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 Thisbe, 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 Thisbe's mantle slain :

Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; And Thisbe, 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, PYRAMUS, 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 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 crannied hole, or chink,

Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, Did whisper often very secretly.

This lime, this rough-cast, 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 Thisbe's promise is forgot.

And thou, O wall! O sweet, O lovely wall,

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 [Wall holds up his fingers.

eyne.

Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for

this!

But what see I No Thisbe do I see.

O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss;
Cursed 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 Thisbe'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 kissed thy stones, Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.' Pyr. 'I see a voice: now will I to the chink, To spy an I can hear my Thisbe's face.

Thisbe !'

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.'

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 neighbours.

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 moon 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 joiner am,
A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam:

For, if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, 't were 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. 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 moon.

Moon. This lantern doth the hornéd moon pre

sent.'

Dem. He should have worn the horns on his

head.