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That they have overborne their continents'.
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn
Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard:.
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain stock:
The nine-men's morris 2 is till'd up with mud;
And the quaint 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 blest :-
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air.
That rheumatic diseases do abound':
And, thorough this distemperature, we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And on old Hyem's chin, and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds

Since once I sat upon a promontory.
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil-at her song;

5 And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's musick.

Puck. I remember.

Ob. That very time I saw, (but thou could'st not)
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
10Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west;

And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
15 Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watry moon;
And the imperial votress passed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free".

Yet, mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:

It fell upon a little western flower,- [wound,

Is, as in mockery, set: The spring, the summer, 20 Before, milk-white; now purple with love's

The childing' autum, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the 'mazed world,
..y their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissention;
We are their parents and original.

Ob. Do you amend it then; it lies in
Why should Titania cross her Oberon ?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman'.

you:

Queen. Set your heart at rest,
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side;
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embark'd traders on the flood:
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
(Following her womb then rich with my young
Would imitate; and sail upon the land, ['squire)
To fetch me trifles and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And, for her sake, I do rear up her boy;
And, for her sake, I will not part with him.
Ob. How long within this wood intend you
stay?

[day.

[once;

And maidens call it, love in idleness'.

Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly doat

25 Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again,
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

30

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35 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?

40

And I will over-hear their conference.

Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

45 The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.
Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood,
And here am I, and wood 10 within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, 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

Queen. Perchance, till after Theseus' wedding-50
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
Ob. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy fairy kingdom-Fairies,away:
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.

[Exeunt Queen and her train.

Ob. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this "Till I torment thee for this injury.

[grove,

55

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 speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth

Tell you-I 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;

My gentle Puck, come hither: Thou remember'st 60 Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,

2

Meaning their banks. Nine men's morris is a game still played by the shepherds, cow-keepers, &c. in the midland counties The confusion of seasors here described, is no more than a poetical account of the weather, which happened in England about the time when this play was first published. That is perturbation. That is, the pregnant. That is, produce. Page of honour. This was intended as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth. i. e. heart's-ease. 10 Wood, here means mad, wild, racing. In this sense it was formerly spelled wode.

Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
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?
-Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spi-
For I am sick, when I do look on thee.

[rit:

Hel. And I am sick, when I look not on you.
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 tack 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 thebrakes,]
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

5

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Another part of the Wood.

Enter the Queen of Fairies, with her train.
Queen. Come, now a roundel2, and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence:
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;
15 Some, war with rear-mice on 3 for their leathern
wings

To make my small elves coats; and some keep back
The clam'rous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits: Sing me now asleep;
20 Then to your offices, and let me rest,

Hel. The wildest has not such a heart as you.
Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd: 25
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tyger: Bootless speed!
When cowardice pursues and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go: 30

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,

35

You do ine mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do ;
We shou'd be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of heil.
To die upon the hand I love so well. [Exeunt.
Ob. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave 40

this grove,

Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.-
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
Re-enter Puck.

• Puck, Ay, there it is.

Ob. 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-canopy'd with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
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 thou some of it, and seek through this grove:|
A sweet Athenian lady is in love

With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies

The greater cowslip. burton reads quaint sports,

45

First Fairy.

You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen:
Chorus.

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in your sweet lullaby:

Lulla, tulla, lullaby; lulla, lilla, lullaby;
Never harm, nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby,
Second Fairy.

Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence you long-legg'd spinners, hence;
Beetles black, approach not near:
Worm, nor snail, do no offence,
Chorus.

Philomel, with melody, &c.
First Fairy.

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

[Exeunt Fairies. The Queen sleeps,
Enter Oberon.

Ob. What thou seest, when thou dost wake,
[Squeezes the flower on her eye-lids.

Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake:
50 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. [Exit Ober.
Enter Lysander and Hermia.

55

60

Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the

wood;

And to speak truth, I have forgot our way:

We'll rest us. Hermia, if you think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.

A roundel is a dance in a ring. A rere-mouse is a bat. Dr. War-
The ounce is a small tyger, or tyger-cat.

Her

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Her. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed, For upon this bank will rest my head.

Ls. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosems, and one troth.

Hr. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake,my dear,
Lve further off, yet, do not lye so near.

L. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;
I ove takes the meaning in love's conierence.
1 men,
that my heart unto yours 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-rooin me deny;
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Har. Lysander riddles very prettily:-
Now mach beshrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say. Lysander ly'd.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lye turther off; in human modesty
Such separation, as, may well be said,
Becomes a virtuous batchelor, and a maid:
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend :
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet lite end!

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

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 Ive
Near to this lack-love, this 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-id.
So awake, when I ain gone;

For I must now to Oberon.

[Exit.

