SCENE III.

Another part of the wood. Enter TITANIA, with her Train.
Tita. Come, now a roundel," and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence ;*
Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds ;
Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,9
To make my small elves coats; and some, keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint spirits: Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.

SONG.

1.

1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,'
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;

Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen:

Chorus. Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm, nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

II.

2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here ;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near ;
Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

Chorus. Philomel, with melody, &c.

[7] A roundel is a dance in a ring. GRAY.

Dr. Warburton reads for the third part of the midnight.-But the persons employed are fairies, to whom the third part of a minute might not be a very short time to do such work in. The critic might as well have objected to the epithet tall, which the fairy bestows on the conslip. But Shakes, eare, through the play, bas preserved the proportion of other things in respect of these tiny beings, compared with whose size, a cowslip might be tall, and to whose powers of execution, a minute might be equivalent to an age. STEEVENS.

[9] A rere-mouse is a bat, a mouse that raises itself from the ground by the aid of wings. STEEVENS.

[1] By both these terms, I suppose, our author means-forked; as the tongues of snakes are sometimes represented in ancient tapestry and paintings, and, it may be added, are so in nature. STEEVENS.

[2] The sent is the eft, the blind-worm is the Cacilia or slow-worm. They are Both ingredients in the cauldron of Macbeth. See Macbeth Act IV. sc. i.

STEEVENS.

1 Fai. Hence, away; now all is well:

One, aloof, stand centinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps.

Enter OBERON.

Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost awake,

[Squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eye-lids.

Do it for thy true love take;

Love, and languish for his sake:

Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

In thy eye that shall appear

When thou wak'st, it is thy dear;
Wake, when some vile thing is near.

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.

[Exit.

Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood: And to speak troth, I have forgot our way; We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day.

Her. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.

Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence ;
Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.3
T mean, that my heart unto yours is knit ;
So that but one heart can we make of it:
Two bosoms interchained with an oath ;
So then, two bosoms, and a single troth.
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny.
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Her. Lysander riddles very prettily:

Now much beshrew my manners, and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say, Lysander lied.

JOHNSON.

[2] The ounce is a small tiger, or tiger-cat. [3] The idea is exactly similar to that of St. Paul: "Love thinketh no evil." HENLEY.

[4] This word, of which the etymology is not exactly known, implies a sinister wish, and means the same as if she had said "now ill befall my manners," &c. STEEVENS.

See Minsheu's etymology of it, which seems to be an imprecation or wish of such evil to one, as the venomous biting of the shrew-mouse. TOLLET.

But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy,
Lie further off; in human modesty
Such separation, as, may well be said,

Becomes a virtuous bachelor, and a maid:
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend :
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end!
Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;
And then end life, when I end loyalty!

Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest!

Her. With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd [They sleep

Enter PUCK.

Puck. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none,

On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid;
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.

Pretty soul! she durst not lie

Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy.

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

All the power this charm doth owe :
When thou wak'st, let love forbid,
Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.
So wake, when I am gone ;
For I must now to Oberon.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running.

Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.

[Exit.

Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus. Hel. O, wilt thou darkling leave me ? do not so.

Dem. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go.

Hel. O, I am out of breath in this fond chace!
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.

How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
If so, my eyes are oft'ner wash'd than hers.
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

For beasts, that meet me, run away for fear:

{Exit.

3

Vol. III.

B 2

Therefore, no marvel, though Demetrius
Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?
-But who is here ?-Lysander! on the ground!
I ead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound :-
Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.

Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet sake.
[Waking

Transparent Helena! Nature here shows art,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word

'Is that vile name, to perish on my sword!

Hel. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so:

What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena now I love :
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says, you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season:
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will."
And leads me to your eyes; where I o'erlook
Love's stories, written in love's richest book.

Hel. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
When, at your hands, did I deserve this scorn?

Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can,

Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?

Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,
In such disdainful manner me to woo.

But fare you well: perforce I must confess,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness."
O, that a lady, of one man refus'd,

Should, of another, therefore be abus'd!

[Exit.

Lys. She sees not Hermia :-Hermia, sleep thou there

[5] That is, My will now follows reason.

JOHNSON.

[6] Gentleness is equivaleo' what, in modern language, we should call the spirit of a gentisman. PERC

And never may'st thou come Lysander near;
For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings;
Or, as the heresies, that men do leave,
Are hated most of those they did deceive;
So thou, my surfeit, and my heresy,

Of all be hated; but the most of me!

And all my powers, address your love and might,
To honour Helen, and to be her knight!

Her. [starting.] Help me, Lysander, help me
best,

To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ah me, for pity!- -what a dream was here?
Lysander, look, how I do quake with fear:
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey :-
Lysander! what, remov'd? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves; I swoon almost with fear.
No?-then I well perceive you are not nigh:
Either death, or you, I'll find immediately.

[Exit. do thy

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-The same. The Queen of Fairies lying asleep. Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING."

ARE we all met?

Bottom.

Quin. Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal: This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn brake our tyring-house; and we will do it in action, as we will do it before the duke.

Bot. Peter Quince,—

Quin. What say'st thou, bully Bottom?

[7] In the time of Shakespeare there were many companies of players, sometimes five at the same time, contending for the favour of the public. Of these some were undoubtedly very unskilful and very poor, and it is probable that the design of this scene was to ridicule their ignorance, and the odd expedients to which they might be driven by the want of proper decorations. Bottom was perhps the head of a rival house, and is therefore honoured with an ass's head.

JOHNSON.