Introductory matter
note
-- 387 --
INTRODUCTION.
This drama, which on the title-pages of the earliest impressions is not called comedy, history, nor tragedy, but which is included by the player-editors of the first folio among the “comedies” of Shakespeare, was twice printed in 1600, “for Thomas Fisher” and “by James Roberts.” Fisher was a bookseller, and employed some unnamed printer; but Roberts was a printer as well as a bookseller. The only entry of it at Stationers' Hall is to Fisher, and it runs as follows:—
“8 Oct. 1600. Tho. Fysher] A booke called a Mydsomer nights Dreame.”
There is no memorandum regarding the impression by Roberts, which perhaps was unauthorized, although Heminge and Condell followed his text when they included “Midsummer-Night's Dream” in the folio of 1623. In some instances the folio adopts the evident misprints of Roberts, while such improvements as it makes are not obtained from Fisher's more accurate copy: both the errors and emendations, if not merely trifling, are pointed out in our notes. The chief difference between the two quartos and the folio is, that in the latter the Acts, but not the Scenes, are distinguished.
We know from the Palladis Tamia of Meres, that “Midsummer-Night's Dream” was in existence at least two years before it came from the press. On the question when it was written, two pieces of internal evidence have been especially noticed. Mr. Halliwell, in his “Introduction to a Midsummer-Night's Dream” has produced a passage from the Diary of Dr. Simon Forman, which in some points tallies with the description of the state of the weather, and the condition of the country, given by the Fairy Queen1 note. The memorandum in
-- 388 --
Forman's Diary relates to the year 1594, and Stowe's Chronicle may be quoted to the same effect.
The other supposed temporary allusion occurs in Act. v. sc. 1, and is contained in the lines,—
“The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary,”
which some have imagined to refer to the death of Spenser. If so, it must have been an insertion in the drama subsequent to its first production, because Spenser was not dead in 1598, when “Midsummer-Night's Dream” was mentioned by Meres. It is very doubtful whether any particular reference were intended by Shakespeare, who, perhaps, only meant to advert in strong terms to the general neglect of learning. T. Warton carried the question back to shortly subsequent to the year 1591, when Spenser's “Tears of the Muses” was printed, which, from the time of Rowe to that of Malone, was supposed to contain passages highly laudatory of Shakespeare. There is a slight coincidence of expression between Spenser and Shakespeare, in the poem of the one, and in the drama of the other, which deserves remark: Spenser says,—
“Our pleasant Willy, ah, is dead of late.
And one of Shakespeare's lines is,—
“Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary.”
Yet it is quite clear, from a subsequent stanza in “The Tears of the Muses,” that Spenser did not refer to the natural death of “Willy,” whoever he were, but merely that he “rather chose to sit in idle cell,” than write in such unfavourable times. In the same manner, Shakespeare might not mean that Spenser (if the allusion indeed be to him) was actually “deceased,” but merely, as Spenser expresses it in his “Colin Clout,” that he was “dead in dole.” The allusion to Queen Elizabeth as the “fair vestal, throned by the west,” in A. ii. sc. 1, affords no note of time.
It seems highly probable that “A Midsummer-Night's Dream” was not written before the autumn of 1594, and if the speech of Titania in A. ii. sc. 1, were intended to describe the real state of the kingdom, from the extraordinary wetness of the season, we may infer that the drama came from the pen of Shakespeare at the close of 1594, or in the beginning of 1595.
“The Knight's Tale” of Chaucer, and the same poet's “Tysbe of Babylone,” together with Arthur Golding's translation of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid, are the only sources yet pointed out
-- 389 --
of the plots introduced and employed by Shakespeare. Oberon, Titania, and Robin Good-fellow, or Puck, are mentioned, as belonging to the fairy mythology, by many authors of the time. The Percy Society not long since reprinted a tract called “Robin Good-fellow, his Mad Pranks and Merry Jests,” from an edition in 1628; but there is little doubt that it originally came out at least forty years earlier2 note: together with a ballad inserted in the Introduction to that reprint, it shows how Shakespeare availed himself of existing popular superstitions. In “Percy's Reliques” (III. 254, edit. 1812,) is a ballad entitled “The Merry Pranks of Robin Good-fellow,” attributed to Ben Jonson, of which I have a version in a MS. of the time: it is the more curious, because it has the initials B. J. at the end. It contains some variations and an additional stanza, which, considering the subject of the poem, it may be worth while here to subjoin:—
“When as my fellow elfes and I
In circled ring do trip around,
If that our sports by any eye
Do happen to be seen or found;
If that they
No words do say,
But mum continue as they go,
Each night I do
Put groat in shoe,
And wind out laughing, ho, ho, ho!”
The incidents connected with the life of Robin Good-fellow were, no doubt, worked up by different dramatists in different ways; and in “Henslowe's Diary” are inserted two entries of money paid to Henry Chettle for a play he was writing in Sept. 1602, under the title of “Robin Good-fellow.”
There is every reason to believe that, “Midsummer-Night's Dream” was popular: in 1622, the year before it was reprinted in the first folio, it is thus mentioned by Taylor, the water-poet, in his “Sir Gregory Nonsense:”—“I say, as it is applausfully written, and commended to posterity, in the Midsummer-Night's Dream:—if we offend, it is with our good will: we came with no intent but to offend, and show our simple skill.”—(See A. v. sc. 1.)
It appears by a MS. preserved in the Library at Lambeth Palace, that “Midsummer-Night's Dream” was represented at the house of John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, on 27th Sept., 1631. Hist. of Eng. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, ii. 26.
-- 390 --
1 note.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
THESEUS, Duke of Athens.
EGEUS, Father to Hermia.
LYSANDER, in love with Hermia.
DEMETRIUS, in love with Hermia.
PHILOSTRATE, Master of the Revels to Theseus.
QUINCE, a Carpenter.
SNUG, a Joiner.
BOTTOM, a Weaver.
FLUTE, a Bellows-mender.
SNOUT, a Tinker.
STARVELING, a Tailor.
HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons.
HERMIA, in love with Lysander.
HELENA, in love with Demetrius.
OBERON, King of the Fairies.
TITANIA, Queen of the Fairies.
PUCK, or Robin-Goodfellow.
PEAS-BLOSSOM [Peaseblossom], A Fairy.
COBWEB, A Fairy.
MOTH, A Fairy.
MUSTARD-SEED [Mustardseed], A Fairy.
PYRAMUS, A Character in the Interlude.
THISBE [Thisby], A Character in the Interlude.
WALL, A Character in the Interlude.
MOONSHINE, A Character in the Interlude.
LION, A Character in the Interlude.
Other Fairies attending their King and Queen.
Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta.
[Fairy], [Fairy 1], [Fairy 2], [Fairy 3], [Fairy 4], [Prologue]
SCENE, Athens, and a Wood not far from it.
-- 391 --
MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM.
ACT I.
SCENE I.
