340 the game. 350 300 370 Her. O me! you juggler ! you canker-blossom! Her. You, mistress, all this coil is ʼlong of you : You thief of love! what! have you come by night Nay, go not back. And stol'n my love's heart from him ? Hel. I will not trust you, I, Hel. Fine, i' faith ! Nor longer stay in your curst company. Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray, No touch of bashfulness? What I will you tear My legs are longer though, to run away. Erit. Impatient answers from my gentle tongue ? ller. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say. Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet you ! Erit. Her. Puppet ! why so? Ay, that way goes Obe. This is thy negligence: stillthou mistak'st, Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully. Now I perceive that she hath made compare 290 Puck. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook. Between our statures : she hath urg'd her height; Did not you tell me I should know the man And with her personage, her tall personage, By the Athenian garments he had on? Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him. And so far blameless proves my enterprise, And are you grown so high in his esteem, That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes ; Because I am so dwarfish and so low ? And so far am I glad it so did sort, How low am I, thou painted maypole ? speak; As this their jangling I esteem a sport. How low am I? I am not yet so low Obe. Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight: But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; Ha. I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, The starry welkin cover thou anon And lead these testy rivals so astray, As one come not within another's way. Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think, Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, 360 Because she is something lower than myself, Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong ; That I can match her. And sometime rail thou like Demetrius; Her. Lower! hark, again. And from each other look thou lead them thus, Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep I evermore did love you, Hermia, With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep : Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you; Then crush this herb into Lysander's ere; Save that, in love unto Demetrius, Whose liquor hath this virtuous property; I told him of your stealth unto this wood. 310 To take from thence all error with his might, He follow'd you ; for love I follow'd him ; And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight. But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me When they next wake, all this derision To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too : Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision ; And now, so you will let me quiet go, And back to Athens shall the lovers wend, To Athens will I bear my folls back. With leaguewhose clate till death shall neverend, And follow you no further: let me go: Whiles I in this affair do thee employ, You see how simple and how fond I am. I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy ; Her. Why, get you gone. Who is 't that And then I will her charmed eye release hinders vou? From monster's view, and allthings shall be peace. He. A foolish heart, that I leave here behind. Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with Her. What! with Lysander ? haste, Hel. With Demetrius, 320 For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, Lys. Be not afraid : she shall not harm thee, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ; Helena. At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and Dem. No, sir; she shall not, though you take there, Troop home to churchyards : damned spirits all, Hel. 0! when she's angry, she is keen and That in crossways and floods have burial, shrewd. Already to their wormy beds are gone ; She was a vixen when she went to school: For fear lest day should look their shames upon, And though she be but little, she is fierce. They wilfully themselves exile from light, Her. “Little' again! nothing but 'low' and And must forayeconsort with black-brow'd night. little'! Obe. But we are spirits of another sort. Why will you suffer her to flout me thus ? I with the morning's love have oft made sport ; Let me come to her. And, like a forester, the groves may tread, Lys. Get you gone, you dwarf; Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red, You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made ; Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, You bead, you acorn. Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams. Dem. You are too officions 330 But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay: In her behalf that scorns your services. We may effect this business yet ere day. Erit. Let her alone ; speak not of Helena ; Puck. Up and down, up and down; Take not her part, for thou dost intend I will lead them up and down : Never so little show of love to her, I am fear'a in field and town ; Thou shalt aby it. Goblin, lead them up and down. Lys. Now she holds me not ; Here comes one. Now follow, if thon dar'st, to try whose right, Re-enter LYSANDER. Of thine or mine, is most in Helena. Dem. Follow ! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius ? speak jole. Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS. thou now. 990 her part. 400 450 460 410 Puck. Here, villain ! drawn and ready. Where | Here will I rest me till the break of day. art thou ? Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray ! Lys. I will be with thee straight. Lies down and sleeps. Puck. Follow me, then, Puck. On the ground Sleep sound: I'll apply To your eye, Gentle lover, remedy. Squeezes the juice on LYSANDER's eyes. Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled ? When thou wak'st, Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide Thou tak'st thy head? True delight Puck. Thou coward ! art thou bragging to In the sight the stars, Of thy former lady's eye: Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars, And the country proverb known, And wilt not come ? Come, recreant; come, That every man should take his own, thou child ; In your waking shall be shown: I'll whip thee with a rod : he is defild Jack shall have Jill; Nought shall go ill ; The man shall have his mare again, And all shall be well, Exit. here. Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I.--A Wood. