For briars and thorns at their apparel snatch,
7 Some, Neeves ; fome, hats : from yielders all things

catch.
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated chere :
When in that moment (so it came to pass)
Titania wak’d, and straightway lov'd an ass.

Ob. This falls out better than I could devise.
But halt thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?

Puck. I took him Neeping;—that is finish'd teo;And the Athenian woman by his side; That when he wakes, of force she must be ey'd.

Enter Demetrius and Hermia.

1.Ob. Stand close, this is the samé Athenian.

Puck. This is the woman, but not this the man.

Dem. O, why rebuke you him that loves you so? Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

Her. Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse; For thou, I fear, haft given me cause to curse. If thou hast nain Lysander in his sleep,. Being o'er shoes in blood, ' plunge in the deep, And kill me too.

* Some, sleeves; fome, hats: ] There is the like image in Drayton of queen Mab and her fairies flying from Hobgoblin.

Some core a ruf, and lime a gown,

'Gain one anorbir, uitling;
They fi:wabout like chaji'i'' wird,
For bafle fonie lift their nafos bebind,
Some could not fi ay ibeir gloves to find,

T bere never was jucbbutling. JOHNSON. :- latch'd,] or letch'd, lick'd over, lecher, to lick, French.

HANMER. In the North, it signifies to infeat. STEEVENS.

Being oʻre thers in bloou.] An alla ion to the proverb, Over Hoces, ove boots. JOHNSON.

The

The sun was not so true unto the day,
As he to me. Would he have stol'n away
Fromsleeping Hermia ? I'll believe as soon,
This whole earth may be bor'd; and that the moon
May through the center creep, and so displease
Her brother's noon-tide with the Antipodes.
It cannot be, but thou haft murder'd him ;
So should a murderer look, so · dead, so grim.

Dem. So should the murder'd look; and so should I, Pierc'd through the heart with your ftern cruelty : Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, and clear, As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.

Her. What's this to my Lyfander? where is he? Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

Dem. I had rather give his carcass to my hounds. Her. Out, dog, out, cur! thou driv'ft me past the

bounds Of maiden's patience. Hast thou Nain him then ?. Henceforth be never number'd among men! O! once tell true, tell true, even for my sake, Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake! And haft thou kill'd him feeping ? O brave touch ! 3 Could not a worm, an adder do so much ? An adder did it ; for with doubler tongue Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.

:- so dead-] All the old copies read so dead, in my copy of it, some reader has altered dead to dread. JOHNSON.

Dead seems to be the right word, and our author again uses it 2d P. Hen. IV. act i. sc. 3.

Even such a man, so faint, fe fpiritless,

So dull, fo dead in look, fo woe-begone. STEEyens. 3 brave touch.] Touch in Shakespeare's time was the fame with our exploit, or rather stroke. A brave touch, a noble stroke, un grand coup. Malin was very merry, pleasantly playing both with the forewd touches of many curft boys, and the small difcretion of many lewd sobo Imajicrs. Ascham. JOHNSON.

Dem.

Dem. You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood:4
I am not guilty of Lysander's blood ;'
Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.

Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
Dem. And if I could, what should I

get

therefore? Her. A privilege, never to see me more.And from thy hated presence part I lo; See me no more, whether he be dead or no. [Exit.

Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vein: Here, therefore, for a while I will remain. So forrow's heaviness doth heavier grow, For debt, that bankrupt Neep doth sorrow owe; Which now in some Night measure it will pay, If for his tender here I make some stay. (Lies down.

Ob. What håst thou done? thou hast mistaken quite, And laid thy love-juice on some true-love's fight: Of thy misprision must per force ensue Some true love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true. * Puck. Then fațe. o'er-rules; that, one man hold

ing troth, A million fail, confounding oath on oath.

Ob. About the wood go swifter than the wind, And Helena of Athens, look thou find. All fancy-fick she is, and pale of cheer With fighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear : By some illusion, fee, thou bring her here; l'll charm his eyes against she do appear.

Puck. I go, I go ; look, how I go; Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. [Exit.

Ob. Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, * -mispris'd-) Miftaken ; so below misprison is mistake.

JOHNSON. * Sir T. H. reads the last line thus : Some true love turn'd falfe, not a false, furn'd true.

STEEVENS.

Sink

Sink in apple of his eye!
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky,
When thou wak'st, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.

Re-enter Puck.
Puck. Captain of our fairy-band,
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee;
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be?

Ob. Stand aside : the noise they make,
Will cause Demetrius to awake.

Puck. Then will two, at once, woo one;
That must needs be sport alone :
And those things do best please me,
That befal prepostrously.

Enter Lysander, and Helena.
Lys. Why should you think, that I should woo in

scorn?
Scorn and derision never come in tears :
Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,

In their nativity all truth appears.
How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?

Hel. You do advance your cunning more and more;

When truth kills truth, 0 devilish-holy fray! These vows are Hermia's : will you give her o'er ?

Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
Your vows, to her and me, put in two scales,
Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.

Lys. I had no judgment, when to her I swore.
Hel. Nor none in my mind, now you give her o'er..

Lyf.

Lys. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
Dem. [awaking] O Helen, goddess, nymph, pere

fect, divine !
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O how ripe in show
Thy lips, those killing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow, s
Fannd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'st up thy hand. Olet me kiss
This princess of pure white', this seal of bliss! 7

Hel. O spight! O hell : I see, you all are bent
To set against me, for your merriment :
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls', to mock me too?

If s-Taurus snow.] Taurus is the name of a range of mouna tains in Asia. JOHNSON.

• This princess of pure white,-) Thus all the editions to fir T. H.'s. He reads,

This pureness of pure white; and Dr. Warburton follows him. STEEVENS. --- seal of bliss.] He has elsewhere the same image,

But my kifes bring again .

Scals of love, but seal'd in vain. Johnson. : -join in fouls] This is surely wrong. We may read, Join in scorns, or join in scoffs. JOHNSON.

Fin in souls. i. e. join 'heartily, unite in the fame mind. Shakespeare in Henry V. uses an expression not unlike this:

For we will hear, note, and believe in heart; i. e. heartily believe': and in Measure for Measure, he talks of electing with special foul. In Troilus and Creflida, Ulysses, re lating the character of Hector as given him by Æneas, says,

" with private foul “ Did in great Ilion thas translate him to me." Sir T. Hanmer would read-in flruts; Dr Warburton, infolents; and Dr. Johnson, in scorns, or in /coffs. Steevens.

I rather believe the line Should be read thus,

7

But