Athens. A Room in the Palace of Theseus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, and Attendants.
The.
Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace: four happy days bring in
Another moon; but, oh, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame, or a dowager,
Long withering out a young man's revenue.
Hip.
Four days will quickly steep themselves in nights;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time1 note;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
Now bent in heaven 11Q02462 note, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
The.
Go, Philostrate,
Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
A wake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth:
-- 392 --
Turn melancholy forth to funerals,
The pale companion is not for our pomp.—
[Exit Philostrate.
Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
And won thy love doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. 11Q0247
Enter Egeus, with his daughter Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius.
Ege.
Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
The.
Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
Ege.
Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.—
Stand forth, Demetrius3 note.—My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her.—
Stand forth, Lysander;—and, my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child:
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
And interchang'd love-tokens with my child:
Thou hast by moon-light at her window sung,
With feigning voice, verses of feigning love;
And stol'n the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweet-meats (messengers
Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth,)
With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart;
Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness.—And, my gracious duke,
Be it so, she will not here, before your grace,
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
-- 393 --
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her,
Which shall be either to this gentleman,
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case.
The.
What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair maid.
To you your father should be as a god;
One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted, and within his power
To leave the figure, or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
Her.
So is Lysander.
The.
In himself he is;
But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
The other must be held the worthier.
Her.
I would, my father look'd but with my eyes!
The.
Rather, your eyes must with his judgment look.
Her.
I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In such a presence here, to plead my thoughts;
But I beseech your grace, that I may know
The worst that may befal me in this case,
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
The.
Either to die the death, or to abjure
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
-- 394 --
But earthly happier is the rose distill'd 11Q02484 note,
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.
Her.
So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, to whose unwish'd yoke5 note
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
The.
Take time to pause: and by the next new moon,
The sealing-day betwixt my love and me
For everlasting bond of fellowship,
Upon that day either prepare to die,
For disobedience to your father's will
Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana's altar to protest,
For aye, austerity and single life.
Dem.
Relent, sweet Hermia;—and, Lysander, yield
Thy crazed title to my certain right.
Lys.
You have her father's love, Demetrius;
Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.
Ege.
Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
And what is mine my love shall render him;
And she is mine, and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.
Lys.
I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
(If not with vantage,) as Demetrius';
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia.
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
-- 395 --
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
The.
I must confess, that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it.—But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus: you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.—
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will,
Or else the law of Athens yields you up
(Which by no means we may extenuate)
To death, or to a vow of single life.—
Come, my Hippolita: what cheer, my love?—
Demetrius, and Egeus, go along:
I must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial, and confer with you
Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
Ege.
With duty, and desire, we follow you.
[Exeunt Thes. Hip. Ege. Dem, and train.
Lys.
How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
Her.
Belike, for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them6 note from the tempest of mine eyes.
Lys.
Ah me! for aught that I could ever read7 note,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
But, either it was different in blood,—
-- 396 --
Her.
O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low 11Q02498 note!
Lys.
Or else misgraffed, in respect of years;—
Her.
O spite! too old to be engag'd to young!
Lys.
Or else it stood upon the choice of friends9 note:—
Her.
O hell! to choose love by another's eyes!
Lys.
Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentany as a sound1 note,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the collied night2 note,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say,—behold!
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.
Her.
If, then, true lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as an edict in destiny:
Then, let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary cross,
As due to love as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,
Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers.
Lys.
A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
I have a widow aunt, a dowager
Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote3 note seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee,
-- 397 --
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lov'st me, then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night,
And in the wood, a league without the town,
(Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do observance to a morn of May)4 note
There will I stay for thee.
Her.
My good Lysander!
I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
By that which knitteth souls, and prospers loves5 note,
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the false Trojan under sail was seen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke;
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
Lys.
Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
Enter Helena.
Her.
God speed fair Helena! Whither away?
Hel.
Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair6 note: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars, and your tongue's sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching; O, were favour so!
Your words I catch7 note, fair Hermia; ere I go,
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
-- 398 --
The rest I'll give to be to you translated.
O! teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
Her.
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
Hel.
O, that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
Her.
I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
Hel.
O, that my prayers could such affection move!
Her.
The more I hate, the more he follows me.
Hel.
The more I love, the more he hateth me.
Her.
His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine 11Q02508 note.
Hel.
None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
Her.
Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.—
Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me9 note:
O then, what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven into hell!
Lys.
Helen, to you our minds we will unfold.
To-morrow night when Phœbe doth behold
Her silver visage in the wat'ry glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
(A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,)
Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal.
Her.
And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsel swell'd,
There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes,
To seek new friends and strange companions10 note.
-- 399 --
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us,
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!—
Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight.
[Exit Herm.
Lys.
I will, my Hermia.—Helena, adieu:
As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!
[Exit Lys.
Hel.
How happy some, o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she;
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know;
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities.
Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste;
Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste:
And therefore is love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd11 note.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy love is perjur'd every where;
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;
Then to the wood will he, to-morrow night,
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense: 11Q0251
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither, and back again.
[Exit.
-- 400 --
SCENE II.
The Same. A Room in a Cottage.
Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling1 note.
Quin.
Is all our company here?
Bot.
You were best to call them generally, man by
man, according to the scrip.
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 to a point2 note.
Quin.
Marry, our play is—The most lamentable
comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.
Bot.
A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a
merry.—Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors
by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves.
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 gallant for
love3 note.
Bot.
That will ask some tears in the true performing
-- 401 --
of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I
will move storms;11Q0253 I will condole in some measure. To
the rest:—yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could
play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make
all split.
“The raging rocks,
“And shivering shocks,
“Shall break the locks
“Of prison-gates:
“And Phibbus' car
“Shall shine from far,
“And make and mar
“The foolish fates4 note.”
This was lofty!—Now name the rest of the players.—
This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more
condoling.
Quin.
Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
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 will.
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!”
Quin.
No, no; you must play Pyramus, and, Flute,
you Thisby.
Bot.
Well, proceed.
Quin.
Robin Starveling, the tailor.
Star.
Here, Peter Quince.
-- 402 --
Quin.
Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.
—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 is a play fitted5 note.
Snug.
Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if
it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.
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.
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 an 'twere any nightingale6 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, gentlemanlike
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-colour
beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain
beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your perfect
yellow.
Quin.
Some of your French crowns have no hair at
-- 403 --
all, and then you will play bare-faced.—But 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 properties, such as our play wants. I pray you,
fail me not.
Bot.
We will meet; and there we may rehearse more
obscenely7 note, and courageously. Take pains; be perfect;
adieu. 11Q0254
Quin.
At the duke's oak we meet.
Bot.
Enough, hold, or cut bow-strings8 note.
[Exeunt.
ACT II.
SCENE I.
A Wood near Athens.
Enter a Fairy and Puck from opposite sides9 note.
Puck.
How now, spirit! whither wander you?
Fai.
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
-- 404 --
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere1 note;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green:
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see.