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA and HERMIA I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly; lying asleep. Enter TITANIA and BOTTOM. That fallen am I in dark uneven way, And here will rest me. Pairies attending. OBERON behind unseen. Come, thon gentle day ! T'ita. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed, For if but once thou show me thy grey light, While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, 111 find Demetrius and revenge this spite. 420 And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, Sleeps. And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. Re-enter Puck and DEMETRIUS. Bot. Where's Pease-blossom ? Peas. Ready. Puek. Hol ho! ho! Coward, why com'st thou Bot. Scratch my head, Pease-blossom. Where's not Mounsieur Cobweb? Dem. Abide me, if thou dar'st ; for well I wot Cob. Ready. Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place, Bot. Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. you your weapons in your hand, and kill me a Where art thou now? red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle ; Puck. Come hither: I am here. wand, good mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Dem. Nay, then, thou mock’st me. Thou shalt Do not fret yourself too much in the action, buy this dear, mounsieur; and, good mounsieur, have a care If ever I thy face by daylight see : the honey-bag break not: I would be loath to Must. Ready seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good Re-enter HELENA. mounsieur. Hd. O weary night, O long and tedious night, Must. What's your will ? Abate thy hours ! shine comforts from the east! Bot. Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help That I may back to Athens by daylight, Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the From these that my poor company detest : barber's, mounsieur ; for methinks I am marvelAnd sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, lous hairy about the face; and I am such a tender Steal me awhile from mine own company. ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch. Lies down and sleeps. Tita. What, wilt thou hear some music, my Puck. Yet but three ? Come one more ; sweet love? Two of both kinds make up four. Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in music: Here she comes, curst and sad : let's have the tongs and the bones. Cupid is a knavish lad, Tita. Or say," sweet love, what thou desir'st Thus to make poor females mad. to eat. Bot. Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch Re-enter HERMIA. your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great Her. Never so weary, never so in woe, desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers, hath no fellow. I can no further crawl, no further go; Tita. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek My legs can keep no pace with my desires. The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts. 9 430 92 31 440 100 111 190 60 Bot. I had rather have a handful or two of We the globe can compass soon, dried pease. But, I pray you, let none of your Swifter than the wandering moon. people stir me: I have an exposition of sleep Tita. Come, my lord ; and in our flight come upon me. Tell me how it came this night Tita. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. That I sleeping here was found Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away. With these mortals on the ground. E.ceunt Fairies. Excunt. So doth the woodbine the sweet honey-suckle Horns winded within, Gently entwist; the female ivy so Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. Train. O! how I love thee; how I dote on thee! They sleep. 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, Obe. Advancing. Welcome, good Robin. Seest My love shall hear the music of my hounds. thou this sweet sight? Uncouple in the western valley ; let them go : Her dotage now I do begin to pity; 50 Dispatch, I say, and find the forester. For, meeting her of late behind the wood, We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, Seeking sweet savours for this hateful fool, And mark the musical confusion I did upbraid her and fall out with her; Of hounds and echo in conjunction. For she his hairy temples then had rounded Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers ; When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear And that same dew, which sometime on the buds With bounds of Sparta : never did I hear Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls, Such gallant chiding ; for, besides the groves, Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes The skies, the fountains, every region near Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail. Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard When I had at my pleasure taunted her, So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. And she in mild terms begg'd my patience, The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, I then did ask of her her changeling child ; So flew'd, so sanded; and their heads are hung Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent With ears that sweep away the morning dew; To bear him to my bower in fairy land. Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian And now I have the boy, I will undo bulls ; This hateful imperfection of her eyes : Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp Each under each. A cry more tuneable From off the head of this Athenian swain, Was never holla’d to, nor cheer'd with horn, That, he awaking when the other do, In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly : May all to Athens back again repair, 70 Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs And think no more of this night's accidents are these? But as the fierce vexation of a dream. Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep; But first I will release the fairy queen. 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 Tita. My Oberon ! what visions have I seen! But speak, Egeus, is not this the day Methought I was enamour'd of an ass. That Hermia should give answer of her choice ! Obe. There lies your love. Ege. It is, my lord. Tita. How came these things to pass ? The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with 0! how mine eyes do loathe his visage now. their horns. Obe. Silence awhile. Robin, take off this head. Horns, and shout within. DEMETRIUS, Titania, music call ; and strike more dead LYSANDER, HERMIA, and HELENA, Than common sleep of all these five the sense. wuke and start up. Tita. Music, ho! music! such as charmeth Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past ; sleep. Music. Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? Puck. Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own Lys. Pardon, my lord. fool's eyes peep. He and the rest kncel to THESEUS. Obe. Sound, music! Come, my queen, take The. I pray you all, stand up. hands with me, I know you two are rival enemies : And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be. How comes this gentle concord in the world, Now thou and I are new in amity, That hatred is so far from jealousy, And will to-morrow midnight solemnly To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity! Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly, Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly, And bless it to all fair prosperity: Half sleep, half waking : but as vet, I swear, 204 There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be I cannot truly say how I came here ; Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity. But, as I think. - for truly would I speak, Puck, Fairy king, attend, and mark ; And now I do bethink me, so it is- I came with Hermia hither: our intent Then, my queen, in silence sad, Was to be gone from Athens, where we might, 190 80 90 Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have if he will offer to say what methought I had. enough: I beg the law, the law, upon his head. Thereby to have defeated you and me; The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man Of this their purpose hither, to this wood; 160 170 The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: 180 Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and Train. Dem. These things seem small and undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. eye, 190 When every thing seems double. Hel. Dem. think The duke was here, and bid us follow him? Her. Yea; and my father. And Hippolyta. 201 And by the way let us recount our dreams. Exeunt. Bot. Awaking. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyramus.' Heigh-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 patched fool 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. 19 Flute. 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! 29 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 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 Exeunt. 47 more words: away! go; away! 61 70 20 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror. The thrice three Muscs mourning for the death Of Learning, late deceas'd in beggary. SCENE I. -Athens. An Apartment in the Palace That is some satire keen and critical, of THESEUS. 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! Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these That is, hot ice and wonderous strange snow. lovers speak of. How shall we find the concord of this discord ? The. More strange than true : I never may Phil. A play there is, my lord, some ten words believe long, Which makes it tedious; for in all the play And tragical, my noble lord, it is, Are of imagination all compact : For Pyramus therein doth kill himself. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, Which when I saw rehears'd, I must confess, That is the madman ; the lover, all as frantic, 10 Made mine eyes water ; but more merry tears Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: The passion of loud laughter never shed. The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, The. What are they that do play it ? Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth Phil. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens to heaven; here, And, as imagination bodies forth Which never labour'd in their minds till now, The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing with this same play, against your nuptial. A local babitation and a name. The. And we will hear it. Such tricks hath strong imagination, Phil. No, my noble lord; That, if it would but apprehend some joy, It is not for you: I have heard it over, It comprehends some bringer of that joy; And it is nothing, nothing in the world; Or in the night, imagining some fear, Unless you can find sport in their intents, How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear ! Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain, Hip. But all the story of the night told over, To do you service. And all their minds transfigur'd so together, The. I will hear that play; More witnesseth than fancy's images, For never any thing can be amiss, And grows to something of great constancy, When simpleness and duty tender it. But, howsoever, strange and admirable. Go, bring them in : and take your places, ladies, The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and Exit PHILOSTRATE. mirth. Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o'erEnter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, charg'd, And duty in his service perishing. and HELENA. The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such Joy, gentle friends ! joy and fresh days of love thing. Accompany your hearts ! Hip. He says they can do nothing in this Lys. More than to us kind. Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed ! The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for The. Come now ; what masques, what dances nothing. shall we have, Our sport shall be to take what they mistake : w To wear away this long age of three hours And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect Between our after-supper and bed-time? Takes it in might, not merit. Where is our usual manager of mirth ? Where I have come, great clerks have purposed What revels are in hand ? Is there no play, To greet me with premeditated welcomes ; To ease the anguish of a torturing hour! Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, Call Philost rate. Make periods in the midst of sentences, Phil. Here, mighty Theseus. Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears, The. Say, what abridgement have you for this And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off, evening? Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet, What masque, what music? How shall we beguile Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome; 100 The lazy time, if not with some delight? And in the modesty of fearful duty Phil. There is a brief how many sports are ripe; I read as much as from the rattling tongue Gives a paper. Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity Re-enter PHILOSTRATE. Phil . So please your grace, the Prologue is The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, address'. Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. The. Let him approach. That is an old device ; and it was play'd Flourish of trumpets. 30 41 50 |
