The Fold stands empty in the drowned Field,
And Crows are fatted with the Murrion Flock,
The Nine-mens-morris is fill'd up with Mud,
And the queint Mazes in the wanton Green,
For lack of tread are undistinguishable.
The human Mortals want their Winter here,
No Night is now with Hymn or Carol bleft;
Therefore the Moon, the Governefs of Floods,
Pale in her Anger, washes all the Air;
The Rheumatick Difeafes do abound.
And through this Diftemperature, we fee
The Seasons alter; hoary-headed Frofts
Fall in the fresh Lap of the Crimson Rose,
And on old Hyem's Chin and Icy Crown,
And odorous Chaplet of fweet Summer Buds
Is as in Mockery fet. The Spring, the Summer,
The childing Autumn, angry Winter change
Their wonted Liveries, and the amazed World,
By their increafe, now knows not which is which
And this fame Progeny of Evil comes
From our Debate, from our Diffention,
We are their Parents and Original.
Ob. Do you amend it then, it lyes in you.
Why fhould Titania crofs her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling Boy,
To be my Henchman.
Queen. Set your Heart at reft,
The Fairy-land buys not the Child of me.
His Mother was a Votrefs of my Order,
And in the spiced Indian Air by Night
Full often the hath goffipt by my fide,
And fat with me on Neptune's yellow Sands,
Marking th' embarked Traders of the Flood,
When we have laught to fee the Sails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton Wind:
Which the with pretty and with fwimming Gate,
Following (her Womb then rich with my young Squire)
Would imitate, and fail upon the Land,
To fetch me Trifles, and return again,
As from a Voyage rich with Merchandize.
But the being mortal of that Boy did dye,
And for her fake I do rear up her Boy,
And for her fake I will not part with him.
Ob. How long within this Wood intend you ftay?
Queen. Perchance 'till after Thefeus's Wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our Round,
And fee our Moon-light Revels, go with us;
If not, fhun me and I will fpare your Haunts.
Ob. Give me that Boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy fairy Kingdom. Fairies away:
We fhall chide downright, if I longer ftay.
[Exeunt. Ob. Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this Grove, 'Till I torment thee for this Injury.
My gentle Puck come hither; thou remembreft
Since that I fate upon a Promontory,
And heard a Mermaid on a Dolphin's Back,
Uttering fuch Dulcet and Harmonious Breath,
That the rude Sea grew civil at her Song,
And certain Stars hot madly from their Sphears,
To hear the Sea-maid's Mufick.
Ob. That very time I faw, but thou could'ft 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 Weft,
And loos'd his Love-fhaft fmartly from his Bow,
As it would pierce a hundred thousand Hearts;
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery Shaft
Quench'd in the chafte Beams of the wat❜ry Moon,
And the Imperial Votrefs paffed 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 Idlenefs.
Fetch me that Flower; the Herb I fhew'd thee once,
The Juice of it, on fleeping Eye-lids laid,
Will make a Man or Woman madly doat
Upon the next live Creature that it fees.
Fetch me this Herb, and be thou here again
E'er the Leviathan can fwim a League.
Puck. I'll put Girdle about the Earth in forty Minutes.
Ob. Having once this Juice,
I'll watch Titania when the is asleep,
And drop the Liquor of it in her Eyes:
The next thing which the waking looks upon,
(Be it on Lyon, Bear, or Wolf, or Bull,
Or medling Monkey, or on bufie Ape)
She fhall pursue it with the Soul of Love;
And e'er 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 invifible,
And I will over-hear their Conference.
Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore purfue me not.
Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia?
The one I'll stay, the other stayeth me.
Thou told'ft me they were ftol'n into this Wood;
And here am I, and Wood within this Wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence get
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 fpeak you fair?
Or rather do I not in plaineft 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:
Ufe me but as your Spaniel, fpurn me, ftrike me,
Neglect me, lofe me; only give me Leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worfer Place can I beg in your Love,
(And yet a Place of high Refpect with me)
Than to be used as you do your Dog?
Dem. Tempt not too much the Hatred of my Spiri
For I am fick when I do look on thee,
Hel. And I am fick when I look not on you.
VOL. II.
Dem. You do impeach your Modefty too much,
To leave the City, and commit your felf
Into the hands of one that loves you not,
To trust the Opportunity of Night,
And the ill Counsel of a defart Place,.
With the rich Worth of your Virginity.
Hel. Your Virtue is my Privilege; for that
It is not Night when I do fee your Face;
Therefore I think I am not in the Night.
Nor doth this Wood lack Worlds of Company,
For you, in my refpect, are all the World.
Then how can it be faid 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 wildeft hath not fuch a Heart as you;
Run when you will, the Story fhall be chang'd:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the Chace;
The Dove purfues the Griffin, the mild Hind
Makes fpeed to catch the Tyger. Bootlefs fpeed!
When Cowardize purfues, and Valour flies.
Dem. I will not ftay thy Queftions, let me go;
Or if you follow me, do not believe,
But I fhall do thee Mischief in the Wood.
Hel. Ay, in the Temple, in the Town and Field
You do me Mischief. Fye, Demetrius,
Your Wrongs do fet 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 follow thee, and make a Heaven of Hell,
To dye upon the Hand I love fo weil.
Ob. Fare thee well, Nymph, e'er he do leave this Grove Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy Love. Haft thou the Flower there? Welcome Wanderer.
Ob. I pray thee give it me;
I know a Bank where the wild Time blows,
Where the Oxflips and the nodding Violet grows,
Quite over cannopy'd with lufcious Woodbine,
With fweet Musk Rofes, and with Eglatine,
There fleeps Titania, fome time of the Night,
Lull'd in thefe Flowers, with Dances and Delight;
And there the Snake throws her enammel'd Skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a Fairy in:
And with the Juice of this I'll ftreak her Eyes,
And make her full of hateful Fantafies.
Take thou fome of it, and feek through this Grove;
Afweet 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 fome Care, that he may prove
More fond of her than fhe upon her Love;
And look you meet me e'er the first Cock crow.
Puck. Fear not my Lord, your Servant shall do so. [Exit.
Enter Queen of Fairies, with her Train.
Queen. Come, now a Roundel, and a Fairy Song:
Then for the third Part of a Minute hence,
Some to kill Kankers in the Musk-Rofe Buds,
Some war with Reremise for their leathern Wings,
To make my small Elves Coats, and fome keep back
The clamorous Owl that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our queint Spirits. Sing me now asleep.
Then to your Offices, and let me reft.
You Spotted Snakes with double Tongue,
Thorny Hedgehogs be not feen,
Newts and blind Worms do no wrong,
Come not near our Fairy Queen.
Philomel with Melody,
Sing in your Sweet Lullaby,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby :
Never harm, nor Spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely Lady nigh,
So good night with Lullaby.
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