Other Fairies attending their King and Queen: Attendants on Thefeus and Hippolita. SCENE, Athens, and a Wood not far from it.

ACT I.

Ege. Scornful Lyfander! true, he hath my love; And what is mine, my love fhall render him: And she is mine; and all my right of her

I do eftate unto Demetrius.

Lyf. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he, As well poffefs'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,

The. What fay you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair|10|I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia :

• i. e. confider your youth 2 c. give them.

As due to love, as thoughts, and dreams, and fighs,|
Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers.

Lyf. A good perfuafion; therefore, hear me,
Hermia.

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and fhe hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote feven leagues;
And she respects me as her only fon.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot purfue us: If thou lov'ft 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 obfervance to a morn of May,
There will I ftay for thee.

Her. My good Lyfander !

I fwear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow;
By his best arrow with the golden head;
By the fimplicity of Venus' doves;

By that which knitteth fouls, and profpers loves;
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the falfe Trojan under fail was feen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke ;-
In that fame place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee. [Helena.
Lyf. Keep promife, love: Look, here comes
Enter Helena.

Lyf. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her filver vifage in the watry glass,

Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grafs,
5(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 lye, Emptying our bofoms of their counsels swell'd; 10 There my Lysander and myself shall meet : And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes, To feek new friends and ftrange companions. Farewel, fweet playfellow: pray thou for us, And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius !15 Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our fight From lovers' food, 'till morrow deep midnight. [Exit Herm. Lyf. I will, my Hermia.-Helena, adieu : 20 As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!

[Exit Lyf.

Hel. How happy some, o'er other some, can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as the.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
25 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 bafe and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can tranfpose to form and dignity.
30 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 judgement taste;
Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste :
And therefore is Love faid to be a child,
35 Because in choice he is fo oft beguil'd.
As waggish boys themselves in game forfwear,
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 fome heat from Hermia felt,
So he diffolv'd, and fhowers 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

Her. God fpeed, fair Helena! Whither away?
Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unfay.
Demetrius loves your fair1: O happy fair! [air]
Your eyes are lode-ftars 2; and your tongue's sweet
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when haw-thorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching; O, were favour 3 fo!
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's fweet melody 40
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The reft I'll give to be to you translated 4.
O, teach me how you look; and with what art
You fway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me ftill.
Hel. Oh, that your frowns would teach my
fmiles fuch skill!

Her. I give him curfes, yet he gives me love.
Hel. Oh, that my prayers could fuch 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.
Hel. None, but your beauty; 'Would that fault
were mine!

45 If I have thanks, it is a dear expence;
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his fight thither, and back again. [Exit.

50

[face; 55 Her. Take comfort; he no more fhall fee my Lyfander and myself will fly this place.'Before the time I did Lyfander see, Seem'd Athens as a paradife to me: O then, what graces in my love do dwell,

That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!

Enter Quince the carpenter, Snug the joiner, Bottoms the weaver, Flute the bellows-mender, Snout the tinker, and Starveling the taylor.

Quin. Is all our company here? Bot. You were beft to call them generally, man by man, according to the fcrip 6.

Quin. Here is the fcrowl of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play 60 in our interlude before the duke and dutchefs, on This wedding-day at night.

That is, your beauty, or your complexion. 2 The lode-ftar is the leading or guiding-star, that is, the pole-ftar. 3 Favour here means feature, countenance. 4 To tranflate here implies to change, to transform. ie. in fport, in jeft. 6 i. e. the writing, or paper.

N

Star. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.-Tom Snout, the tinker.

Snou. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You, Pyramus's father; myself, Thisby's father;-Snug the joiner, you, the lion's part :and, I hope, there is a play fitted.

Snug. Have you the lion's part written? Pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am flow 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 fay, Let him rear

Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are fet down for 15 again, let him roar again. Pyramus.

Bot. What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant? Quin. A lover, that kills hunself most gallantly for love.

Bot. That will afk fome tears in the true per-20 forming of it: If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move ftorms, I will condole in fome measure. To the reft:-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 fhocks,
"Shall break the locks

"Of prison-gates:
"And Phibbus' car
"Shall fhine from far,
"And make and mar

"The foolish fates."

25

Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the dutchess and the ladies, that they would fhriek; and that were enough to hang us all. All. That would hang us every mother's fon.

Bot. I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more difcretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice fo, that I will roar you as gently as any fucking-dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.

Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus: for Pyr mus is a fweet-fac'd man; a proper man, as one fhall fee in a summer's day; a most lovely, gentleman-like man; therefore you must needs 30 play Pyramus.

This was lofty!-Now name the rest of the play-35
ers. 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 Thifby? a wandering knight? Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love. Flu. Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; have a beard coming.

