Full often hath she gossip'd by my side,
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking th' embarked 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 squire,)
Would imitate, and sail upon the land

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.

Obe. How long within this wood intend you stay? Tita. Perchance, till after Theseus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round,

And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
Obe.
Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Tita. Not for thy fairy kingdom. - Fairies, away!
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.

[Exit TITANIA, with her Train. Obe. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this

grove,

Till I torment thee for this injury.

My gentle Puck, come hither: thou rememb'rest
Since once I sat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.

Puck.

I remember.

Obe. That very time I saw (but thou could'st not), Flying between the cold moon and the Earth,

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
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon,
And the imperial vot'ress passed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

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

It fell upon a little western flower,

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound;

And maidens call it, love-in-idleness.

Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd thee once:

The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid

Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again,
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

Puck. I'll put a girdle [round] about the Earth In forty minutes. [Exit PUCK.

Obe.

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)

I'll make her render up her page to me.

But who comes here? I am invisible,

And I will over-hear their conference.

Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.

Dem. I love thee not; therefore pursue me not.

Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood; And here am I, and wood 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.

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 thee the more.

I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,

The more you beat me I will fawn on you:

Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

What worser place can I beg in your love (And yet a place of high respect with me) Than to be used as you do your dog?

Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on thee.

Hel.

And I am sick when I look not on you. Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much,

To leave the City, and commit yourself

Into the hands of one that loves you not;

To trust the opportunity of night,

And the ill counsel of a desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.

Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that:
It is not night, when I do see your face;
Therefore I think I am not in the night:
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company;

For you, in my respect, are all the world.
Then how can it be said, I am alone,

When all the world is here to look on me?

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 flies, 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.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions: let me go; 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 and 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 should 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.

Obe.

[Exeunt DEMETRIUS and HELENA. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,

Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.

Enter PUCK.

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. Puck. Ay, there it is.

Obe. I pray thee give it me. I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows; Quite over-canopi'd with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull'd in these bowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:

And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.

Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: A sweet Athenian lady is in love

With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;

But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man

By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he 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.

SCENE II.

Tita.

Another Part of the Wood.

Enter TITANIA, with her Train.

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, 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.

1 Fai.

Song.

You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen,