You thief of love! what, have you come by night, And ftol'n my love's heart from him?

Hel. Fine, i'faith!

Have you no modefty, no maiden fhame,
No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
Her. Puppet! why fo? Ay, that way goes the game.
Now, I perceive, that the hath made compare
Between our ftatures; the hath urg'd her height;
And with her perfonage, her tall perfonage,
Her height, forfooth, the hath prevail'd with him.—
And are you grown fo high in his esteem,
Because I am fo dwarfish, and fo low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? fpeak;
How low am I? I am not yet fo 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 curft;

I have no gift at all in fhrewishness;

I am a right maid, for my cowardice :

Let her not ftrike me. You, perhaps, may think,
Because fhe's fomething lower than myself,
That I can match her.

Her. Lower! hark, again.

Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I ever more did love you, Hermia,

Did ever keep your counfels, never wrong'd you;
Save that, in love unto Demetrius,

I told him of your ftealth unto this wood:

He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him.

But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me

"I had rather be a canker in a hedge

"Than a rofe in his grace."

but a worm that preys on the leaves or buds of flowers, always beginning in the middle. So in the famous paffage,

like a worm i' th' bud,

"Feed on her damask cheek." STEEVENS.

Το

To strike me, fpurn 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 fee how fimple and how fond I am. 5

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

Hel. A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.
Her. What, with Lyfander?

Hel. With Demetrius.

Lyf. Be not afraid; fhe fhall not harm thee, Helena.
Dem. No, fir; fhe fhall not, though you take her

part.

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

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

Lyf. Get you gone, you dwarf,

You Minimus, of hind'ring knot-grafs made, 7

5

6

You

." bow fond I am.] Fond, i. e. foolish; often us'd in that fenfe by our author: - Merchant of Venice, act ii. fc. 4.

"I do wonder

"Thou naughty goaler that thou art fo fond
"To come abroad with him."

STEEVENS,

'You Minimus,-] Shakespeare might have given it,

You Minim, you,

i. e. You Diminutive of the Creation, you Reptile, as in Milton, THEOBALD.

of bindring knot-grafs made.] It appears that knotgrafs was anciently fuppofed to prevent the growth of any animal

or child.

Beaumont and Fletcher mention this property of it in The Knight of the Burning Pestle :

"Should they put him into a ftrait pair of gafkins, 'twere "worse than knot-grafs, he would never grow after it."

Again in The Coxcomb:

You bead, you acorn.

Dem. You are too officious,

In her behalf that fcorns your fervices,
Let her alone; fpeak not of Helena,
Take not her part: for if thou doft intend
Never fo little fhew of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it,

Lyf. Now fhe holds me not;

Now follow, if thou dar'ft; to try whose right,
Or thine, or mine, is moft in Helena,

jowl.

Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by [Exit Lyfander and Demetrius, Her. You, miftrefs, all this coyl is long of you: Nay, go not back.

Hel. I will not trust you, I;

Nor longer stay in your curft company,

Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray;
My legs are longer, though, to run away.
Her. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say.
[Exeunt: Hermia purfuing Helena.
Ob. This is thy negligence: ftill thou mistak'st,
Or elfe commit'ft thy knaveries willingly.

Puck. Believe me, king of fhadows, I miftook.
Did not you tell me, I fhould know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?
And fo far blameless proves my enterprize,
ThatI have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes:

"We want a boy extremely for this function, kept under, for a year, with milk and knot-grafs." Daify-roots were fuppofed to have the fame effect. STEEVENS.

8 Thou shalt aby it.] To aby is to pay dear for, to fuffer. So in the Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601:

"Had I a fword and buckler here,

"You should aby thefe queftions."

The word has occur'd before in this play. STEEVENS, 9thy knaveries willingly.] The quarto in 1600 reads wil STEEVENS.

fully.

And

And fo far am I glad it did fo fort,

As this their jangling I efteem a fport.

Ob. Thou feeft, thefe lovers feek a place to fight;
Hie therefore, Robin, overcaft the night;
The ftarry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fogs, as black as Acheron;
And lead thefe tefty rivals fo aftray,
As one come not within another's way.
Like to Lysander, fometime, frame thy tongue,
Then ftir 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 fleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
Then crush this herb into Lyfander's eye,
Whofe liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with its might,
And make his eye-balls roll with wonted fight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall feem a dream, and fruitless vifion;
And back to Athens fhall the lovers wend
With league, whofe date 'till death fhall never end.
Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,

I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release

From monsters view, and all things fhall be peace.
Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with hafte;
For night's fwift dragons cut the clouds full faft,
And yonder fhines Aurora's harbinger;

At whofe approach ghofts wandering here and there
Troop home to church-yard; damned spirits all, '
That in cross-ways and floods have burial,

2

Already

fo fort.] So happen in the iffue. JOHNSON. virtuous property.] Salutiferous. So he calls, in the Tempeft, poisonous dew, wicked dew. JOHNSON.

3 -damned fpirits all,

That in cross-ways and floods have burial.]

ie. The ghosts of felf-murderers, who are buried in cross-roads;

F 4

and

Already to their wormy beds are gone;
For fear left day fhould look their shames upon,
They wilfully exile themfelves from light,
And muft for aye confort with black-brow'd

night.

Ob. But we are spirits of another fort; I with the morning's love have oft made sport; * And, like a forefter, the groves may tread, Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red, Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, Turns into yellow gold his falt-green streams. But, notwithstanding, hafte; make no delay: We may effect this bufinefs yet ere day. [Exit Ob. Puck. Up and down, up and down:

I will lead them up and down:

I am fear'd in field in town;

Goblin, lead them up and down,
Here comes one,

Enter Lyfander.

Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak

thou now.

Puck. Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where

art thou?

Lyf. I will be with thee ftraight.

Puck. Follow me then

To plainer ground.

[Lyf. goes out, as following Dem.

and of thofe who being drowned, were condemned (according to the opinion of the ancients) to wander for a hundred years, as the rites of fepulture had never been regularly bestowed on their bodies. STEEVENS.

4 I with the morning's love have oft made Sport.] Thus all the old copies, and I think, rightly. Tithonus was the husband of Aurora, and Tithonus was no yung Deity. How fuch a waggifh fpirit as the King of the Fairies might make sport with an antiquated lover may be easily understood. Dr. Johnfon reads with all the modern editors, "I with the morning light, &c."

STEEVENS.

Enter