Scene II.

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.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

613

I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of bell,
the hand I love so well.
To die upon

Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursae me

not.

[Exeunt DEM. and HEL. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,

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

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 with Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.

Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted ada-
mant;

Re-enter PUCK.

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wan-
derer.

Puck. Ay, there it is.

Obe. I pray thee, give it me.

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,
With sweet mu-k-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
light;
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and de-

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 thon some of it, and seek through this

grove :

But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

Is true as steel: Leave you your power to A sweet Athenian lady is in love

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-1 do not, nor I cannot love you?
Hel. And even for that do I love you 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

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
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
More fond on her, than she upon her love :
[Exeunt.
Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall
do so.

me,

SCENE III.

Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

'Another part of the Wood.

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

Enter TITANIA, with her train.
Tita. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy

Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;

spirit;
For I am sick, when I do look on thee.
Hel. And I am sick, when I look not on
you.

[back
Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern
wings,
To make my small elves coats; and some, keep
wonders
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and

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 bath not such a beart as
you.

• Mad, raving.
+ Bring in question.

At our quaint spirits: Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.

SONG.

1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
and blind-worms, do no
Newts,
wrong;

Come not near our fairy queen :

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, the
field,

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

11.

Makes speed to catch the tiger: Bootless speed! 2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here,
W ben cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me

hence:

go:

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.

CHORUS.
Philomel, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lul-
laby:

Never harm, nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh:
So, good night, with lullaby.

Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

CHORUS.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

1 Fai. Hence, away; now all is well:
One, aloof, stand sentinel.

Exeunt Fairies.-TITANIA sleeps.

1 Vigorous. • By. + The greater cowslip. Sports. Bats. A kind of dance. tt Slow-worms. .. Efts.

Enter OBERON.

Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost wake,
[Squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eye-lids.
Do t for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak'st, it is thy dear;
Wake, when some vile thing is near.

tears:

If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than ber's.
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

For beasts that meet me, run away for fear:
Therefore, no marvel, though Demetrius
Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne!
But who is here ?-Lysander! on the ground!
Dead or asleep? I see no blood, no wound :—
Lysander, if you live, good Sir, awake.

Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet
[Waking.

sake.

And to speak troth, I have forgot our way; We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day. Her. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a Transparent Helena! Nature here show's art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy bed, heart.

[Exit.

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA. Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

For I upon this bank will rest my head.
Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us
both;
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my
dear,

Hel. Oh! I am out of breath in this fond
chase!

The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright! Not with salt

Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

Lys. O take the sense, sweet, of my inno

cence;

Love take the meaning, in love's conference.
I mean, that my heart unto your's is knit;
So that but one heart we can make of it:
Two bosoms interchained with an oath;
So then, two bosoms, and a single troth.
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny;
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Her. Lysander riddles very prettily:-
Now much beshrew my manners

pride,

If Hermia meant to say, Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in hunan modesty
Such separation, as, may well be said,
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid:
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend :
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end!

Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I ;
And then end life, when I end loyalty!
Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest!
Her. With balf that wish the wisher's eyes be
press'd!
[They sleep.

and

Enter PUCK.

Puck. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here ?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid:
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe:
When thou wak'st, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.
So awake, when I am gone;
For 1 must now to Oberon.

+ Possess.

Where is Demetrius ? Oh! how fit a word
Is that vile name, to perish on my sword!

Hel. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so: What though he love your Hermia ? Lord, what though?

Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content. Lys. Content with Hermia? No: 1 do repeut

The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena I love:
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their sea-

son:

So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason; my And touching now the point of human skid, Reason becomes the marshal to my will,

And leads me to your eyes; where I o'erlook;
Love's stories written in love's richest book.

Hel. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery
born?

When, at your hands, did I deserve this scorn?
Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can,
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eve,
But you must flout my insufficiency?

Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you
do.

[Exit.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running.
Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Deme-

trius.

In such disdainful manner me to woo.
But fare you well: perforce I must confess,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
Oh! that a lady, of one man refus'd,
Should, of another, therefore be abus'd!

Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt

me thus.

Hel. O wilt thou darkling leave me? do

not so.

Dem. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go.
[Edit DEMETRIUS.
The small tiger.

In the dark

[Erit. Lys. She sees not Hermia:-Hermia, skep thou there;

And never may'st thou come Lysander near!
For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings;
Or, as the heresies, that Dien do leave,
Are hated most of those they did deceive;
So thou, my surfeit, and my heresy,
Of all be hated; but the most of me!
And all my powers, address your love and

might,

To honour Helen, and to be her knight!

Erit.

Her. [starting.] Help me, Lysander, help me!
do thy best,
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ah! me, for pity!-what a dream was here I
Lysander, look, how I do quake with fear:
Methought a serpent eat my heart away, .
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey :---
Lysander what, remov'd! Lysander! lord!
sound, so
What, out of hearing? gone? no
word?
Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves; I swoon almest with

fear.

By all that is dear.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

Scene I.

No 1-then I well perceive you are not nigh:
Either death, or you, I'll find immediately.

[Exit.

615

Pyramus and Thisby, says the story, did talk
through the chinks of a wall.

Snug. You never can bring in a wall. What
say you, Bottom?

Bot. Some man or other must present wall : and let him have some plaster, or some lome, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; or let him hold his fingers thus, and through

ACT III.

Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, parts.
awd STARVELING.

Quin. If that may be, then all is well. Come,
SCENE I-The same.-The Queen of Fairies that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.
lying asleep.
sit down, every mother's son, and rehearse your
Pyramus, you begin: when you have
spoken your speech, enter into that brake and
so every one according to his cue.

Bot. Are we all met?

Quin. Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal: This green plot shall be our stage, this bawthorn brake our tyring. bouse; and we will do it in action, as we will do it before the duke.

Bot. Peter Quince,

Quin. What say'st thou, bully Bottom?
Bot. There are things in this comedy of Py.
Tamus and Thisby, that will never please. First,
Pyramus must draw his sword to kill himself;
which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you
that ?

Snout. By'rlakin,

a parlous + fear.

Star. I believe, we must leave the killing out, when all is done.

Bot. Not a whit: I have a device to make all well. Write me a prologue: and let the prologue seem to say, we will do no harm with our swords; and that Pyramus is not killed indeed and, for the more better assurance, tell them, that I Pyramus am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: This will put them out of fear.

Enter PUCK behind.

Puck. What hempen home-spuns have we
swaggering here,

So near the cradle of the fairy queen ?
What, a play toward? I'll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.

Star. I fear it, I promise you.

Bot. Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to bring in, God shield us! a lion among ladies, is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion, living; and we ought to look to it.

Snout. Therefore, another prologue must he is not a lion.

Bot. Nay, you must name his name, and half
his face must be seen through the lion's neck;
and he himself must speak through, saying thus,
or to the same defect,-Ladies, or fair ladies, I
would wish you, or, I would request you, or, I
would entreat you, not to fear, not to tremble:
my life for your's. If you think I come hither
as a lion, it were pity of my life: No, I am no
such thing; I am a man as other men are :-and
there, indeed, let bim name his name; and tell
zhem plainly, he is Snug the joiner.

But there is two
Quin. Well, it shall be so.
hard things; that is, to bring the moon-light in-
to a chamber: for you know, Pyramus and Thisby
meet by moon-light.

Quin. Speak, Pyramus :-Thisby, stand forth.
Pyr. Thisby, the flowers of odious savours
sweet,-

Quin. Odours, odours.

Pyr.

-odours savours sweet:

So doth thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.while. But, hark, a voice! stay thou but here a And by and by I will to thee appear.

By our ladykin. + Dangerous.

Quin. Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be written in eight and six.

Bot. No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.

Snout. Will not the ladies be afeard of the Most brisky juvenal, lion ?

[Exit. Puck. A strauger Pyramus than e'er play'd [Aside.-Exit. here!

