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

Bot. 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 must 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 a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fel

low.

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.
Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away.
So doter the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle,
Gently entwist, the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!

Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly,
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair posterity:
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 us how it came this night,

That I sleeping here was found,

With these mo mortals, on

the ground. [Exeunt.

[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 vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.-
Uncouple in the western valley; go:
Despatch, I say, and tind 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, hesides 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-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tunable

Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,

[They sleep. In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:

Oberon advances. Enter Puck.

Obe. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this 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 mild terms, ms, begg'd g'd my 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

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 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;

these?

Judge, dge, when you hear. But, soft; what nymphs
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.

are

The. Go, bid the huntsman wake them with their

horns.

Horns, and Shout within. Demetrius, Lysander,
Hermia, and Helena, wake and start up.

The. Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is

past;

Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
Lys. Pardon, my lord.

The.

[He and the rest kneel to Theseus.
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,
[Touching her Eyes with an Herb. I cannot truly say how I came here:

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I'swear,

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 stol'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,
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 loathe 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. Hip. 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.

That yet we sleep, we dream.

The duke was here, and hid us Her. Yea; and my father. Hel.

It seems to me

Do not you think, follow him?

And Hippolyta.

Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple. Dem. Why then, we are awoke: let's follow him; And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [Exeunt.

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 can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had, But man is but a pat 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 [Exit.

death.

SCENE II. Athens. A Room in Quince's House. Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.

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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, that plays the lion, pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the lion's 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, away. [Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I. The same. An Apartment in the
Palace of Theseus.

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, Lords, and
Attendants.

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:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
all as frantic,

That is, the madman: the lover
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;
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,

It comprehends t

some

bringer of that joy; a bear !

Or, in the night, imagining some fear,

How easy is a bush

suppos'd
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.

Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love, come home yet?

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

transported.

Flu. If he come not, then the play is marred; It goes not forward, doth it?

Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man in 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 ladies 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.

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The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
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 wondrous 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:
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long;
Which makes it tedious: for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
And tragical, my noble lord, it is;
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
Which, when I saw rebears'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.

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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 accents 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.

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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?

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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 sun[content

der:

And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are
To whisper; at the which let no man wonder.
This man, an, 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 walk, as I would have you think, That had in it a craony'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

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mine;

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

But what see I? No Thisby do I see. O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss; Curst be thy thy stones stones for 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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Pyr. O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall

This. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all." Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?"

This. Tide life, tide death, 1 come without delay.' Wall. Thus have I, wall, my part discharged so; And, being done, thus wall away doth go.'

[Exeunt Wall, Pyramus, and Thisbe.

The. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear without warning.

Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. The. The best in this kind are but shadows and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not

theirs.

The. If we imagine no worse of them, than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts in, a moon and alion.

Enter Lion and Moonshine.

Lion. You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know, that I, one Snug the joiner, am
A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam:
For if I should as lion come in strife

Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.'

The. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.

Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. The. True and a goose for his discretion. Dem. Not so, my lord for his valour cannot carry his discretion and the fox carries the goose.

The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is

well: leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to

the moon.

Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present:'

Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the circumference.

Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present; Myself the man i'th' moon do seem to be."

The. This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man should be put into the lantern How is it else the man i'the moon?

Dem. He dares not come there for the candle: for, you see, it is already in snuff.

Hip I am aweary of this moon: Would, he would change!

The. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time.

Lys. Proceed, moon,

Moon. All that I have to say, is, to tell you, that the lantern is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.

Dem, Why, all these should be in the lantern; for they are in the moon. But, silence, here comes Thisbe.

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Asleep, my love ?

What, dead, my dove?

O Pyramus, arise,

dumb?

Speak, speak. Quite dum

Dead, dead? A tomb

Must cover thy sweet eyes.

These lily brows,

This cherry nose,

These yellow cowslip cheeks,
Are gone, are gone:
'Lovers, make moan!

His eyes were green as leeks.
O sisters three,
Come, come to me,

With hands as pale as milk;
Lay them in gore,
Since you have shore
With shears his thread of silk.
Tongue, not a word:-
Come, trusty sword;

Come, blade, my breast imbrue;
And farewell, friends; -
Thus, Thisby ends:

'Adieu, adieu, adieu.'

[Dies.

The. Moonshine and lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and wall too.

Bot. No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance, between two of our company?

The. No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it had play'd Pyramus, and hanged himself in Thishe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy: and so it is truly; and very notably discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your epilogue alone. [Here a Dance of Clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve: Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn,

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Puck. Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon;
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud,
Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night,
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church way paths to glide :
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecat's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
I am sent, with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.

Enter Oberon and Titania, with their Train.

Obe. Through this house give glimmering light, By the dead and drowsy tire:

Every elf, and fairy sprite,

Hop as light as bird from brier;

And this ditty, after me,

Sing and dance it trippingly.

Tita. First rehearse this song by rote;

To each word a warbling note,

Hand in hand, with fairy grace,

Will we sing, and bless this place.

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SONG AND DANCE.

Obe. Now, until the break of day,

Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue, there create,
Ever shall be fortunate.

So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:
And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand;
Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.-
With this field-dew consecrate,
Every fairy take his gait;
And each several chamber bless,
Through this palace, with sweet peace:
E'er shall it in safety rest,
And the owner of it blest.

Trip away;
Make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt Oberon, Titania, and Train.

Puck. If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, (and all is mended,)
That you have but slumber'd here,
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend; rep
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck

Now to scape the serpent's tongue,

We will make amends, ere long:

Else the Puck a liar call.

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.

Love's Labour's Lost.

DRAMATIS PERSONA.

Lords, attending on the King.

Lords, attending on the Princess of

France.

Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical Spaniard.

Sir Nathaniel, a Curate.

Holofernes, a Schoolmaster.

Dull, a Constable,

Costard, a Clown.

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[Exit.

Ladies, attending on the Princess.

Jaquenetta, a country Wench.

Officers, and others, Attendants on the King and Princess.

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The endeavour of this present breath may buy

Make rich the ribs, but bank'rout quite the wits.
Dum. My loving lord, Dumain is mortified;
The grosser manner of these world's delights
He throws upon the gross world' ld's baser slaves:

That honour, which shall bate his scythe's keen edge, To love, to wealth, to pomp, I pine and die;

And make us heirs of all eternity.

With all these living in philosophy.

Therefore, brave conquerors! for so you are,

That war against your own affections,

And the huge army of the world's desires, Our late edict shall strongly stand in force: Navarre shall be the wonder of the world;

Biron. I can but say their protestation over, So much, dear liege, I have already sworn, That is, To live and study here three years. But there are other strict observances:

Our court shall be a little academe,
Still and contemplative in living art.
You three, Biron, Dumain, and Longaville,
Have sworn for three years' term to live with me,
My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes,
That are recorded in this schedule here.
Your oaths are past, and now subscribe your names:
That his own hand may strike his honour down,

As, not to see a woman in that term;
Which, I hope well, is not enrolled there:
And, one day in a week to touch no food;
And but one meal on every day beside;
The which, I hope, is not enrolled there:
And then, to sleep but three hours in the night,
And not be seen to wink of all the day;
(When I was wont to think no harm all night,
And make a dark night too of half the day;)

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