I

Bot. Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I beft to play it in?

Quin. Why, what you will.

Bot. I will difcharge it in either your straw-coloured beard, your orange-tawney beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colour beard 2, your perfect yellow.

Quin. Some of your French-crowns 3 have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-fac'd.40 But, mafters, here are your parts: aud I am to entreat you, request you, and defire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse; for if we meet in

Quin. That's all one; you fhall play it in a mask, 45 the city, we fhall be dog'd with company, an and you may speak as small as you will.

Bot. An I may hide my face, let me play Thifby too: I'll fpeak in a monstrous little voice ;"Thifne, Thifne,-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 taylor.

our devices known. In the mean time, I will draw a bill of properties 4, fuch as our play wants. pray you, fail me not.

Bot. We will meet; and there we may rehearse 50 more obfcenely, and courageously. Take pains; be perfect; adieu.

Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.

Bot. Enough; Hold, or cut bow-strings 5.
[Exeunt.

To fiudy a part, in the language of the theatre, is to get it by rote. 2 This alludes to the custom of wearing coloured beards. 3 See note 2, p. 77. See note 5, p. 68. 5 Dr. Warburton fays, this proverbial phrafe came originally from the camp. When a rendezvous was appointed, the militia foldiers would frequently make excufe for not keeping word, that their bozuftrings were broke, i. e. their arms unferviceable. Hence when one would give another abfolute affurance of meeting him, he would fay proverbially-Hold or cut bow-firings-i. e. whether the bow-string held or broke."

ACT

ACT

5

II.

Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And fometime lurk I in a goffip's bowl,
In very likenefs of a roafted crab;

And, when he drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale.
The wifeft aunt ", telling the faddeft tale,
Sometime for three-foot ftool mistaketh me;
Then flip I from her bum, down topples she,
And taylor cries, and falls into a cough:

10 And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe,
And waxen 10 in their mirth, and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wafted there.-

20

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moones fphere;
And I ferve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowflips tall her penfioners be;
In their gold coats spots you fee;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In thofe freckles live their favours:
I must go seek fome dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowflip's ear.
Farewel, thou lob 2 of fpirits, 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 fight.
For Oberon is paffing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, ftolen from an Indian king;
She never had fo fweet a changeling :
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild:
But the, per-force, with-holds the loved boy, [joy:
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled ftar-light sheen 3,
But they do fquare 4; that all their elves, for fear, 35
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there. [quite,

Fai. Either I mistake your fhape and making
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,
Call'd Robin Good-fellow: Are you not he,
That frights the maidens of the villag'ry;
Skim milk; and fometimes labour in the quern 5,
And bootless make the breathlefs hufwife churn;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm6;
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Thofe that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck 7,
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 horfe beguile,

Enter Oberon, king of Fairies, at one door with his
train, and the queen at another with ber's.
Ob. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Queen. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence;
I have forfworn his bed and company.

Ob. Tarry, rafh wanton; Am not I thy lord?
Queen. Then I must be thy lady: But I know
25 When thou haft ftol'n away from fairy land,
And in the fhape of Corin fat all day,
Playing on pipes of corn, and verfing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the fartheft fteep of India?
30 But that, forfooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your bufkin'd miftrefs, and your warrior love,
To Thefeus must be wedded; and you come
To give their bed joy and profperity.

[night

Ob. How can't thou thus, for fhame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolita,
Knowing I know thy love to Thefeus?
Didft thou not lead him through the glimmering
From Perigune, whom he ravish'd?
And make him with fair Ægle break his faith,
40 With Ariadne, and Antiopa?

45

:|

Queen. Thefe are the forgeries of jealoufy:
And never, fince the middle fummer's spring 11,
Met we on hill, in dale, foreft, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rufhy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the fea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou haft disturb'd our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have fuck'd up from the fea
50 Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,
Have every pelting 12 river made fo proud,

I This alludes to the circles fuppofed to be made by the fairies on the ground, whofe verdure proceeds from the fairy's care to water them. 2 Lob, lubber, looby, lobcock, all imply both indolence of body and dulnefs of mind. 3 i. e. shining. 4 Tu fquare here fignifies to quarrel. 5 A quern is a handmill. 6 Barm is a name for yeast, ftill used in our midland counties. 7 Puck is faid to have been an old Gothick word, fignifying fiend or devil. In Staffordshire the epithet of aunt is ftill applied indifcriminately to old women, and is there pronounced naunt. 9 This may perhaps allude to a custom of crying taylor at a sudden fall backwards, as a person who flips befide his chair falls as a taylor fquats upon his board. 10 i. e. encrease. 11 By the middle summer's spring, our author feems to mean the beginning of middle or mid fummer. 12 i. e. defpicable, mean..

N 2

That