I beg the law, the law, upon his head.- JSCENE II. Athens. A room in Quince's House. They would have stol'n away, they would, De-Enter QUINCE, SNOUT, FLUTE, and STARVELING metrius, Thereby to have defeated you and me: 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; But, my good lord, I wot not by what power The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: [Exeunt THE. HIP. EGE. and train. Dem. These things seem small and undistinguishable. Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. Hel. And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, Mine own, and not mine own. Dem. Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me, Hel. And Hippolyta. And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. As they go out, BOTTOM awakes. Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet? [he is transported. Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, 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 handicraft 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 six-pence a-day during his life; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a-day: an the duke had not given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hang'd; he would have deserved it: sixpence a-day, in Pyramus, or nothing. Enter BOTTOM. Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts? [most happy hour! Quin. Bottom!-0 most courageous day! O Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. will tell you every thing, right as it fell out. 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. Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of. [believe The. More strange than true. I never may Such tricks hath strong imagination; Hip. But all the story of the night told over, Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA. The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth. Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love Wait on your royal walks, your board, your bed! The. Come now; what masks, what dances shall we have, To wear away this long age of three hours, Philost. Here, mighty Thesens. The. Say, what abridgment have you for this evening? What mask? what musick? How shall we beguile The lazy time, if not with some delight? Philost. There is a brief, how many sports are! ripe; Make choice of which your highness will see The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, Which is as brief as I have known a play; The. What are they that do play it? in Which never labour'd in their minds till now; For never any thing can be amiss, The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake: Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. I read as much, as from the rattling tongue Philost. So please your grace, the prologue is addrest. The. Let him approach. [Flourish of trumpets. Enter 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 shew 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, 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 recorder; a sound, but not in government. The. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show. Prol. "Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show; [plain, "But wonder on, till truth make all things "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; [content "And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are "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 moon-shine did these lovers think no scorn "To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. "This grissly beast, which by name lion hight, "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: "Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall, "And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain: Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear without warning. "Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful The. Now is the mural down between the two blade [breast; neighbours. "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody And, Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade, "His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, "Let lion, moon-shine, wall, and lovers twain, "At large discourse, while here they do remain." [Exeunt Prol. THISBE, Lion, and Moonshine.-amend them. 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 befall, "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, Hip. This is the silliest stuff thatever I heard. and the worst are no worse, if imagination Hip. It must be your imagination then, and 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 moon and a lion. Enter Lion and Moonshine. Lion. "You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts "The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps May now, perchance, both quake and tremble "Did whisper often very secretly. [show "This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone doth "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 whis-Then know, that I, one Snug the joiner, am per." The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence! Pyr. "O grim-look'd night! O night with hue "O night, which ever art, when day is not! "O night, Ó night, alack, alack, alack, "I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!- "Thou wall, O wall, O sweet, and lovely wall, "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. No lion fell, nor else no lion's dam: "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. [e'er I saw. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. The. True; and a goose for his discretion. 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 is well: leave it to his discretion, and let us his valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It listen to the moon. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon [head. present:" Dem. He should have worn the horns on his The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the circumference. "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 now, 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: "Thystoneswith lime and hairknit up in thee." Par. "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 "And like Limander am I trusty still." [grace; 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." [all." This. "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at 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 "And, being done, thus wall away doth go." [Exeunt Wail, PYRAMUS, and THISDE. 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: it else the man i' the moon? the man should be put into the lantern: How is for, you see, it is already in snuff. Hip. I am a weary 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. that the lantern is the moon; I, the man in the Moon. All that I have to say, is, to tell you, moon: this thorn bush, my thorn bush; and this dog, my dog. Dem. Why, all these should be in the lantern: for they are in the moon. But silence; here comes Thisbe. Enter THISBE. This. "This is old Ninny's tomb: Where is Dem. Well roared, lion. Hip. Well shone, moon.-Truly, the moon shines with a good grace. The. Well moused, lion. [The Lion tears Thisbe's Mantle and exit. Dem. And so comes Pyramus. |