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours: 11Q0255
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits2 note: I'll be gone.
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.
Puck.
The king doth keep his revels here to-night.
Take heed, the queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king:
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she, perforce, withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove, or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled star-light sheen3 note,
-- 405 --
But they do square4 note; that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.
Fai.
Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,
Call'd Robin Good-fellow. Are you not he, 11Q0256
That frights the maidens5 note of the villagery;
Skims milk, and sometimes labours in the quern6 note
note,
And bootless makes the breathless housewife churn;
And sometime makes the drink to bear no barm7 note;
Misleads night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he?
Puck.
Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And “tailor” cries8 note, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth9 note, and neeze, and swear
-- 406 --
A merrier hour was never wasted there.—
But room, Fairy: here comes Oberon.
Fai.
And here my mistress.—Would that he were gone!
Enter Oberon, from one side, with his train, and Titania, from the other, with hers1 note.
Obe.
Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Tita.
What, jealous Oberon! Fairy, skip hence2 note:
I have forsworn his bed and company.
Obe.
Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?
Tita.
Then, I must be thy lady; but I know
When thou hast stol'n3 note away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day,
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the farthest steep of India4 note,
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded? and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.
Obe.
How canst thou thus, for shame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
-- 407 --
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night
From Perigenia, whom he ravished5 note?
And make him with fair Æglé break his faith,
With Ariadne, and Antiopa?
Tita.
These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never, since the middle summer's spring6 note,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or on the beached margin of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,
Have every pelting river made so proud,
That they have overborne their continents:
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat: and the green corn
Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard:
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock:
The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud7 note;
-- 408 --
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread are undistinguishable:
The human mortals want their winter here:
No night is now with hymn or carol blest;
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And thorough this distemperature, we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And on old Hyem's chin, and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set. The spring, the summer,
The childing autumn8 note, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the 'mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which.
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension:
We are their parents and original.
Obe.
Do you amend it then; it lies in you.
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.
Tita.
Set your heart at rest:
The fairy land buys not the child of me. 11Q0257
His mother was a votaress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side,
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking th' embarked traders on the flood;
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,
And grow big-bellied, with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait
Following, (her womb, then rich with my young squire)
Would imitate, and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
-- 409 --
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake I do rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him.
Obe.
How long within this wood intend you stay?
Tita.
Perchance, till after Theseus' wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
Obe.
Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Tita.
Not for thy fairy kingdom.—Fairies, away!
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.
[Exit Titania, with her train.
Obe.
Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove,
Till I torment thee for this injury.—
My gentle Puck, come hither: thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.
Puck.
I remember.
Obe.
That very time I saw (but thou could'st not),
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon,
And the imperial votarees passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
-- 410 --
And maidens call it, love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees. 11Q0258
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again,
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
Puck.
I'll put a girdle round about the earth9 note
In forty minutes.
[Exit Puck.
Obe.
Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
The next thing then she waking looks upon,
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,)
She shall pursue it with the soul of love;
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
(As I can take it with another herb)
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible,
And I will over-hear their conference1 note.
Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem.
I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me2 note.
Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood,
And here am I, and wood within this wood3 note,
-- 411 --
Because I cannot meet my Hermia4 note.
Hence! get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel.
You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.
Dem.
Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you I do not, nor I cannot love you?
Hel.
And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love,
(And yet a place of high respect with me,)
Than to be used as you use your dog5 note?
Dem.
Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,
For I am sick when I do look on thee.
Hel.
And I am sick when I look not on you.
Dem.
You do impeach your modesty too much,
To leave the city, and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not;
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.
Hel.
Your virtue is my privilege for that.
It is not night, when I do see your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night;
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For you, in my respect, are all the world.
Then how can it be said, I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?
-- 412 --
Dem.
I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.
Hel.
The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd;
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase:
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootless speed!
When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.
Dem.
I will not stay thy questions: let me go;
Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
Hel.
Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field5 note,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee6 note, and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the hand I love so well.
[Exeunt Dem. and Hel.
Obe.
Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.—
Re-enter Puck.
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
Puck.
Ay, there it is.
Obe.
I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lips, and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; 11Q0259
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
-- 413 --
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it, when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her, than she upon her love.
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck.
Fear not, my lord: your servant shall do so.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
Another part of the Wood.
Enter Titania, with her train.
Tita.
Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence:
Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;
Some war with rear-mice7 note for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats; and some keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.
FAIRIES' SONG.
1 Fai.
You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen,
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen:
-- 414 --
CHORUS.
Philomel, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby8 note;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
II.
2 Fai.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor snail, do no offence.
CHORUS.
Philomel, with melody, &c.
2 Fai.
Hence, away! now all is well.
One, aloof, stand sentinel.
[Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps.
Enter Oberon.
Obe.
What thou seest, when thou dost wake,
[Squeezes the flower on Titania's eye-lids.
Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak'st, it is thy dear.
Wake when some vile thing is near.
[Exit.
-- 415 --
Enter Lysander and Hermia.
Lys.
Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;
And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:
We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
Her.
Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
Lys.
One turf shall serve as pillow for us both:
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
Her.
Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet: do not lie so near.
Lys.
O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;
Love takes the meaning in love's conference. 11Q0260
I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit,
So that but one heart we can make of it9 note:
Two bosoms interchained with an oath1 note;
So then, two bosoms, and a single troth.
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny,
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
Her.
Lysander riddles very prettily.
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in human modesty
Such separation as may well be said
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid:
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend.
Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!
Lys.
Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;
And then end life, when I end loyalty!
Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!
Her.
With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!
[They sleep.
-- 416 --
Enter Puck.
Puck.
Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none2 note,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid;
And here the maiden, sleeping sound
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe3 note.
When thou wak'st, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid.
So awake when I am gone,
For I must now to Oberon.
[Exit.
Enter Demetrius and Helena, running.
Hel.
Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
Dem.
I charge thee, hence; and do not haunt me thus.
Hel.
O! wilt thou darkling leave me4 note? do not so.
Dem.
Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.
[Exit Demetrius.
Hel.
O! I am out of breath in this fond chase.
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies,
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
-- 417 --
If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than her's.
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear,
For beasts that meet me, run away for fear;
Therefore, no marvel, though Demetrius
Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?—
But who is here?—Lysander on the ground?
Dead, or asleep?—I see no blood, no wound.—
Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.
Lys.
And run through fire I will, for thy sweet sake.
[Waking.
Transparent Helena! Nature here shows art5 note,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
Is that vile name to perish on my sword!
Hel.
Do not say so, Lysander; say not so.
What though he love your Hermia? Lord! what though?
Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
Lys.
Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena I love6 note.
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd,
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season;
So, I being young, till now ripe not to reason;
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
And leads me to your eyes; where I o'erlook
Love's stories, written in love's richest book.
-- 418 --
Hel.
Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
When, at your hands, did I deserve this scorn?
Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can,
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
Good troth, you do me wrong; good sooth, you do,
In such disdainful manner me to woo.
But fare you well: perforce I must confess,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
O, that a lady, of one man refus'd,
Should, of another, therefore, be abus'd!
[Exit.
Lys.
She sees not Hermia.—Hermia, sleep thou there;
And never may'st thou come Lysander near;
For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings;
Or, as the heresies, that men do leave,
Are hated most of those they did deceive7 note;
So thou, my surfeit, and my heresy,
Of all be hated, but the most of me.
And, all my powers, address your love and might,
To honour Helen, and to be her knight.
[Exit.
Her. [starting.]
Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best,
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast.
Ah, me, for pity!—what a dream was here!
Lysander, look, how I do quake with fear.
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling8 note at his cruel prey.—
Lysander! what, remov'd? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack! where are you? speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves9 note! I swoon almost with fear.
-- 419 --
No?—then I well perceive you are not nigh:
Either death, or you, I'll find immediately.
[Exit.
ACT III.
SCENE I.
The same. The Queen of Fairies lying asleep.
Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.
Bot.
Are we all met?
Quin.
Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient
place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our
stage, this hawthorn brake our 'tiring-house1 note; and we
will do it in action, as we will do it before the duke.
Bot.
Peter Quince,—
Quin.
What say'st thou, bully Bottom?
Bot.
There are things in this comedy of “Pyramus
and Thisby,” that will never please. First, Pyramus
must draw a sword to kill himself, which the ladies
cannot abide. How answer you that?
Snout.
By'rlakin, a parlous fear2 note.
Star.
I believe, we must leave the killing out, when
all is done.
Bot.
Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.
Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed: and, for the more better
assurance, tell them, that I, Pyramus, am not Pyramus,
but Bottom the weaver. This will put them out of
fear.
-- 420 --
Quin.
Well, we will have such a prologue, and it
shall be written in eight and six3 note.
Bot.
No, make it two more: let it be written in
eight and eight.
Snout.
Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
Star.
I fear it, I promise you.
Bot.
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves:
to bring in, God shield us! a lion among ladies, is a
most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful
wild-fowl than your lion living, and we ought to look
to it.
Snout.
Therefore, another prologue must tell he is
not a lion.
Bot.
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face
must be seen through the lion's neck; and he himself
must speak through, saying thus, or to the same defect:
—“Ladies, or fair ladies, I would wish you, or, I would
request you, or, I would entreat you, not to fear, not to
tremble: my life for yours. If you think I come hither
as a lion, it were pity of my life: no, I am no such
thing: I am a man as other men are;” and there,
indeed, let him name his name, and tell them plainly
he is Snug, the joiner4 note.
Quin.
Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard
things: that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber;
for you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.
Snug.
Doth the moon shine that night we play our
play?
Bot.
A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanack;
find out moonshine, find out moonshine.
Quin.
Yes, it doth shine that night.
-- 421 --
Bot.
Why, then you may leave a casement of the
great chamber window, where we play, open; and the
moon may shine in at the casement.
Quin.
Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of
thorns and a lanthorn, and say, he comes to disfigure, or
to present, the person of moonshine. Then, there is
another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber;
for Pyramus and Thisby (says the story,) did talk
through the chink of a wall.
Snug.
You can never bring in a wall.—What say
you, Bottom?
Bot.
Some man or other must present wall; and let
him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast
about him, to signify wall: or let him hold his
fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus
and Thisby whisper.
Quin.
If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit
down, every mother's son, and rehearse your parts.
Pyramus, you begin. When you have spoken your
speech, enter into that brake; and so every one according
to his cue.
Enter Puck behind.
Puck.
What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
What, a play toward? I'll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
Quin.
Speak, Pyramus.—Thisby, stand forth.
Pyr.
“Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet, 11Q0261”—
Quin.
Odours, odours5 note.
Pyr.
—“odours savours sweet:
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby, dear.—
But, hark, a voice! stay thou but here a while,
And by and by I will to thee appear.”
[Exit.
-- 422 --
Puck.
A stranger Pyramus than e'er play'd here6 note!
[Exit.
This.
Must I speak now?
Quin.
Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand,
he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is
to come again.
This.
“Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
Most brisky juvenal, and eke most lovely Jew,
As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire,
I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.”
Quin.
Ninus' tomb, man. Why you must not speak
that yet; that you answer to Pyramus. You speak all
your part at once, cues and all7 note.—Pyramus, enter: your
cue is past; it is, “never tire.”
Re-enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass's head. 11Q0262
This.
O!—“As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire.”
Pyr.
“If I were, fair Thisby, I were only thine:”—
Quin.
O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted.
Pray, masters! fly, masters! help!
[Exeunt Clowns.
Puck.
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire8 note
;
-- 423 --
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
[Exit.
Bot.
Why do they run away? this is a knavery of
them, to make me afeard.
Re-enter Snout.
Snout.
O Bottom! thou art changed: what do I see
on thee?
[Exit.
Bot.
What do you see? you see an ass's head of your
own, do you?
Re-enter Quince.
Quin.
Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art
translated.
[Exit.
Bot.
I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of
me, to fright me, if they could; but I will not stir
from this place, do what they can. I will walk up and
down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am
not afraid.
[Sings.
The oosel-cock, so black of hue,
With orange-tawney bill9 note,
The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill.
Tita.
What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
[Waking.
Bot.
The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plain-song cuckoo gray,
-- 424 --
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer, nay;
for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird?
who would give a bird the lie, though he cry “cuckoo”
never so?
Tita. 11Q0263
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:
Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note,
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force, perforce, doth move me,
On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee1 note.
Bot.
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason
for that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and love
keep little company together now-a-days. The more
the pity, that some honest neighbours will not make
them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion2 note.
Tita.
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
Bot.
Not so, neither; but if I had wit enough to get
out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own
turn.
Tita.
Out of this wood do not desire to go:
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state,
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep:
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so,
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.—
Peas-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-seed!
Enter four Fairies.
1 Fai.
Ready.
-- 425 --
2 Fair.
And I.
3 Fai.
And I.
4 Fai.
Where shall we go?
Tita.
Be kind and courteous to this gentleman:
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks, and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries.
The honey bags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed, and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes.
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
1 Fai.
Hail, mortal!
2 Fai.
Hail!
3 Fai.
Hail!
4 Fai.
Hail!
Bot.
I cry your worship's mercy, heartily.—I beseech,
your worship's name.
Cob.
Cobweb.
Bot.
I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good
master Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall make bold
with you.—Your name, honest gentleman?
Peas.
Peas-blossom.
Bot.
I pray you, commend me to mistress Squash3 note,
your mother, and to master Peascod, your father. Good
master Peas-blossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance
too.—Your name, I beseech you, sir?
Mus.
Mustard-seed.
Bot.
