As due to love, as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,|| Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold: Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers.

Lys. A good persuasion; therefore, hear me,
Hermia.

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and she hath no child :
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us: if thou lov'st me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And, in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do observance to a morn of May,
There will I stay for thee.

Her. My good Lysander!

I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow;
By his best arrow with the golden head;
By the simplicity of Venus' doves;

By that which knitteth souls, and prospers loves;
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the false Trojan under sail was seen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke ;-
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee. [Helena.
Lys. Keep promise, love: Look, here comes
Enter Helena.

To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watry glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,

5 (A time that lover's flights doth still conceal)
Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal."

Her. And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lye,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsels sweil'd;
10 There my Lysander and myself shall meet:
And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes,
To seek new friends and strange companions.
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us,
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius !—
15 Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lovers food, 'till morrow deep midnight.
[Exit Herm.
Lys. I will, my Hermia.-Helena, adieu :
As you on him, Demetrius doat on you!

20

[Exit Lys.
Hel. How happy some, o'er other some, can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know.
25 And as he errs, doating on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste;
Wings, and no eyes, figure unbeedy haste:
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd.
As waggish boys themselves in game forswear,
So the boy Love is perjur'd every where:
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hair'd down oaths, that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from iiermia telt,
40 So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night,
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expence;

Her. God speed, fair Helena! Whither away: 30
Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair1: O happy fair! [air]
Your eyes are lode-stars'; and your tongue's sweet
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, [pear.
When wheat is green, when haw-thorn buds ap-35
Sickness is catching: O, were favour 3 so!
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
Mytongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody
Were the World mine, Demetrius being bated,
The rest I'll give to be to you translated “.
O, teach me how you look and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

Hel. Oh, that your frowns would teach my 45 But herein mean I to enrich my pain,

smiles such skill!

3

2

1601

To have his sight thither, and back again. [Exit.

4

'That is, your beauty, or your complexion. The lode-star is the leading or guiding-star, that is, the pole-star. Favour, here means feature, countenance. To translate, here implies to change, to transform. i; e. in sport, in jest. i. e. the writing, or paper, N

Bot.

Bot. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and so grow to a point.

Quin. Marry our play is-the most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.

Bot. A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.-Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scrowl: Masters, spread yourselves.

Quin. Answer, as I call you.-Nick Bottom the

51

10

Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for 15 Pyramus.

Bot. What is Pyramus? a lover or a tyrant? Quin. A lover, that kills himself most gallantly for love.

Star. Here, Peter Quince. Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.-Tom Snout, the tinker.

Snout. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You, Pyramus's father; myself, Thisby's father;-Snug the joiner, you, the lion's part:and, I hope, there is a play fitted.

Snug. Have you the lion's part written? Pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing 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, youwould fright the dutchess 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 that 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 25twere any nightingale.

Bot. That will ask some tears in the true per-20 forming of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest:-Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.

"The raging rocks,
"And shivering shocks,
"Shall break the locks

"Of prison-gates:

"And Phibbus' car
"Shall shine from far,
"And make and mar

"The foolish fates."

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 you must needs 30 play Pyramus.

This was lofty-now name the rest of the play-35
ers.-This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover
is more condoling.

Quin. Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
Flu. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You must take Thisby on you.
Flu. What is Thisby a wandering knight?
Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
Flu. Nay, faith, let me not play a woman;
have a beard coming.

Quin. That's all one; you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will.

I

Bot. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice;"Thisne, Thisne,-Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; "Thy Thisby dear! and lady dear!"

Quin. No, no, you must play Pyramus, and

Flute, you Thisby.

Bot. Well, proceed.

Quin. Robin Starveling the taylor.

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-co toured beard, your orange tawney beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crowncolour beard', your perfect yellow.

Quin. Some of your French-crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-fac'd.40 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 meet in the city, we shall be dog'd with company, 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.

45

50

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

Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.

Bot. Enough; Hold, or cut bow-strings".

[Exeunt.

To study a part, in the language of the theatre, is to get it by rote. 2 This alludes to the custom of wearing coloured beards. See note 2, p. 77. 4 See note", p. 68. Dr. Warburton says, this proverbial phrase came originally from the camp. When a rendezvous was appointed, the militia foldiers would frequently make excuse for not keeping word, that their bowstrings were broke, i. e. their arms unserviceable. Hence when one would give another absolute assurance of meeting him, he would say proverbially-Hold or cut bow-strings-i. e, whether the bow-string held or broke."

Over hill, over dale,

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

II.

Neighing in likeness of a silly foal:
And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
5 And on her wither'd dew-lap 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 taylor cries, and falls into a cough:

16 And then the whole quire hold their hips and loffe, And waxen 10 in their mirth, and neeze and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there.

15

20

But room, Faery, here comes Oberon.

