Like Tears that did their own Disgrace bewail.
When I had at my Pleasure taunted her,
'And the in mild Terms begg'd my Patience,
I then did ask of her, her changeling Child,
Which ftraight fhe gave me, and her Fairy fent
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 this 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 releafe the Fairy Queen.

Be thou as thou waft wont to be;
See as thou waft wont to fee:
Dian's Bud, or Cupid's Flower,
Hath fuch Force and blessed Power.

Now, my Titania wake you my fweet Queen."
Queen. My Oberon! what Vifions have I feen!
Methought I was enamoured of an Afs,

Ob. There lies your Love.

Queen. How came thefe Things to pafs?
Oh how mine Eyes do loath this Vifage now!
Ob. Silence a while; Robin take off his Head,
Titania, Mufick call, and ftrike more dead

Than common Sleep. Of all thefe find the Senfe.
Queen. Mufick, ho Mufick; fuch as charmeth Sleep.
Mufick ftill.

Puck. When thou awak'ft, with thine own Fools Eyes peep.

Ob. Sound Mafick; come my Queen, take Hand with me, And rock the Ground whereon thefe Sleepers be.

Now thou and I are new in Amity,

And will to Morrow Midnight folemnly
Dance in Duke Thefeus Houfe triumphantly,
And blefs it to all fair Pofterity:

There fhall thefe Pairs of faithful Lovers be
Wedded with Thefeus all in Jollity..

Puck

Puck. Fair King attend and mark,
I do hear the Morning Lark.

Ob. Then my Queen in Silence fad,
Trip we after the Night's Shade;
We the Globe can compafs foon,

Queen. Come my Lord, and in our Flight,

Swifter than the wandring Moon.

Tell me how it came this Night,

That I fleeping here was found,

With thefe Mortals on the Ground.

[Sleeper's lye ftill. [Exeunt [Wind Horns

Enter Thefeus, Egeus, Hippolita and all his Train.
Thef. Go one of you, find out the Forefter,
For now our Obferyation is perform'd;
And fince we have the yaward of the Day,
My Love shall hear the Mufick of my Hounds;
Uncouple in the Western Valley, let them go,
Difpatch I fay, and find the Forefter.

We will, fair Queen, up to the Mountain's Top,
And mark the Mufical Confufion

Of Hounds, and Eccho in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Creet they bay'd the Bear
With Hounds of Sparta; never did I hear
Such gallant Chiding. For befides the Groves,
The Skies, the Fountains, every Region near,
Seem'd all one mutual Cry. I never heard
So mufical a Difcord, fuch fweet Thunder.

Thef. My Hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, fo fanded, and their Heads are hung
With Ears that fweep away the Morning Dew;
Crook-kneed, and Dew-lap, like Theffalian Bulls,
Slow in purfuir, but match'd in Mouth like Bells,
Each under each. A Cry more tuneable
Was never hallow'd to, nor cheer'd with Horn,
In Creet, in Sparta, nor in Theffaly:

Judge when you hear. But foft, what Nymphs are the fe
Ege. My Lord, this is my Daughter here afleep.

And this Lyfander, this Demetrius is,

This Helena, old Nedar's Helena;

I wonder of this being here together.

Thef.

Thef. No doubt they rofe up early, to obferve
The right of May, and hearing our Intent,
Came here in grace of our Solemnity.
But fpeak Egeus, is not this the Day

That Hermia fhould give Anfwer of her Choice?
Ege. It is, my Lord.

Thef. Go bid the Huntsmen wake them with their Horns.
Horns, and they wake. Shont within, they all start up.
Thef. Good Morrow Friends; Saint Valentine is paft:

Begin these Wood-birds but to couple now?
Lyf. Pardon, my Lord.

Thef. I pray you all stand up:

I know you two are Rival Enemies.
How comes this gentle Concord in the World,
That Hatred is fo far from Jealoufy,
To fleep by Hate, and fear no Emnity.
Lyf. My Lord, I fhall reply amazedly,
Half fleep, half waking. But as yet I swear,
I cannot truly fy how I came here:
But as I think, (for truly would I fpeak,)
And now I do bethink me, fo it is;

I came with Hermia hither. Our Intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be
Without the Peril of the Athenian Law.