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10 Ljs. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet
[Waking.
Transparent Helena! Nature shews art,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? Oh, how fit a word

15 is that vile name, to perish on my sword!

20

Hel. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so: What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though 3?

Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
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;
25 And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season:
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
30 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? 351s't not enough, is't not enough, young man, That I did never, no, nor never can,

Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
Good troth, you do me wrong, good soth, you do,
40 In such disdainful manner me to woo.

1451

"Enter Demetrius and Hlena running.
H. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
D. m. Icharge thee, hence, and do not haunt me 50
thus.

II. O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
Dem. Stay on thy peril: I alone will go.

[Exit Demetrius.
Hel. O, I am out of breath, in this fond chace!
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace2.
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;

For she hath blessed and attractive eyes. [tears
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt
If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.

55

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! [Exit.
Lys. She sees not Hermia:-Hermia, sleep
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 men 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! [Exit.
Her. [starting from sleep.] Help me, Lysan-
der, help me! do thy best,

To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! Ay me, for pity!—what a dream was here? 60Lysander, look, how I do quake with fear!

Beshrew means the same as if she had said, "Now ill be fal my manners, &c." i. e. My acceptableness. i. e. What then? Meaning, that he had more of the spirit of a gentleman.

Methought

Methought, a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey:
Lysander! what, remov'd? Lysander, lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?

Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves'; I swoon, almost with fear.
No?-then I will perceive you are not nigh;
Or death, or you, I'll find immediately.

[Exit.

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30

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 kill'd indeed : and, for the more better assurance tell them, that 35 I Pyramus am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: This will put them out of fear.

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 40 in eight and eight.

Snout. Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
Star. I fear it, I promise you.

Bot. Masters, you ought to consider with your-
selves: to bring in, God shield us! a lion among 45
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 tell, he is not a lion.

150

155

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, would entreat you, not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours. 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 him name his name; and tell them 60 plainly, he is Snug the joiner.

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hard things; that is, to bring the moon-light into a chamber: for you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moon-light.

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

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

Quin. Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lanthorn, and say, he comes to distigure, or to present, the person of moonshine. Then, there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby, says the story, did talk through the chink 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 that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.

Come,

Quin. If that may be, then all is well. sit down, every mother's son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin: when you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake; and so every one according to his cue.

Enter Puck behind.

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

i. e. by our Ladykin, or little lady.

1 This adjuration is frequently used by our author. lous means dangerous. Brake anciently signified a thicket or bush. i. e. a little while.

3 Par

This. "Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white "of hue,

"Of colour like the red-rose on triumphant brier, "Most briskly juvenal', and eke most lovely Jew, "As true as truest horse, that yet would never "tire,

"I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb."

5

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.-Pyra-10 mus enter; your cue i past; it is, never tire. Re-enter Puck and Bottom with an ass's head. This. "O-As true as truest horse, that yet "would never tire."

Pur." If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine:"15 Quin. Omonstrous! O strange! we are haunted! Pray, masters! fly, masters! help!

[Exeunt Clowns. Puck. I follow you, I'll lead you about round, Through bog, through bush, through brake,

through brier:

So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force,perforce doth move 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.

Queen. 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

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The summer still doth tend upon my state,
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
I'll give thee faries to attend on thee;

20

Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar and burn, 25
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
Exit.
Bot. Why do they run away? this is a knavery
of them, to make me afeard '.

Re-enter Snout.

Snout. O Bottom, thou art chang'd! what do I see on thee?

Bot. What do you see? you see an ass' head] of your own; Do you?

Re-enter Quince.

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30

35

Bot. I see their knavery: this is to make an ass
of me; to fright me, if they could. But I will
not tir from this place, do what they can: I will 40
walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they
shall hear I am not afraid.

The ousel-cock, so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill,

The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill:

[Sings.

Queen. What angel wakes me from my flowery

bed?

Bottom sings.

Waking.

The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,

The plain-song cuckow gray,

Whose note full many a man doth mark,

And dares not answer, nay:

45

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.-
Pease-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-
seed!

Enter four fairies,

1 Fair. Ready.
2 Fair. And I.

3 Fair. And I.

4 Fair. And I: where shall we go?

Queen. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his 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.
1 Fair. Hail, mortal, hail!

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for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a 55 Squash' your mother, and to master Peascod, your

bird? Who would give the bird the lye, though

he cry cuckow, never so.

Quien. I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:

Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note,

ather. Good master Pease-blossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance too.-Your name, I beseech you, sir?

Mus. Mustard-seed.

1i. e. young man. 2A cue, in the language of the stage, is the last words of the preceding speech, and serves as a hint to him who is to speak next. 3i. e. afraid. The ousel cock is generally understood to be the cock blackbird. The throstle is the thrush. i. e. deceive, or beguile. Å squash is an unripe peascod,

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