Good master Mustard-seed, I know your patience
well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef
hath devoured many a gentleman of your house. I
promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water
ere now. I desire you more acquaintance, good master
Mustard-seed.
-- 426 --
Tita.
Come, wait upon him: lead him to my bower.
The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye,
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my lover's tongue4 note, bring him silently.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
Another Part of the Wood.
Enter Oberon.
Obe.
I wonder, if Titania be awak'd;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Enter Puck.
Here comes my messenger.—How now, mad spirit?
What night-rule5 note now about this haunted grove?
Puck.
My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches6 note, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play,
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented in their sport,
Forsook his scene, and enter'd in a brake,
When I did him at this advantage take;
An ass's nowl7 note I fixed on his head:
-- 427 --
Anon, his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort8 note,
Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
Sever themselves, and madly sweep the sky;
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly,
And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls:
He murder cries, and help from Athens calls.
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong,
Made senseless, things begin to do them wrong,
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch,
Some, sleeves, some, hats, from yielders all things catch.
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated there;
When in that moment (so it came to pass,)
Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an ass.
Obe.
This falls out better than I could devise.
But hast thou yet latch'd9 note the Athenian's eyes
With the love-juice, as I bid thee do?
Puck.
I took him sleeping, (that is finish'd too,)
And the Athenian woman by his side,
That, when he wak'd, of force she must be ey'd.
Enter Demetrius and Hermia.
Obe.
Stand close: this is the same Athenian.
Puck.
This is the woman; but not this the man.
Dem.
O! why rebuke you him that loves you so?
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
Her.
Now, I but chide; but I should use thee worse,
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
-- 428 --
The sun was not so true unto the day,
As he to me. Would he have stol'n away
From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon,
This whole earth may be bor'd, and that the moon
May through the centre creep, and so displease
Her brother's noon-tide with th' Antipodes.
It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;
So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
Dem.
So should the murder'd look1 note, and so should I,
Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty;
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
Her.
What's this to my Lysander? where is he?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
Dem.
I had rather give his carcase to my hounds.
Her.
Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds
Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him then?
Henceforth be never number'd among men!
O! once tell true, tell true2 note, e'en for my sake;
Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake,
And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!
Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
Dem.
You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood:
I am not guilty of Lysander's blood, 11Q0264
Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
Her.
I pray thee, tell me, then, that he is well.
Dem.
And, if I could, what should I get therefore?
Her.
A privilege, never to see me more.—
And from thy hated presence part I so3 note;
See me no more, whether he be dead or no.
[Exit.
-- 429 --
Dem.
There is no following her in this fierce vein:
Here, therefore, for a while I will remain.
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep4 note doth sorrow owe;
Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make some stay.
[Lies down.
Obe.
What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite,
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true-love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true.
Puck.
Then fate o'er-rules; that one man holding troth,
A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
Obe.
About the wood go swifter than the wind,
And Helena of Athens look thou find:
All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer
With sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear.
By some illusion see thou bring her here:
I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.
Puck.
I go, I go; look how I go;
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
[Exit.
Obe.
Flower of this purple die,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky,—
When thou wak'st, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.
Re-enter Puck.
Puck.
Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand,
-- 430 --
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Obe.
Stand aside: the noise they make
Will cause Demetrius to awake.
Puck.
Then will two at once woo one;
That must needs be sport alone5 note;
And those things do best please me,
That befal preposterously.
Enter Lysander and Helena.
Lys.
Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
Scorn and derision never come in tears:
Look, when I vow I weep, and vows so born,
In their nativity all truth appears.
How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith to prove them true?
Hel.
You do advance your cunning more and more.
When truth kills truth, O, devilish-holy fray!
These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
Your vows, to her and me, put in two scales,
Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.
Lys.
I had no judgment, when to her I swore.
Hel.
Nor more, in my mind, now you give her o'er.
Lys.
Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
Dem. [Awaking.]
O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O! how ripe in show
-- 431 --
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow,
When thou hold'st up thy hand. O, let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss 11Q02656 note!
Hel.
O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent7 note
To set against me, for your merriment:
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
If you were men8 note, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so;
To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When, I am sure, you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia,
And now both rivals, to mock Helena.
A trim exploit, a manly enterprize,
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
With your derision! none of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort
A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.
Lys.
You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so,
For you love Hermia; this, you know, I know:
And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
Whom I do love, and will do till my death.
Hel.
Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
Dem.
Lysander, keep thy Hermia: I will none:
If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone.
-- 432 --
My heart to her9 note but as guest-wise sojourn'd,
And now to Helen is it home return'd,
There to remain.
Lys.
Helen, 11Q0266 it is not so1 note.
Dem.
Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear2 note
.—
Look, where thy love comes: yonder is thy dear.
Enter Hermia.
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 recompense.
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound.
But why unkindly didst 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 oes and eyes of light.
Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,
The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?
Her.
You speak not as you think: it cannot be.
Hel.
Lo! she is one of this confederacy.
-- 433 --
Now I perceive they have conjoin'd, all three,
To fashion this false sport in spite of me.
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! is all forgot3 note?
All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles4 note
created 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 incorporate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition;
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem, 11Q0267
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one, and crowned with one crest5 note.
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.
-- 434 --
Her.
I am amazed at your passionate words6 note.
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, persever, counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me7 note when I turn my back;
Wink at each 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.
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 prayers8 note.—
-- 435 --
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 Ethiop!
Dem.
No, no, he'll—9 note
Seem to break loose; take on, as you 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! O hated potion, hence1 note!
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.
-- 436 --
Her.
What! can you do me greater harm than hate?
Hate me! wherefore? O me! 11Q0268 what news, my love?
Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander?
I am as fair now, as I was erewhile.
Since night, you lov'd me; yet, since night you left me:
Why, then you left me (O, the gods forbid!)
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, of doubt;
Be certain, nothing truer: 'tis no jest,
That I do hate thee, and love Helena.
Her.
O me!—you juggler! you canker-blossom!
You thief of love! what, have you come by night,
And stol'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,
-- 437 --
Because she is 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 am2 note.
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 is 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 minimus, of hindering knot-grass made3 note;
You bead, you acorn.
Dem.
You are too officious
In her behalf that scorns your services.
-- 438 --
Let her alone; speak not of Helena;
Take not her part, for if thou dost intend
Never so little show of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it4 note.
Lys.
Now she holds me not,
Now follow, if thou dar'st, to try whose right,
Of thine or mine5 note, is most in Helena.
Dem.
Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jowl.
[Exeunt Lys. and Dem.
Her.
You, mistress, all this coil 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.
[Exit.
Her.
I am amaz'd, and know not what to say6 note.
[Exit.
Obe.
This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st,
Or else commit'st thy knaveries wilfully.
Puck.
Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
Did not you tell me I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on7 note?
And so far blameless proves my enterprize,
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;
And so far am I glad it so did sort,
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
Obe.
Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to fight:
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog, as black as Acheron;
And lead these testy rivals so astray,
-- 439 --
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,
To take from thence all error with his 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 employ8 note,
I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release
From monster's 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, wandering here and there,
Troop home to church-yards: 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 themselves exile from light,
And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
Obe.
But we are spirits of another sort.
I with the morning's love have oft made sport;
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
-- 440 --
But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:
We may effect this business yet ere day.
[Exit Oberon.
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 down9 note.
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.
[Exit Lys. as following the voice.
Enter Demetrius.
Dem.
Lysander! speak again.
Thou runaway, 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.
Re-enter Lysander.
Lys.
He goes before me, and still dares me on:
-- 441 --
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
The villain is much lighter heel'd than I:
I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day!
[Lies down.
For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite.
[Sleeps.
Re-enter Puck and Demetrius.
Puck.
Ho! ho! ho10 note! Coward, why com'st 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 now11 note
?
Puck.
Come hither: I am here.
Dem.
Nay, then thou mock'st me. Thou shalt 'by this dear1 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.
[Lies down and sleeps.
Enter Helena.
Hel.
O weary night! O, long and tedious night!
Abate thy hours: shine, comforts, from the east,
That I may back to Athens, by day-light,
From these that my poor company detest.
-- 442 --
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,
Steal me a while from mine own company.
[Sleeps.
Puck.
Yet but three? Come one more;
Two of both kinds make up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad.
Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad.
Enter Hermia.
Her.
Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers:
I can no farther crawl, no farther go;
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
Here will I rest me till the break of day.
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
[Lies down.
Puck.
On the ground sleep sound:
I'll apply to your eye2 note,
Gentle lover, remedy.
[Squeezing the juice on Lysander's eye.
When thou wak'st, thou tak'st
True delight in the sight
Of thy former lady's eye:
And the country proverb known,
That every man should take his own,
In your waking shall be shown:
Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again,
And all shall be well3 note.
[Exit Puck.—Dem. Hel. &c. sleep4 note.
-- 443 --
ACT IV.
SCENE I.
The Same.
Enter Titania and Bottom5 note; Fairies attending: Oberon behind unseen.
Tita.
Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy6 note,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
Bot.
Where's Peas-blossom?
Peas.
Ready.
Bot.
Scratch my head, Peas-blossom.—Where's monsieur
Cobweb?
Cob.
Ready.
Bot.
Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get your
weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee
on the top of a thistle; and, good monsieur,
bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too
much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur,
have a care the honey-bag break not: I would be loath
to have you overflown with a honey-bag, signior—
Where's monsieur Mustard-seed?
Must.
Ready.
Bot.
Give me your neif7 note, monsieur Mustard-seed.
Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur.
Must.
What's your will?
Bot.
Nothing, good monsieur, but to help cavalery
-- 444 --
Cobweb8 note to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur;
for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy about the face,
and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle
me, I must scratch.
Tita.
What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?
Bot.
I have a reasonable good ear in music: let's
have the tongs and the bones9 note.
Tita.
Or, say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat.
Bot.
Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch
your good dry oats. Methinks, I have a great desire
to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no
fellow1 note.
Tita.
I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
Bot.
I had rather have a handful or two of dried
peas. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me:
I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.
Tita.
Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away. 11Q0269
So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle,
Gently entwist: the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
[They sleep.
[Enter Puck.
Obe. [Advancing]
Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this sweet sight?
Her dotage now I do begin to pity;
-- 445 --
For meeting her of late behind the wood,
Seeking sweet savours2 note for this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her, and fall out with her;
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flow'rets' eyes,
Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had at my pleasure taunted her,
And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child,
Which straight she gave me; and her fairy sent
To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
And now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
From off the head of this Athenian swain,
That he, awaking when the other do,
May all to Athens back again repair,
And think no more of this night's accidents,
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
But first I will release the fairy queen.
Be, as thou wast wont to be;
See, as thou wast wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.
Now, my Titania! wake you, my sweet queen.
Tita.
My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
Methought, I was enamour'd of an ass.
Obe.
There lies your love.
Tita.
How came these things to pass?
O, how mine eyes do loath his visage now3 note!
-- 446 --
Obe.
Silence, a while.—Robin, take off this head.—
Titania, music call; and strike more dead
Than common sleep of all these five the sense.
Tita.
Music, ho! music! such as charmeth sleep4 note.
Puck.
Now, when thou wak'st5 note, with thine own fool's eyes peep.
Obe.
Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity,
And will to-morrow midnight solemnly
Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair prosperity6 note.
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
Puck.
Fairy king, attend, and mark:
I do hear the morning lark.
Obe.
Then, my queen, in silence sad,
Trip we after the night's shade7 note;
We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wandering moon.
Tita.
Come, my lord; and in our flight,
Tell me how it came this night,
That I sleeping here was found
With these mortals on the ground8 note.
[Exeunt.
[Horns sound within.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and train.
The.
Go, one of you, find out the forester;
-- 447 --
For now our observation is perform'd9 note:
And since we have the vaward of the day10 note,
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.—
Uncouple in the western valley: let them go11 note!—
Despatch, I say, and find the forester.—
We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the musical confusion
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
Hip.
I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry12 note. I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
The.
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, so sanded1 note; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-kneed, and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:
Judge, when you hear.—But, soft! what nymphs are these?
Ege.
My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;
And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:
I wonder of their being here together2 note.
-- 448 --
The.
No doubt, they rose up early, to observe
The rite of May; and, hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our solemnity.—
But speak, Egeus; is not this the day
That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
Ege.
It is, my lord.
The.
Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
[Horns, and shout within. Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, wake and start up.
The.
Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past;
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
Lys.
Pardon, my lord.
[He and the rest kneel.
The.
I pray you all, stand up.
I know, you two are rival enemies:
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lys.
My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly say how I came here;
But, as I think, (for truly would I speak,—
And now I do bethink me, so it is)
I came with Hermia hither: our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might
Without the peril of the Athenian law—3 note
Ege.
Enough, enough! my lord, you have enough.
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
They would have stol'n away; they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me;
-- 449 --
You, of your wife, and me, of my consent,
Of my consent that she should be your wife.
Dem.
My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither, to this wood;
And I in fury hither follow'd them,
Fair Helena in fancy following me4 note.
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
(But by some power it is,) my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd,
Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object, and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia5 note:
But, like in sickness, did I loath this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it,
And will for evermore be true to it.
The.
Fair lovers, you are fortunately met.
Of this discourse we more will hear anon6 note.—
Egeus, I will overbear your will,
For in the temple, by and by with us,
These couples shall eternally be knit.
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.
Away, with us, to Athens: three and three,
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.—
Come, Hippolyta.
[Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and train.
Dem.
These things seem small, and undistinguishable,
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.
-- 450 --
Her.
Methinks, I see these things with parted eye,
When every thing seems double.
Hel.
So methinks:
And I have found Demetrius, like a jewel,
Mine own, and not mine own.
