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We, Hermia, like two artificial' gods,
Have with our neeld' created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song, both in one key;
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds,
Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted;
But yet a union in partition,

Two lovely berries moulded on one stem:
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,

Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
And will you rent our ancient love asunder,
To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it;
Though I alone do feel the injury.

Her. I am amazed at your passionate words:
I scorn you not; it seems that you scorn me.
Hel. Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
To follow me, and praise my eyes and face?
And made your other love, Demetrius,
(Who even but now did spurn me with his foot)
To call me goddess, nymph, divine, and rare,
Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander
Deny your love, so rich within his soul.
And tender me, forsooth, affection;
But by your setting on, by your consent?
What though I be not so in grace as you,
So hung upon with love, so fortunate;
But miserable most, to love unlov'd?
This you should pity, rather than despise.

Her. I understand not what you mean by this. Hel. Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks, Make mouths upon me when I turn my back; Wink at each other; hold the sweet jest up: This sport, well carry'd, shall be chronicled. If you have any pity, grace, or manners, You would not make me such an argument3. But, fare ye well; 'tis partly mine own fault; Which death, or absence, soon shall remedy. Lys. Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse; My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!

Hel. O excellent!

Her. Sweet, do not scorn her so.

1Or I will shake thee from me, like a serpent. Her. Why are you grown so rude? what change Sweet love? [is this, Lys. Thy love? out, tawny Tartar, out!

5 Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence! Her. Do you not jest?

Hel. Yes, 'sooth; and so do you.

Lys. Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee. Dem. I would I had your bond, for, I perceive, 10A weak bond holds you; I'll not trust your word. Lys. What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so. [dead?. Her. What, can you do me greater harm, than hate?

15 Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my

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love?

Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander?

I am as fair now, as I was erewhile.

[me:

Since night, you lov'd me; yet, since night, you left
Why, then you left me,-O the gods forbid !—
In earnest, shall I say?

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Her.Ome! youjuggler! oh, you canker-blossom"! You thief of love! what, have you come by night, And stol'n my love's heart from him?

Hel. Fine, i'faith!

Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear Impatient answers from my gentle tongue? Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you! Her.Puppet! why so? Ay, that way goes the game. Now I perceive that she hath made compare Between our statures; she hath urg'd her height; And with her personage, her tall personage, Her height,forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.40 And are you grown so high in his esteem, Because I am so dwarfish and so low? How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak; How low am I? I am not yet so low, But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. 45 Hel. I pray you, though you mock me,gentlemen, Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;

Dem. If she cannot retreat, I can compel.
Lys. Thou canst compel no more than she entreat;
Thy threats have no more strength, than her weak
Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do; [prayers. 50
I swear by that which I will lose for thee,"
To prove him false, that says I love thee not.

Dem. I say, I love thee more than he can do.
Lys. If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.
Dem. Quick, come,-

Her. Lysander, whereto tends all this?
Lys. Away, you Ethiop!
Dem. No, uo, sir, he'll

Seem to break loose; take on, as you would follow;
But yet come not: You are a tame man, go!
Lys. Hang off, thou cat, thou burr; vile thing,
let loose;

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I have no gift at all in shrewishness;

I am a right maid for my cowardice;
Let her not strike me: You, perhaps, may think,
Because she's something lower than myself,

That I can match her.

Her. Lower! hark, again.

Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you, Hermia;

55 Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you; Save that, in love unto Demetrius,

I told him of your stealth unto this wood: He follow'd you; for love, I follow'd him. But he hath chid me hence; and threaten'd me 60 To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too: And now, so you will let me quiet go, To Athens will I bear my folly back,

'Meaning, ingenious, artful. 2 That is, needles. 'Meaning, such a subject of light merriment. Shakspeare here alludes to the worm that preys on the leaves or buds of flowers, always beginning in the middle;

And

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her part.

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To take from thence all error, with his might,
And make his eye-balls roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision

Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision;
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,
With league,whose date'till death shall never end.
Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,

I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release

Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with

Hel. O,when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd; 10 From monster's view, and all things shall be peace. She was a vixen, when she went to school; And, though she be but little, she is fierce.

