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 Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of dried Now thou and I are new in amity; Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark; Obe. Then, my queen, in silence sad, 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; - Of hounds and echo in conjunction. Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 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. This hateful imperfection of her eyes. ; And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp That he, awaking when the other do, 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 I wonder of their being here together. The. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe Ege. It is, my lord. are The. Go, bid the huntsman wake them with their horns. Horns, and Shout within. Demetrius, Lysander, The. Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past; Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? The. [He and the rest kneel to Theseus. I know, you are two rival enemies: Half 'sleep, half waking: But as yet, I'swear, But, as I think, (for truly would I speak,- I came with Hermia hither; our intent Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough; Dem. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth, As the remembrance of an idle gawd, But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food: The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: [Exeunt The. Hip. Ege. and Train. Dem. These things seem small, and undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. 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. 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 Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, Lords, and 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. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; That is, the madman: the lover heaven; And, as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Such tricks hath strong imagination; It comprehends t some bringer of that joy; a bear ! Or, in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush suppos'd Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and 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. The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, The thrice three Muses mourning for the death Philost. A play there is, my lord, some ten words long; Which is as brief as I have known a play: The. What are they, that do play it? 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. nothing. Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake: I read as much, as from the rattling tongue Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will. 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? 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 [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 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. 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 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. 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, His eyes were green as leeks. With hands as pale as milk; Come, blade, my breast imbrue; '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, Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, 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. SONG AND DANCE. Obe. Now, until the break of day, Through this house each fairy stray. So shall all the couples three Shall upon their children be.- Trip away; 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,) 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. [Exit. Ladies, attending on the Princess. Jaquenetta, a country Wench. Officers, and others, Attendants on the King and Princess. The endeavour of this present breath may buy Make rich the ribs, but bank'rout quite the wits. 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, As, not to see a woman in that term; |