Dem.
Are you sure
That we are awake7 note? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream.—Do not you think
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
Her.
Yea; and my father.
Hel.
And Hippolyta.
Lys.
And he did bid us follow to the temple 11Q02708 note.
Dem.
Why then, we are awake. Let's follow him;
And by the way let us recount our dreams.
[Exeunt.
Bot. [waking.]
When my cue comes, call me,
and I will answer:—my next is, “Most fair Pyramus.”
—Hey, ho!—Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender!
Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my
life! stolen hence, and left me asleep. I have had a
most rare vision. I have had a dream,—past the wit
of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if
he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was
—there is no man can tell what. Methought I was,
and methought I had,—but man is but a patched fool,
if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye
of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen,
man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive,
nor his heart to report, what my dream was. I will get
Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall
be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom,
and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the
-- 451 --
duke: peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I
shall sing it at her death 11Q02719 note.
[Exit.
SCENE II. [Notes and Emendations to the 1632 Folio]11Q0272
Athens. A Room in Quince's House.
Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.
Quin.
Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come
home yet?
Star.
He cannot be heard of10 note. Out of doubt, he is
transported.
Flu.
If he come not, then the play is marred. It
goes not forward, doth it?
Quin.
It is not possible: you have not a man in all
Athens able to discharge Pyramus, but he.
Flu.
No; he hath simply the best wit of any handy-craft
man in Athens.
Quin.
Yea, and the best person too; and he is a
very paramour for a sweet voice.
Flu.
You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God
bless us! a thing of nought.
Enter Snug.
Snug.
Masters, the duke is coming from the temple,
and there is two or three lords and ladies more married.
If our sport had gone forward, we had all been
made men.
Flu.
O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence
a-day during his life; he could not have 'scaped
-- 452 --
sixpence a-day: an the duke had not given him sixpence
a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged; he
would have deserved it: sixpence a-day in Pyramus,
or nothing.
Enter Bottom.
Bot.
Where are these lads? where are these hearts?
Quin.
Bottom!—O most courageous day! O most
happy hour!
Bot.
Masters, I am to discourse wonders; but ask
me not what, for, if I tell you, I am no true Athenian.
I will tell you every thing, right as it fell out1 note.
Quin.
Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
Bot.
Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is,
that the duke hath dined. Get your apparel together;
good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your
pumps: meet presently at the palace; every man look
o'er his part; for, the short and the long is, our play is
preferred. In any case let Thisby have clean linen,
and let not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for
they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And, most
dear actors, eat no onions, nor garlick, for we are to
utter sweet breath, and I do not doubt but to hear
them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words:
away! go; away!
[Exeunt.
ACT V.
SCENE I.
The same. An Apartment in the Palace of Theseus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, Lords, and Attendants.
Hip.
'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.
-- 453 --
The.
More strange than true: I never may believe
These antic fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers, and madmen, have such seething brains2 note,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing3 note
A local habitation, and a name. 11Q0273
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear?
Hip.
But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigur'd so together,
More witnesseth than fancy's images,
And grows to something of great constancy,
But, howsoever, strange, and admirable.
The.
Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.
Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena.
Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love,
Accompany your hearts!
Lys.
More than to us
Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!
-- 454 --
The.
Come now; what masks, what dances shall we have,
To wear away this long age of three hours,
Between our after-supper, and bed-time?
Where is our usual manager of mirth?
What revels are in hand? Is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
Call Philostrate4 note 11Q0274.
Philost.
Here, mighty Theseus.
The.
Say, what abridgment have you for this evening?
What mask? what music? How shall we beguile
The lazy time, if not with some delight?
Philost.
There is a brief how many sports are ripe5 note;
Make choice of which your highness will see first.
[Giving a paper.
The. [reads.]
“The battle with the Centaurs6 note, to be sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.”
We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
“The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.”
That is an old device; and it was play'd
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
“The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary.”
That is some satire, keen, and critical,
Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
-- 455 --
“A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus,
And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.”
Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief!
That is, hot ice, and wondrous strange snow. 11Q0275
How shall we find the concord of this discord?
Philost.
A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
Which is as brief as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
Which makes it tedious; for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
And tragical, my noble lord, it is,
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
Which, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess,
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The passion of loud laughter never shed.
The.
What are they, that do play it?
Philost.
Hard-handed men, that work in Athens here,
Which never labour'd in their minds till now;
And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories
With this same play, against your nuptial.
The.
And we will hear it.
Philost.
No, my noble lord;
It is not for you: I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world,
Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
To do you service.
The.
I will hear that play:
For never any thing can be amiss,
When simpleness and duty tender it.
Go, bring them in;—and take your places, ladies.
[Exit Philostrate.
Hip.
I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharg'd,
And duty in his service perishing.
The.
Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
-- 456 --
Hip.
He says they can do nothing in this kind.
The.
The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:
And what poor duty cannot do,
Noble respect takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence, yet, I pick'd a welcome;
And in the modesty of fearful duty
I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity,
In least speak most, to my capacity.
Enter Philostrate.
Philost.
So please your grace, the prologue is addrest7 note.
The.
Let him approach.
[Flourish of trumpets8 note.
Enter the Prologue.
Prol.
“If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good-will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then, we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to content you,
-- 457 --
Our true intent is. All for your delight,
We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand; and, by their show,
You shall know all, that you are like to know.”
The.
This fellow doth not stand upon points.
Lys.
He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he
knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
enough to speak, but to speak true.
Hip.
Indeed, he hath played on this prologue, like a
child on a recorder9 note; a sound, but not in government.
The.
His speech was like a tangled chain,
Nothing impair'd, but all disordered.
Who is next?
Enter Pyramus1 note and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show.
Prol.
“Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show;
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain.
This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder;
And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
To whisper, at the which let no man wonder.
This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth moonshine; for, if you will know,
By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
This grisly beast, which lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright:
And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
-- 458 --
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain2 note:
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast;
And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
Let lion, moonshine, wall, and lovers twain,
At large discourse, while here they do remain.”
[Exeunt Prol. Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine.
The.
I wonder, if the lion be to speak.
Dem.
No wonder, my lord:
One lion may, when many asses do.
Wall.
“In this same interlude, it doth befal,
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
And such a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink,
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
Did whisper often very secretly.
This lime, this rough-cast3 note, and this stone, doth show
That I am that same wall: the truth is so;
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.”
The.
Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?
Dem.
It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
discourse, my lord.
The.
Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!
Enter Pyramus.
Pyr.
“O, grim-look'd night! O, night with hue so black!
O night, which ever art, when day is not!
O night! O night! alack, alack, alack!
I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot.—
-- 459 --
And thou, O wall! O sweet, O lovely wall4 note!
That stand'st between her father's ground and mine;
Thou wall, O wall! O sweet, and lovely wall!
Show me thy chink to blink through with mine eyne.