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haste;

For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;

[there,
15 At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and
Troop home to church-yards: damned spirits all,
That in cross-ways and floods have burial,
Already to their wormy beds are gone;
For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
20 They wilfully themselves exile from light,
And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
Ob. But we are spirits of another sort:

I with the morning's love have oft made sport;
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
25 Even till the eastern-gate, all fiery red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams.
But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:
We may effect this business yet ere day. [Exit Ob.
Puck. Up and down, up and down;

Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jowl. [Ex. Lysander and Demetrius. Her. You, mistress, all this coyl is 'long of you :|30| Nay, go not back.

Hel. I will not trust you, I;

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Nor longer stay in you curst company.
Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray;
My legs are longer, though, to run away.
Her. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say.
[Exeunt; Hermia pursuing Helena.
Ob. This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st,
Or else committ'st thy knaveries willingly.
Puck. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook. 40
Did not you tell me, I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?
And so far blameless proves my enterprize,
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;
And so far am I glad it did so sort",
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.

[fight:

Ob. Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog, as black as Acheron;
And lead these testy rivals so astray,
As one come not within another's way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometimes rail thou like Demetrius;
And from each other look thou lead them thus,
"Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye:
Whose liquor hath this virtuous' property,

1451

I will lead them up and down;
I am fear'd in field and town;
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one.

Enter Lysander.

Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.

Puck. Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?

Lys. I will be with thee straight.

Puck. Follow me then

To plainer ground.

[Lys. goes out, as following Dem.
Enter Demetrius.

Dem. Lysander! speak again.
Thou run-away, thou coward, art thou fled?
Speak. In some bush? where dost thou hide thy
[stars,

head?

Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the
50 Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou
child;

I'll whip thee with a rod: He is defil'd,
That draws a sword on thee.

55. Dem. Yea; art thou there?

Puck. Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood
here.
[Excunt.

Re-enter Lysander.

Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on; 160 When I come where he calls, then he is gone.

That is, foolish. 2 i. e. e. you diminutive of the creation, you reptile. Knot-grass was anciently supposed to prevent the growth of any animal or child. Toaby is to pay dear for, to suffer.

to happen. i. e. salutiferous.

i. e.

The

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Enter Queen of the Fairies, Bottom, Fairies attending, and the King behind them.

honey-bag, signior.-Where's monsieur Mustard40 seed?

Queen. COME, sit thee down upon this flowery 45

bed,

While I thy amiable cheeks do coy', And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. Bot. Where's Pease-blossom? Pease. Ready.

Bot.Scratch my head, Pease-blossom.-Where's monsieur Cobweb?

Cob. Ready.

Must. Ready.

Bot. Give me your neif, monsieur Mustard-seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur. Must. What's your will?

Bot. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help cavalero Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy about the face: and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch. 50 Queen. What, wilt thou hear some musick, my sweet love?

Bot. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get 55 your weapons in your hand, and kill me a redhip'd humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and good monsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur, have a care the honey-bag break 60 not; would be loth to have you overflown with al

To coy is to sooth, to stroke. 2 i. e. fist. key.

Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in musick: let us have the tongs and the bones'.

Queen. Or, say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat.

Bot. Truly, a peck of provender; I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.

Queen. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.

Meaning, the old rural musick of the tongs and

Bot.

Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of
dried pease. But, I pray you, let none of your
people stir me; I have an exposition of sleep
come upon me.
[arms.
Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my 5
Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away'.
So doth the woodbine, the sweet honey-suckle,
Gently entwist, the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.

O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
Oberon advances. Enter Puck.

Ob. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this
sweet sight?

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15

Her dotage now I do begin to pity.
For meeting her of late, behind the wood,
Seeking sweet savours for this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her, and fall out with her:
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds 20
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flouret's eyes,
Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her,
And she, in mild terms, begg'd my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child;
Which strait she gave me, and her fairy sent
To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
And, now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes.
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
From off the head of the Athenian swain;
That he awaking when the others do,
May all to Athens back again repair;
And think no more of this night's accidents,
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.

