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Thou shalt aby it.
Lys.
Now she holds me not;
Now follow, if thou dar'st, to try whose right,
Or thine or mine, is most in Helena.

Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by
jole.
[Exeunt Lys, and Dem.

Her. You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you: Nay, go not back.

Hel. I will not trust you, I; Nor longer stay in your 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.

[Exit.

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.

To plainer ground.

Dem.
(Exit, pursuing Helena.
Obe. This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st,
Or else commit'st thy knaveries wilfully.

Puck. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
Did not you tell me, I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?
And so far blameless proves my enterprise,
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes:
And so far am I glad it so did sort,'

Follow me then

[Exit Lys. as following the voice. Enter Demetrius.

Lysander! speak again. Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled? Speak. In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?

Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,

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

Obe. Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to fight: That draws a sword on thee.

As this their jangling I esteem a sport.

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 sometime 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, 2
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,'

Dem. Yea; art thou there? Puck. Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood here. [Exeunt.

Re-enter Lysander.

Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on; When I come where he calls, then he is gone. The villain is much lighter heel'd than I: I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly; That fallen am I in dark uneven way, And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day! [Lies down. For it but once thou show me thy gray light, I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. [Sleeps. Re-enter Puck and Demetrius.

Puck. Ho, ho! ho, ho! Coward, why com'st thou not?

Dem. Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot,

With league, whose date till death shall never end. Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place;

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
From monster's view, and all things shail be peace.
Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with
haste;

For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;
At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and
there,

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,
They wilfully themselves exile from light,
And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
Obe. 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,
Even to 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 Oberon. Puck. Up and down, up and down;

I will lead them up and down:

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

(1) Happen. (2) Medicinal efficacy. (3) Go.

And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. Where art thou?

Puck.

Thou shalt

Come hither; I am here. Dem. Nay, then thou mock'st me. buy this dear,

Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
If ever I thy face by day-light see:
To measure out my length on this cold bed.-

By day's approach look to be visited.

[Lies down and sleeps.

Enter Helena.

Hel. O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy hours: shine, comforts, from the east; That I may back to Athens, by day-light,

From these that my poor company detest:And, sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, Steal me a while from mine own company. [Sleeps. Puck. Yet but three? Come one more; Two of both kinds makes up four. Here she comes, curst and sad :Cupid is a knavish lad,

Thus to make poor females mad.

Enter Hermia.

Her. Never so weary, never so in wo,
Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers;

I can no further crawl, no further go;
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.

(4) Cephalus, the paramour of Aurora.

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Sleep sound:

I'll apply

To your eye,

Gentle lover, remedy.

[Squeezing the juice on Lysander's eye.
When thou wak'st,

Thou tak'st

True delight

In the sight

Of thy former lady's eye:

And the country proverb known,

That every man should take his own,
In your waking shall be shown:
Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;

The man shall have his mare again, and all shall
be well. [Ex. Puck.-Dem. Hel. &c. sleep.

ACT IV.

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sweet sight?

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
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flowrets' eyes,
Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her,
And she, in mid terms, begg'd my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child;
Which straight 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

SCENE I.-The same. Enter Titania and Bot-This hateful imperfection of her eyes.
tom, Fairies attending; Oberon behind unseen.

Tita. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,1

And stick musk-roses in thy sleck smooth head,

And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. Bot. Where's Peas-blossom?

Peas. Ready.

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

Cob. Ready.

And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
From off the head of this Athenian swain;
That he awaking when the other 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 wast wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.
my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
Tita. My Oberon! What visions have I seen!
Methought, I was enamour'd of an ass.
Obe. There lies your love.

Bot. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hip-Now, ped humbie-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 not; I would be loath to have you overflown with a honey bag, signior.-Where's monsieur Mustardseed?

Must. Ready.

Bot. Give me your neif,2 monsieur Mustard-seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur. Must. What's your will?

Bol. 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 inust scratch.

Tita. What, wilt thou hear some music, my

sweet love?

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

Tita. 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.

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

Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of dried peas. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.

Tita. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. (2) Fist.

(1) Stroke.

Tita.

How came these things to pass?
O, how mine eyes do loath his visage now?
Obe. Silence, awhile-Robin, take off this head-
Titania, music call; and strike more dead
Than common sleep, of all these five the sense.
Tita. Music, ho! music; such as charmeth sleep.
Puck. Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own
fool's eyes peep.

Obe. Sound, music. [Still music.] 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,
And bless it to all fair posterity:
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.

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

Obe. 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.
Tita. 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. [Ereunt.
[Horns sound within.

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and train.
The. Go, one of you, find out the forester :-

For now our observation is perform'd:
And since we have the vayward' of the day,
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.-
Uncouple in the western valley; go:
Despatch, 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.
The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan
kind,

So flew'd,' 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 holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:
Judge, when you hear.-But, soft; what nymphs
are these?

Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep:
And this, Lysander: this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena :
I wonder of their being here together.

The. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe The 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. St. Valentine is past; Berin these wood-birds but to couple now? Lys. Pardon, my lord.

[Ile and the rest kneel to Theseus. The. I pray you all, stand up. I know, you are two 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, 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 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 stal'n away, they would, Demetrius,

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; 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, (1) Forepart. (2) Sound. (3) The flews are the large chaps of a hound.

'Melted as doth the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd,'
Which in my childhood I did dote 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 in 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.

