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 flew'd,” so fanded;} and their heads are hung

Again, in Humour out of Breath, a comedy, by John Day, 1608 :

- I take great pride “ To hear soft musick, and thy shrill voice chide." Again, in the 22d chapter of Drayton's Polyolbion :

drums and trumpets chide." - STEEVENS. 7 The skies, the fountains,] Instead of fountains, Mr. Heath would read_mountains. The change had been proposed to Mr. Theobald, who has well supported the old reading, by observing that Virgil and other poets have made rivers, lakes, &c. responsive to found :

Tum vero exoritur clamor, ripæque lacusque
Responsant circa, et cælum tonat omne tumultu.”

MALONE. 3 Seem'd all one mutual cry:] The old copies concur in reading --Seem; but, as Hippolyta is speaking of time paft, I have adopted Mr. Rowe's correction. STEEVENS.

9 My hounds are bred, &c.] This paffage has been imitated by Lee in his Theodosius :

“ Then through the woods we chac'd the foaming boar,
“ With hounds that open'd like Theffalian bulls;
“ Like tygers flew'd, and fanded as the shore,
" With ears and chests that dalh'd the morning dew."

MALONE. * So flew'd,] Sir T. Hanmer justly remarks, that flews are the large chaps of a deep-mouth'd hound. Arthur Golding uses this word in his translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, finished 1567, a book with which Shakspeare appears to have been well acquainted. The poet is describing Actæon's hounds, B. III. p. 34. b. 1575. Two of them, like our author's, were of Spartan kind; bred from a Spartan bitch and a Cretan dog :

“ — with other twaine, that had a syre of Crete,
“ And dam of Sparta : tone of them called Jollyboy, a

great “And large-flew'd hound.” Shakspeare mentions Cretan hounds (with Spartan) afterwards in this speech of Theseus. And Ovid's translator, Golding, in

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 tuncable
Was never hollard 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, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena :
I wonder of their being here together.

Tue. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe
The rite of May;' and, hearing our intent,

the same description, has them both in one verse, ibid. p. 34. a. “ This latter was a hounde of Crete, the other was of Spart."

T. WARTON, 2 So fanded;] So marked with small spots. Johnson.

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

3 With ears that sweep away the morning dew;) So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613 :

the fierce Thesalian hounds,
“ With their flag ears, ready to sweep the dew

“ From their moist breasts." Steevens.
+ I wonder of —] The modern editors read-I wonder at, &c.
But changes of this kind ought, I conceive, to be made with great
caution; for the writings of our author's contemporaries furnish us
with abundant proofs that many modes of speech, which now seem
harsh to our ears, were justified by the phraseology of former times.
In All's well that ends well, we have :

thou dilik'ft
Of virtue, for the name.” MALONE.

they rose up early, to observe
The rite of May ;] The rite of this month was once so univer-
sally observed, that even authors thought their works would obtain
a more favourable reception, if publithed on May-Day. The fol.
lowing is a title-page to a metrical performance by a once cele.
brated poet, Thomas Churchyard.

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.

Horns, and shout within. DEMETRIUS, LYSANDER,

Hermia, and Helena, wake and start up. The. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine

is paft;" Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? Lrs. Pardon, my lord.

[He and the rest kneel to Theseus. 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 sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?

Lys. 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 Was, to be gone from Athens, where we might be Without the peril of the Athenian law.

“ Come bring in Maye with me,

“ My Maye is fresh and greene;
“ A subiectes harte, an humble mind,

“ To serue a mayden Queene." “ A discourse of Rebellion, drawne forth for to wame the wanton wittes how to kepe their heads on their shoulders.”

“ Imprinted at London, in Fletest reat by William Griffith, Anno Domini 1570. The first of Maye.” SteeveNS.

-Saint Valentine is paft;] Alluding to the old saying, that birds begin to couple on St. Valentine's day. STEVENS.

Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have

enough:
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.-
They would have stol'n away,they would,Demetrius,
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;
And I in fury hither follow'd them ;
Fair Helena in fancy following me.”
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
(But by some power it is,) my love to Hermia,
Melted as doth the snow,? seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd,
Which in my childhood I did dote upon :
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,

6 Fair Helena in fancy following me.] Fancy is here taken for love or affection, and is opposed to fury, as before :

“Sighs and tears, poor Fancy's followers." Some now call that which a man takes particular delight in, his fancy. Flower-fancier, for a florist, and bird-fancier, for a lover and feeder of bírds, are colloquial words. Johnson. So, in Barnaby Googe's Cupido Conquered, 1563 :

• The chyefe of them was Ismenis,

" Whom best Diana lov’d,
“ And next in place fat Hyale

• Whoin Fancye never mov'd."
Again, in Hymen's Triumph, a Masque by Daniel, 1623 :

“ With all perfuafions fought to win her mind

“ To fancy him." Again :

• Do not enforce me to accept a man

“ I cannot fancy,” STEVENS. 7

doth the snow,] The word doth which seems to have been inadvertently omitted, was fupplied by Mr. Capell. The emendation here made is confirmed by a paffage in K. Henry V:

as doth the melted snow
Upon the vallies.” Malone.
idle gawd,] See note on this word, p. 7. STERVENS.

an

'The object, and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia : 9
But, like in sickness, did I loath this food:
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it,
And will for evermore be true to it.

The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this difcourse we more will hear anon.-
Egeus, I will overbear your will;
For in the temple, by and by with us,
These couples Thall eternally be knit.
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purpos’d hunting shall be set aside.-
Away, with us, to Athens : Three and three,
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.-
Come, Hippolyta.

[Exeunt Theseus, HIPPOLYTA, Egeus and train. Dem. These things seem small, and undistin

guishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. Her. Methinks, I see these things with parted

eye, When every thing seems double. Hel.

So methinks : And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, Mine own, and not mine own.

-ere I saw Hermia :) The old copies read—ere I fee-.

STEEVENS. like in fickness,] So, in the next line" as in health." The old copies erroneously read—“ like a sickness.” I owe the present correction to Dr. Farmer. Steevens.

3 Come, Hippolyta.] I suppose, for the sake of measure, we should read—" Come my Hippolyta.” STEEVENS. 4 And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,

Mine own, and not mine own.] Hermia had cbserved that things appeared double to her. Helena replies, fo muthinks; and