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

SCENE II.

Enter Oberon, king of Fairies, at one door with bis train, and the queen at another, with her's.

Ob. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Queen. What, jealous Oberon? fairy, skip hence;
I have forsworn his bed and company.

Ob. Tarry, rash wanton; Am not I thy lord?
Queen. Then I must be thy lady: But I know
25 When thou hast stolen away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day,
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the farthest steep of India?
30 But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskin'd mistress, and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded; and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moones sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs1 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 dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in ev'ry cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits, I'll be gone;
Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
Puck. The king doth keep his revels here to-night;
Take heed, the queen come not within his sight.
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, per-force, withholds the loved boy, [joy:
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled star-light sheen',
But they do square; that all their elves for fear,
Creep into acorn cups,and hide them there. [quite,
Fai. Either I mistake your shape and making
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,
Call'd Robin Good-fellow: are you not he,
That frights the maidens of the villag'ry;
Skim milk; and sometimes labour in the quern",
And bootless make the breathless huswife churn;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm';
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck', 45
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are not you he?

Puck. Thou speak'st aright;

I am that merry wanderer of the night.
1 jest to Oberon, and make him sinile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,

2

35

ob. How can'st thou thus, for shame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolita,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus; [night
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering
From Perigune, whom he ravish'd?

And make him with fair Ægle break his faith, 40 With Ariadne and Antiopa?

Queen. These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never since the middle summer's spring",
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
50 Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,
Have every pelting 12 river made so proud,

'This alludes to the circles supposed to be made by the fairies on the ground, whose verdure pro
ceeds from the fairy's care to water them. Lob, lubber, looby, lobcock, all imply both indolence of
body and dulness of mind. i. e. shining. To square here signifies, to quarrel. A quern is a hand-
mill. Barm is a name for yeast, still used in our midland counties. Puck is said to bave been an
old Gothick word, signifying fiend or devil. In Staffordshire the epithet of aunt is still applied indis-
criminately to old women, and is there pronounced naunt. This may perhaps allude to a custom of
crying taylor at a sudden fall backwards, as a person who slips beside his chair falls as a taylor squats
upon his board.
10 i. e. encrease. By the middle summer's spring, our author seems to mean the
beginning of middle or mid summer. i. e. despicable, mean.

11

N 2

9

That

That they have overborne their continents'.
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn
Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard:
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain stock:
The nine-men's morris is till'd up with mud;
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread, are undistinguishable.
The human mortals want their winter here,
No night is now with hymn, or carol blest :—
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air.
That rheumatic diseases do abound':
And, thorough this distemperature, we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And on old Hyem's chin, and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds

Ob. That very time I saw, (but thou could'st not)
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
10 Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west;
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
15 Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watry moon;
And the imperial votress passed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

Yet, mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:

It fell upon a little western flower,-[wound,

Is, as in mockery, set: The spring, the summer, 20 Before, milk-white; now purple with love's

The childing autum, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the 'mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissention;
We are their parents and original.

Ob. Do you amend it then; it lies in you:
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman '.

Queen. Set your heart at rest,
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side;
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embark'd traders on the flood:
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
(Following her womb then rich with my young
Would imitate; and sail upon the land, ['squire)
To fetch me trifles and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And, for her sake, I do rear up her boy;
And, for her sake, I will not part with him.
Ob. How long within this wood intend you

stay?

[day.

And maidens call it, love in idleness".

[once;

Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly doat

25 Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again,
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

30

35 On meddling monkey, or on busy ape)
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
(As I can take it with another herb)
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible?
And I will over-hear their conference.

40

Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
45 The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.
Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood,
And here am I, and wood 10 within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel: Leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.

Queen. Perchance, till after Theseus' wedding-50
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
Ob. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy fairy kingdom-Fairies,away:55
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.

Dem. Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you-I do not, nor I cannot love you?

Hel. And even for that do I love you the more;
am your spaniel; and Demetrius,

[Exeunt Queen and her train. Ob. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this 'Till I torment thee for this injury.-- [grove, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you; My gentle Puck, come hither: Thou remember'st 60 Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,

2

1 Meaning their banks. Nine men's morris is a game still played by the shepherds, cow-keepers, &c. in the midland counties. The confusion of seasons here described, is no more than a poetical account of the weather, which happened in England about the time when this play was first published. That is perturbation. That is, the pregnant. That is, produce. Page of honour. This was intended as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth. i. e. heart's-ease. 10 Wood, here means mad, wild, raving. In this sense it was formerly spelled wode.

6

7

[10]

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go: 30 Or, if thou follow me, do not believe

But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,

You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!

Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We shou'd be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell.
To die upon the hand I love so well. [Exeunt.
Ob. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave 40

451

155

A roundel is a dance in a ring.
The ounce is a small tyger, or tyger-cat.