The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.-
Egeus, I will overbear your will;
For in the 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.—
Come, Hippolyta.

[Exeunt The. Hyp. Ege, and train. Dem. These things seem small, and undistinguishable,

Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.
Her. Methinks, I see these things with parted eye,
When every thing seems double.

Hel.
So methinks:
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
Mine own, and not mine own.

Dem.
It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think,
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
Hel.
And Hippolyta.

Her. Yea: and my father.

Lys. And he did 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. [Exe.

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 bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker Starveling! God's my life! stolen hence, and left me asleep! I have had 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 call tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had,-But man is but a patched 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 called 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. [Exit.

A room in Quince's Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and

SCENE II.-Athens.
House.
Starveling.

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all Athens, able to discharge Pyramus, but he. Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft 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.

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

Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a-day during his life; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a-day; an the duke had not given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged; he would have deserved it: sixpence 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 Athenian. I will tell you every thing, right as it fell out.

Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom.

Bot. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you, is, that the duke hath dined: Get your apparel together; good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look o'er his part, for, the short and the long is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen; and let not him, tha: plays the lion, pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the lions claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions, nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt, but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words; away; go, [Exeunt.

away.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-The same. An apartment in the
Palace of Theseus. Enter Theseus, Hippolyta,
Philostrate, Lords, and Altendants.
Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers
speak of.

The. More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers, and madmen, have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,
Are of imagination all compact:1

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to
heaven;

And, as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation, and a name.

Such tricks hath strong imagination;

(1) Are made of mere imagination. (2) Stability. Pastime. (4) Short account.

That, if it would but apprehend some joy, It comprehends some bringer of that joy; Or, in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear!

Hip. But all the story of the night told over, And all their minds transfigur'd so together, More witnesseth than fancy's images, And grows to something of great constancy ;* But, howsoever, strange, and admirable. Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena. The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love, Accompany your hearts! Lys. More than to us

Wait on your royal walks, your board, your bed. The. Come now; what masks, what dances shall

we have,

To wear away this long age of three hours,
Between our after-supper, and bed-time?
Where is our usual manager of mirth?
What revels are in hand? is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
Call Philostrate.
Philost.

Here, mighty Theseus. The. Say, what abridgment have you for this evening?

What mask? what music? How shall we beguile The lazy time, if not with some delight?

Philost. There is a brief, how many sports are

ripe;

Make choice of which your highness will see first. [Giving a paper. The. [Reads.] The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung

By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.
We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.

The riot of the tipsy Bacchana's,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.
That is an old device; and it was play'd
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary.
That is some satire, keen, and critical,
Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.

A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, And his love Thisbe: very tragical mirth. Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief? That is, hot ice, and wonderous strange snow. How shall we find the concord of this discord? Philost. A play there is, my lord, some ten words

long;

Which is as brief as I have known a play:
By ten words, my lord, it is too lore;
Which makes it tedious: for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
And tragical, my noble ford, it is;

For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
Which, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess,
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The passion of loud laughter never shed.
The. What are they, that do play it?
Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens
here,

Which never labour'd in their minds till now;
And now have toil'd their unbreath'd' memories
With this same play, against your nuptial.
The. And we will hear it.
Philost.

No, my noble lord,
It is not for you: I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world;

(5) Unexercised.

Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch'd, and conn'd with cruel pain,
To do you service.
The.
I will hear that play;
For never any thing can be amiss,
When simpleness and duty tender it.
Go, bring them in ;-and take your places, ladies.
[Exit Philostrate.
Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharg'd,
And duty in his service perishing.
The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such
thing.

Hip. He says, they can do nothing in this kind.
The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for
nothing.

Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake:
And what poor duty cannot do,

Noble respect takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purpos'd
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome: Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence, yet, I pick'd a welcome;
And in the modesty of fearful duty

I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity,
In least, speak most, to my capacity.

Enter Philostrate.

Philost. So please your grace, the prologue is
addrest.

The. Let him approach. [Flourish of rumpets.
Enter Prologue.

Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then, we come but in despite.

We do not come as minding to content you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight,

We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand; and, by their show,
You shall know all, that you are like to know.

The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt, he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue, like a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

The. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show.

Prol. Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show;

'But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. "This man is Pyramus, if you would know; This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present 'Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder:

"And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content

To whisper; at the which let no man wonder.

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'This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn, 'Presenteth moonshine: for, if you will know, "By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn

To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. This grisly beast, which by name lion hight, The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, Did scare away, or rather did affright; And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall; 'Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain: 'Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall,

And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain: 'Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, 'He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; And, Thisby tarrying in mulberry shade,

'His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain, 'At large discourse, while here they do remain.'

[Exeunt Prol. Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine. The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.

Wall. In this same interlude, it doth befall, That I, one Snout by name, present a wall: And such a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, 'Did whisper often very secretly.

This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth

show

That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.'
The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak

better?

Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord.

The. Pyramus draws near the wall; silence!

Enter Pyramus.

Pyr. O prim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!

'O night, which ever art, when day is not! O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,

I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!-
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
"That stand'st between her father's ground and
mine;

Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
'Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine
[Wall holds up his fingers.
Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for

eyne.

this!

'But what see I? No Thisby do I sec.

O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss; 'Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!' The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving me, is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told you:-Yonder she comes.

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