Oberon advances. 'Enter Puck.'
Ob. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this fweet?

sight?
Her dotage now I do begin to pity.
For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
Seeking sweet savours + for this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her, and fall out with her;

1
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers ;
And that same dew, which sometimes on the buds
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearl,
Stood now within the pretty flourer's 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 strait she gave me, and her fairy fent
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

What Shakespeare seems to mean, is this So the woodbine, i.e. the sweet boney-fuckle, doth gently entwift the barky fingers of the elm, and so does the female i vy enring the same fingers. It is not unfre quent in the Poets, as well as other writers, to explain one word by another which is better known. The reason why Shakespeare thought woodbine wanted explanation, perhaps is this. In some countries, by woodbine or woodbind would be generally understood the Ivy, which he had occasion to mention in the very next line. Steevens.

3. the female ivy.) Shakespeare calls it female ivy, be: cause it always requires some support, which is poetically called its husband. So Milton :

led the vine “ To wed her elm : she spous'd, about him twines! “ Her marriageable arms" “ Ulmo conjuncta marito." Catull.

“ Platanusque celebs " Evincet Ulmos. Hor. STEEVENS. 4,-fweet favours,] The first edition reads favours. STEEVENS.

From

From off the head of the Athenian swain ;
That he, awaking, when the ochers do,
May all to Athens back again repair ;
And think no more of this night's accidents,
But as the fierce vexacion of a dream.
But first, I will release the Fairy queen;

Be, as thou wast wone to be;
See, as thou waft wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's Aower

Hath fuch force and blessed power.
Now, my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen.

Queen. My Oberon! what visions have I seen! Mechouyht, I was enamour'd of an ass.

Ob. There lies your love. Queen. How came these things to pass ? Oh, how mine eyes doth loath this vilage now! Ob. Silence, a while. Robin, take off this

head. Titania, musick call; and flrike more dead Than common seep of all these five the sense. Queen. Musick, ho! mufick : such as charmeth Пеер.

Still mufick. Puck. When thou awak'lt, with thine own fool's

eyes peep. s Dian's bud, or Cupid's flower.] Thus all the editions. The ingenious Dr. Thirlby gave me the correction, which I have inserted in the text. THEOBALD.

• Titania, mufick call, and frike more dead

Than common fleep Of all theje fine the sense.] This most certainly is both corrupt in the text and pointing. My emendation needs no juftification. The five, that lay asleep on the stage were Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Boto tom. Dr. Thirlby likewise communicated this very tion. THEOBALD.

2

Ob.

correc

Ob, Sound, musick. Come, my queen, take hand

with me,

And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will co-morrow midnight folemnly
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair' pofterity ;
There shall these pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy king, attend, and mark;
I do hear the morning lark.

Ob. Then, my queen, in silence sad; .
Trip we after the night's shade:
We the globe can compass foon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord, and in our fight
Tell me how it came this night,
That I neeping here was found,
With these mortals, on the ground. (Exeunt.

[Wind borns within. Enter Thesius, Egeus, Hippolita, and all his train. The. Go, one of you, find out the forefter ;

? Dance in Duke Theseus house triumphantly,

And bless it to all fair pofierity ;] We should read,

10 al FAR pofterity. i. e. to the remotest pofterity. WARBURTON

8 Then, my queen, in filence sad;

Trip we after the nighi's shade.] Mr. Theobald says, wly fad ? Fairies are pleased to follow night. He will have it fade; and to, to mend the thime, spoils both the fenfe and grammar. But he mistakes the meaning of ad; it sige nifies only grave, sober ; and is opposed to their dances and revels, which were now ended at the singing of the morning lark,

-So Winter's Tale, act iv. Mv futber and the gentlemen are in SAD talk. For grave or serious. WARBURTON.

For

For now our observation is perform’d,'
And since we have the vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the musick of my hounds.
Uncouple in the western valley; go ;--
Dispatch, I say, and find the forelter.
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 cbiding. * For, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.

The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So 3 few'd, fo + sanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Theffalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable

1

2

. Our obfervation is perform’d.) The honours due to the morn. ing of May. I know not why Shakespear calls this play a MidJummer-Nighi's Dream, when he focarefully informs us that it happened on the night preceding May day. Johnson.

- bey bay'd the bear.] Thus all the old copies. I suppose we hould read, the boar. SteeVENS.

-fucb gallant chiding. ] Chiding in this instance means only Jeund. So in Hen. VIII.

“ As doth a rock against the chiding flood.”
So in Humour out of Breath, Com. by John Day, 1608.

“ I take great pride
“ To hear soft music, and thy shrill voice chide."

STEEVENS. 3 So flew'd.) i. e. fo mouihed. Flews are the large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound. HANMER.

• So Janded.) So marked with small spots. JOHNSON.

Sandy'd means of a fandy colour, which is one of the true de. notements of a blood-hound. STEEVENS. Vol. III.

G

Was

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 Lylander, this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena :
I wonder at their being here together.

Tbe. 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.

5

Horns, and shout within ; Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia

and Helena, wake and start up. The. Good-morrow, friends ; faint Valentine is

past; Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?

Lyf. Pardon, my lord. [They all kneel 10 Tbeseus.
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 jeep by hate, and fear no enmity ?

L.yf. My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
Half 'neep, 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

-fant Valentine is pafti] Alluding to the old saying, That birds begin to couple on St. Valentine's day. STEEVENS.