This. Must I speak now?

Quin. Ay, marry, must you for you must understand, he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.

This. Most radiant Pyramus, most lilywhite of hue,

Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,

1 Terrible.

Snug. Doth the moon shine, that night we play our play?

Bot. A calendar, a calendar! look in the lmanack; find out moon-shine, find out moon. bine.

Pll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.

Quin. Ninus' tomb, man: Why you must not speak that yet; that you answer to Pyramus: you speak all your part at once, cues and all. tell,-Pyramus enter; your cue is past; it is, never

tire.

and eke most lovely

Jew, As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire,

Quin. Yes, it doth shine that night.

Bot. Why, then you may leave a casement of the great chamber window, where we play, open; and the moon may shine in at the case

Bent.

Re-enter PUCK, and BOTTOM with an ass' head.

This. O-As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire.

Pyr. If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine :

we are

Quin. O monstrous! O strange ! baunted. [Exeunt Clowns. Pray, masters! fly, masters! help! Puck. I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round, Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar ; A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire; Sometime a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound, And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and

buru,

Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. [Exit. Bot. Why do they run away? this is a klavery of them, to make me afeard. §

Quin. Ay; or else one must come in with a bash of thorns and a lanthorn, and say, he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Toon-shine. Then, there is another thing: we st have a wall in the great chamber; for

me,

On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee. Bot. Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days: The more the pity, that some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.

Peas. Peas-blossom.

Bot. I pray you, commend me to mistress Squash, your mother, and to master Peascod, your father. Good master Peas-blossom, I sball desire you of more acquaintance too.-Your name I beseech you, Sir? Mus. Mustard-seed.

Bot. Good master Mustard seed, I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you, your kindred bath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you more acquaintance, good master Mustard-seed. Tita. Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.

Tita. Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. Bot. Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.

Tita. Out of this wood do not desire to go;
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit, of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state,
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep:
And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost
sleep:

And I will purge thy mortal grossness so,
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.-
Peas-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-
seed!

Enter four FAIRIES.

1 Fai. Hail, mortal!

2 Fai. Hail!

1 Fai. Ready.

2 Fal. And I.

3 Fai. And I.

4 Fai. Where shall we go?

Tita. Be kind and courteous to this gentle

man;

The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye;
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.

Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently.
[Exeunt.

Hop in his walks, and gambol in bis eyes;
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey bags steal from the humble-bees,
And, for night tapers, crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed, and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

3 Fai. Hail !

4 Fai. Hail!

Bot. I cry your worship's mercy, heartily.I beseech, your worship's name.

• The cuckoo with his uniform note. ↑ Joke. 1 Gooseberries.

SCENE II.-Another part of the Wood.
Enter OBERON.

Obe. I wonder, if Titania be awak'd;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Enter PUCK.

Here comes my messenger.-How now, mad
spirit?

What night-rule now about this haunted grove !
Puck. My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play,
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,+
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
Forsook his scene, and enter'd in a brake:
When I did him at this advantage take,
An ass' nowit I fixed on his bead;
Anon, his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimický comes; When they him

spy,

As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
Sever themselves, and madly sweep the sky;
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly:
And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls;
He murder cries, and help from Athens cails.
Their sense, thus weak, lost with their fears
thus strong,

Made senseless things begin to do them wrong:
For briers and thorus at their apparel snatch;
Some, sleeves; some, hats from yieiders all
things catch.

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

Obe. This falls out better than I could devist.
But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do!

Puck. I took him sleeping,—that is finish't too,

And the Athenian woman by his side;
That when he wak'd, of force she must be
ey'd.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.

Obe. Stand close; this is the same Athenian.
Puck. This is the woman, but not this the

mian.

Dem. why rebuke you him that loves you

Cob. Cobweb.

so?

Bot. I shall desire you of more acquaintance good master Cobweb: If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.-Your name, honest Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe. gentleman ?

Simple fellows.
1 flead.
Infected,

+ Stupid company.

↑ Actor.