Ege. Enough, enough, my Lord, you have enough;
I beg the Law, the Law upon his Head:

They would have foll'naway, they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated
and me,

you

You of your Wife, and me of my Confent;

Of

my Confent that the fhould be your Wife.

Dem. My Lord, fair Helen told me of their Stealth, Of this their Purpose hither to the Wood.

And I in Fury hither follow'd them

Fair Helena in Fancy follow'd me:

But, my good Lord, I wot not by what Power,

But by fome Power it is, my Love

To Hermia, melted as the Snow,

Seems to me now as the Remembrance of an idle Guade,
Which in my Childhood I did doat upon:

And all the Faith, the Virtue of my Heart,
The Object and the Pleafure of mine Eye,

Is only Helena. To her, my Lord,
Was I betrothed e'er I did fee 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.

Thes. Fair Lovers you are fortunately met;
Of this Difcourfe we fhall hear more anon.
Egens, I will over-bear your Will,
For in the Temple, by and by with us,
Thefe Couples fhall eternally be knit:
And for the Morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd Hunting fhall be fet afide.
Away with us to Athens, three and three,
We'll hold a Feaft in great Solemnity.
Come Hippolita.

[Exit Duke and Lords. Dem. These Things feem fmall and undiftinguishable, Like far-off Mountains turned into Clouds.

Her. Methinks I fee these things with parted Eye,

When every thing feems double.

Hel. So methinks;

And I have found Demetrius like a Jewel;

Mine own, and not mine own.

Dem. It feems fo to me,

That we fleep, we dream. Do not you think

The Duke was here, and bid us follow him?

Her. Yea, and my Father,

Hel. And Hippolita.

Lyf. And he bid us follow to the Temple.

Dem. Why then we are awake; let's follow him, and by

the Way let us recount our Dreams.

[Exeunt.

[ Bottom wakes.

Bot. When my Cue comes, call me, and I will anfwer. My next is, Moft fair Pyramus----Hey ho, Peter Quince! Flute the Bellows-mender! Snout the Tinker! Starveling! God's my Life! Stol'n hence, and left me afleep. I have had a moft rare Vision. I had a Dream paft the Wit of Man to fay what Dream it was: Man is but an Afs 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 fay what methought

methought I had. The Eye of Man hath not heard, the Ear of Man hath not feen; Man's Hand is not able to tafte, 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 fing it in the latter End of a Play before the Duke: Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I fhall fing it at her Death. [Exit. Enter Quince, Flute, Thisby, Snowt and Starveling. Quin. Have you fent to Bottom's Houfe? Is he come Home

yet?

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

This. If he come not, then the Play is marr'd. It goes forward, doth it?

Quin. It is not poffible; you have not a Man in all Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.

Thif. No, he hath fimply the beft Wit of any Handycraft

Man in Athens.

Quin. Yea, and the best Perfon too; and he is a very Paramour for a fweet Voice.

Thif. You must fay, Paragon; a Paramour is (God bless us) a Thing of naught.

Enter Snug.

Snug. Mafters, the Duke is coming from the Temple, and there is two or three Lords and Ladies more married; If our Sport had gone forward, we had all been made Men.

Thif. Ofweet Bully Bottom; thus hath he loft Six penco a Day during his Life; he could not have 'fcap'd Six pence a Day; and the Duke had not given him Six pence a Day for Playing Pyramus, I'll be hang'd: He would have deferv'd it. Six pence a Day in Pyramus, or nothing.

Enter Bottom.

Bot. Where are thefe Lads? Where are thefe Hearts? Quin. Bottom, O moft couragious Day! O moft happy Hour!

Bot. Mafters, I am to difcourfe Wonders; but ask me not what; for if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I will tell you every thing as it fell out.