But first I will release the fairy queen;
Be, as thou wast wont to be;
[Touching her eyes with an herb.

See, as thou was wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.

Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
Queen. My Oberon' what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamoured of an ass.

Ob. There lies your love.

Queen. How caine these things to pass?
Oh, how mine eye doth loath his visage now!
Ob. Silence, a while.-Robin, take off this
head.-

Titania, musick call; and strike more dead
Than common sleep, of all these five the sense.
Queen. Musick, ho! musick; such as charmeth
[eyes peep.

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sleep.
Puck. When thou awak'st, with thine own fool's 55
Ob. Sound, musick. [Still musick.] Come, my
queen, take hands with me,

And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;

And will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly,
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair posterity:
There shall these pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark;
I do hear the morning lark.

Ob. Then, my queen, in silence sad,
Trip we after the night's shade:
We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord; and in our flight,
Tell me how it came this night,
That I sleeping here was found,
With these mortals on the ground. [Exeunt.
[Wind horns within.
Enter Theseus, Egeus, Hippolita, and train.
The. Go, one of you, find out the forester ;-
For now our observation is perform'd':
And since we have the vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the musick of my hounds.—
Uncouple in the western valley; go:

Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.

We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the musical confusion

Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
Such gallant chiding'; for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry; I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. [kind,
The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan
So flewd', so sanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly: [are these?
Judge, when you hear.-But, soft; what nymphs
Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;
And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena :

I wonder at their being here together.

[servé

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

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
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? [past;

3

1 That is, disperse yourselves. i. e. grave or sober. Meaning, the honours due to the morn

ing of May.

i.e. so mouthed.

Vaward is an obsolete word signifying the fore-part.
Flews are the large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound.

Chiding means sound.

Lys.

Lys. Pardon, my lord. [They all kneel to The-
The. I pray you all, stand up.

[seus.

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,

[be

Half 'sleep, 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
Without the peril of the Athenian law. [enough;
Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.- [metrius,
They would have stol'n away, they would, De-
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;

1

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 is the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd2,
Which in my childhood I did doat upon:
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
But, like a 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.

15

Dem. Why then, we are awake: let's follow And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [him; [Exeunt.

As they go out, Bottom awakes.

Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer:-my next is, Most fair Pyramus.Hey, ho!-Peter Quince! Flute the bellowsmender! Snout the tinker! Starveling! God's my life! stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had 10 a most rare vision. I have had a dream,-past the wit of man to say what dream it was: Man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had,- -But man is but a patch'd fool', if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen; man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be call'd Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke: Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death*.[Ex. SCENE II.

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The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we shall hear more anon.-
Egeus, I will over-bear your will;
For in this temple, by-and-by with us,
These couples shall 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. [train.
Come, Hippolita. [Exe. Theseus, Hippolita, and
Dem. These things seem small, and undistinguish-
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. [able,
Her. Methinks I see these things with parted 50
When every thing seems double.

Hel. So methinks:

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

[eye,

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55

Dem. Are you sure

That we are awake?-It seems to me,

That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think,
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?

Her. Yea; and my father.

Hel And Hippolita.

60

Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple.

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Athens. Quince's House.

Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and StarvelingQuin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet?

Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is transported.

Flu. If he come not, then the play is marr❜d; it goes not forward, doth it?

Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man in all Athens, able to discharge Pyramus, but he. Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handy-craft man in Athens.

Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is` a very paramour for a sweet voice.

Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God bless us! a thing of nought.

Enter Snug.

temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the more married: if our sport had gone forward, we

had all been made men".

six-pence a-day during his life; he could not have
Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost
'scaped six-pence a-day: an the duke had not
given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus,
I'll be hang'd; he would have deserv'd it: six-
pence a-day, in Pyramus, or nothing.
Enter Bottom.

Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts?

Quin. Bottom-O most courageous day! O most happy hour!

Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true

Fancy here means love or affection. See the note in p. 175.

i. e. a fool in a party-coloured

*This should have been after death, i. e. after having died as Pyramus he would come again

and sing the song. Meaning, we had all made our fortunes.

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Athenian.

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