfully exile themselves from light;
And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.

Ob.
But we are spirits of another sort;
I with the morning light have oft made sport;
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
Ev'n till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay;
We may effect this business yet ere day. [Exit Ob.

Puck.
Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear'd in field and town.
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one. Enter Lysander.

Lys.
Where art thou proud Demetrius? speak thou now.

Puck.
Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?

Lys.
I will be with thee straight.

Puck.
Follow me then
To plainer ground. [Lys. goes out, as following Dem.

Enter Demetrius.

Dem.
Lysander, speak again;
Thou run-away, thou coward, art thou fled?
Speak in some bush: where dost thou hide thy head?

Puck.
Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
And wilt not come? come, recreant; come, thou child,
I'll whip thee with a rod; he is defil'd,
That draws a sword on thee.

Dem.
Yea, art thou there?

Puck.
Follow my voice, we'll try no manhood here. [Exeunt. Lysander comes back.

Lys.
He goes before me, and still dares me on;
When I come where he calls me, then he's gone.
The villain is much lighter-heel'd, than I:
I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
That fall'n am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day: [Lyes down.
For if but once thou shew me thy gray light,
I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spight. Enter Puck and Demetrius.

Puck.
Ho, ho, ho, coward, why comest thou not?

Dem.
Abide me, if thou dar'st: for well I wot,
Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place;
And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face.
Where art thou?

Puck.
Come thou hither, I am here.

Dem.
Nay, then thou mock'st me; thou shalt buy this dear,^{3 note}

If ever I thy face by day-light see.
Now, go thy way; faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
By day's approach look to be visited. [Lyes down.

Previous section

Next section