It fell upon a little western Aower,- Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth la forty minutes. [Exit Ob. Having once this juice. I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, And drop the liquor of it in her eyes : The next thing then she waking looks upon, (Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, 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) l'll make her render up to me. But who comes here? I am invisible ;) And I will over-hear their conference. Enter DEMETRIUS, Helena following him. Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant ; [2] The flower or violet, commonly called pansies, or heart's ease, is named love-in-idleness in Warwickshire, and in Lyte's Herbal. There is a reason why Shakespeare says it is “ now purple with love's wound," because one or two of its petals are of a purple colour. TOLLET. (3] I thought proper bere to observe, that, as Oberon and Puck his attendant may be frequently observed to speak, when there is no mention of their entering: they are designed by the poet to be supposed on the stage during the greatest part or the remainder of the play; and to mix, as they please, as spirits, with the other actors; and embroil the plot, by their interposition, without being seen, or heard, but when to their own purpose. THEOBALD. [4] Wood, or mad, wild, raving. POPE. Is true as steel : Leave you your power to draw, Dem. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair ? you u ? Hel. And even for that do I love you the more. Dem. Tempt not so much the hatred of my spirit ; Hel. And I am sick, when I look not on you. Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much, Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that. Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd; Apollo Alies, and Daphne holds the chase ; The dove pursues the griffin ; the mild hind' Makes speed to catch the tiger : Bootless speed ! When cowardice pursues, and valour flies. (5] This passage is paraphrased from two lines of an ancient poet (Tibullus) “ Lumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis." As the works of King David might be more familiar to Shakespeare than Roman poetry, perhaps, on the present occasion, the flth verse of the 139th Psalm was in his thoughts : " Yea, the darkness is oo darkness with thee, but the night is as clear as the day." STEEVENS. Tu nocte vel atra JOHNSON. Dem. I will not stay thy questions ; let me go : Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, [Exeunt Dem. and Hec. Ob. Fare thee well, nymph : ere he do leave this grove, Re-enter Puck. Puck. Ay, there it is. may prove More fond on her, than she upon her love : And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so. [Exeunt. [5] The ozlip is the greater cowslip. STEEVENS. [6]-the man--had on.) I desire no surer evidence to prove that the broad Scotch pronunciation once prevailed in England, than such a rhyme as the first of these words affords to the second. STEEVENS. SCENE III. Tita. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song ; SONG. 1. Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen ; Come not near our fairy queen : Sing in our sweet lullaby; Never harm, nor spell nor charm, II. Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence : Worm, nor snail, do no offence. [7] A roundel is a dance in a ring. GRAY 18) 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 bave objected to the epithet tall, which the fairy bestows on the cowslip. But Shakespeare, 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 next is the eft, the blind-worm is the Cæcilia 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 : [Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps. Enter OBERON. [Squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eye-lids. Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA. 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. Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear, innocence ; Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.” mean, that my heart unto yours is knit; Her. Lysander riddles very prettily :- [2] The ounce is a small tiger, or tiger-cat. JOHNSON [3] The idea is exactly similar to that of St. Paul : “ Love thinketh no evil.” HENLEY. [4] This word, of wbich the etymology is not exactly known, implies a sinistes 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. |