if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing 70 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 say, "Let him roar again, let him roar again.' Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the Duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all.

All. That would hang us, every mother's son. Bot. I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us; but I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an't were any nightingale.

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Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus;
for Pyramus is a sweet-fac'd man; a proper
man, as one shall see in a summer's day; a
most lovely gentleman-like man: therefore 90
you must needs play Pyramus.

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

Quin. Why, what you will.

Bot. I will discharge it in either your straw- 95 colour beard, your orange-tawny beard, your

purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-
colour beard, your perfect yellow.

Quin. Some of your French crowns have no

hair at all, and then you will play barefac'd. 100
But, masters, here are your parts; and I am to
entreat you, request you, and desire 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 105
meet in the city, we shall be dogg'd with com-
pany, and our devices known. In the mean-
time I will draw a bill of properties, such as
our play wants. I pray you, fail me not.

Bot. We will meet; and there we may rehearse 110 most obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect; adieu.

Quin. At the Duke's oak we meet.

Bot. Enough; hold or cut bow-strings.

Exeunt.

ACT SECOND

SCENE I

[A Wood near Athens.]

Enter a Fairy at one door and Robin Goodfellow at

another.

Robin. How now, spirit! whither wander you?
Fai. Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours.
I must go seek some dewdrops here

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone.

Our Queen and all her elves come here anon.

Robin. The King doth keep his revels here to-night; Take heed the Queen come not within his sight;

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10

15

20

For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she as her attendant hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king.
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she perforce withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her
joy;

And now they never meet in grove or green,

25

By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen, But they do square, that all their elves for fear 30 Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there. Fai. Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery, Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn,

35

And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, 40
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he?

Robin.

Thou speakest aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile

45

When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,

In very likeness of a roasted crab,

And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me.
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough;

50

And then the whole quire hold their hips and
laugh,

And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.

But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon.

55

Fai. And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!

Enter the King of Fairies [Oberon] at one door with his train; and the Queen [Titania] at another with hers.

Obe. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
Tita. What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence;
I have forsworn his bed and company.
Obe. Tarry, rash wanton! Am not I thy lord?
Tita. Then I must be thy lady; but I know
When thou hast stolen away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day,

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