[Wall holds up his fingers.
Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
But what see I? No Thisby do I see.
O wicked wall! through whom I see no bliss;
Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!”
The.
The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse
again.
Pyr.
No, in truth, sir, he should not.—“Deceiving
me,” is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now5 note, and I am to
spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall
pat as I told you.—Yonder she comes.
Enter Thisbe.
This.
“O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me:
My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones;
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee6 note.”
Pyr.
“I see a voice: now will I to the chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face.
Thisby!”
This.
“My love! thou art my love, I think.”
Pyr.
“Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;
And like Limander am I trusty still.”
This.
“And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.”
Pyr.
“Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.”
This.
“As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.”
Pyr.
“O! kiss me through the hole of this vile wall.”
This.
“I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.”
-- 460 --
Pyr.
“Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?”
This.
“'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.”
Wall.
“Thus have I, wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus wall away doth go.”
[Exeunt Wall, Pyramus, and Thisbe.
The.
Now is the mural down between the two neighbours7 note.
Dem.
No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful
to hear without warning.
Hip.
This is the silliest stuff that e'er I heard.
The.
The best in this kind are but shadows; and the
worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.
Hip.
It must be your imagination then, and not
theirs.
The.
If we imagine no worse of them, than they of
themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here
come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.
Enter Lion and Moonshine.
Lion.
“You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know, that I, one Snug the joiner8 note, am
A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam: 11Q0277
For, if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.”
The.
A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience.
Dem.
The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er
I saw.
Lys.
This lion is a very fox for his valour.
The.
True; and a goose for his discretion.
-- 461 --
Dem.
Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry
his discretion, and the fox carries the goose.
The.
His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his
valour, for the goose carries not the fox. It is well:
leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon9 note.
Moon.
“This lantern doth the horned moon present;”
Dem.
He should have worn the horns on his head.
The.
He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible
within the circumference.
Moon.
“This lantern doth the horned moon present;
Myself the man i'the moon do seem to be.”
The.
This is the greatest error of all the rest. The
man should be put into the lantern: how is it else the
man i'the moon?
Dem.
He dares not come there for the candle; for,
you see, it is already in snuff10 note.
Hip.
I am aweary of this moon: would, he would
change!
The.
It appears by his small light of discretion, that
he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason,
we must stay the time.
Lys.
Proceed, moon.
Moon.
All that I have to say, is, to tell you, that the
lantern is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this
thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.
Dem.
Why, all these should be in the lantern; for
all these are in the moon11 note. But, silence! here comes
Thisbe.
Enter Thisbe.
This.
“This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?”
Lion.
“Oh—.”
[The Lion roars.—Thisbe runs off.
Dem.
Well roared, lion.
-- 462 --
The.
Well run, Thisbe.
Hip.
Well shone, moon.—Truly, the moon shines with
a good grace.
[The Lion tears Thisbe's mantle, and exit.
The.
Well moused, 11Q0278 lion1 note.
Dem.
And then came Pyramus.
Lys.
And so the lion vanished2 note
.
Enter Pyramus.
Pyr.
“Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
I thank thee, moon, for shining now so bright,
For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering streams3 note,
I trust to take of truest Thisby sight4 note.
But stay;—O spite!
But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here!
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
Thy mantle good,
What! stain'd with blood?
Approach, ye furies fell!
-- 463 --
O fates! come, come;
Cut thread and thrum;
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!”
The.
This passion, and the death of a dear friend,
would go near to make a man look sad.
Hip.
Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.
Pyr.
“O, wherefore, nature, didst thou lions frame,
Since lion vile hath here deflour'd my dear?
Which is—no, no—which was the fairest dame,
That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with cheer.
Come, tears, confound;
Out, sword, and wound
The pap of Pyramus:
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop:—
Thus die I, thus, thus, thus! 11Q0279
Now am I dead,
Now am I fled;
My soul is in the sky:
Tongue, lose thy light!
Moon, take thy flight!
Now die, die, die, die, die.”
[Dies.—Exit Moonshine.
Dem.
No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.
Lys.
Less than an ace, man, for he is dead; he is
nothing.
The.
With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover,
and yet prove an ass.
Hip.
How chance moonshine is gone, before Thisbe
comes back and finds her lover?
The.
She will find him by starlight.—Here she
comes, and her passion ends the play.
Enter Thisbe.
Hip.
Methinks, she should not use a long one for
such a Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.
Dem.
A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus,
-- 464 --
which Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant
us; she for a woman, God bless us5 note.
Lys.
She hath spied him already with those sweet
eyes.
Dem.
And thus she moans6 note
, videlicet.—
This.
“Asleep, my love?
What, dead, my dove?
O Pyramus! arise:
Speak, speak! Quite dumb?
Dead, dead? A tomb
Must cover thy sweet eyes.
These lily lips,
This cherry nose,
These yellow cowslip cheeks, 11Q0280
Are gone, are gone.
Lovers, make moan!
His eyes were green as leeks.
O! sisters three,
Come, come to me,
With hands as pale as milk;
Lay them in gore,
Since you have shore
With shears his thread of silk.
Tongue, not a word:—
Come, trusty sword;
Come, blade, my breast imbrue:
And farewell, friends.—
Thus Thisby ends:
Adieu, adieu, adieu.”
[Dies.
-- 465 --
The.
Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.
Dem.
Ay, and wall too.
Bot.
No, I assure you3 note; the wall is down that parted
their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue,
or to hear a Bergomask dance between two of our
company?
The.
No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs
no excuse. Never excuse, for when the players are
all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he
that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hanged himself in
Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy; and
so it is, truly, and very notably discharged. But come,
your Bergomask: let your epiloque alone.
[A dance4 note.
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.—
Lovers, to bed: 'tis almost fairy time.
I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn,
As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
This palpable gross play hath well beguil'd
The heavy gait of night.—Sweet friends, to bed.—
A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
In nightly revels, and new jollity.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.
Enter Puck.
Puck.
Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon5 note;
-- 466 --
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night,
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide:
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door 11Q02816 note.
Enter Oberon and Titania, with all their Train.
Obe.
Through the house give glimmering light,
By the dead and drowsy fire;
Every elf, and fairy sprite,
Hop as light as bird from brier;
And this ditty after me
Sing, and dance it trippingly.
Tita.
First, rehearse your song by rote7 note,
To each word a warbling note:
Hand in hand with fairy grace
Will we sing, and bless this place.
-- 467 --
THE SONG8 note.
Obe.
Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be;
And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand:
Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate, 11Q0282
Every fairy take his gait,
And each several chamber bless,
Through this palace with sweet peace;
Ever shall in safety rest,
And the owner of it blest.
Trip away; make no stay;
Meet me all by break of day.
[Exeunt Oberon, Titania, and Train.
Puck.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here,
While these visions did appear;
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
-- 468 --
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I'm an honest Puck9 note,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long,
Else the Puck a liar call:
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
[Exit.
