midsummer.txt 110 KB

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  1. Project Gutenberg Etext of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
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  13. A Midsummer Night's Dream
  14. by William Shakespeare [Collins edition]
  15. November, 1998 [Etext #1514]
  16. [Most recently updated: July 2, 2003]
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  219. This etext was prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team,
  220. a team of about twenty Project Gutenberg volunteers.
  221. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
  222. by William Shakespeare
  223. Persons Represented.
  224. THESEUS, Duke of Athens.
  225. EGEUS, Father to Hermia.
  226. LYSANDER, in love with Hermia.
  227. DEMETRIUS, in love with Hermia.
  228. PHILOSTRATE, Master of the Revels to Theseus.
  229. QUINCE, the Carpenter.
  230. SNUG, the Joiner.
  231. BOTTOM, the Weaver.
  232. FLUTE, the Bellows-mender.
  233. SNOUT, the Tinker.
  234. STARVELING, the Tailor.
  235. HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, bethrothed to Theseus.
  236. HERMIA, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander.
  237. HELENA, in love with Demetrius.
  238. OBERON, King of the Fairies.
  239. TITANIA, Queen of the Fairies.
  240. PUCK, or ROBIN GOODFELLOW, a Fairy.
  241. PEASBLOSSOM, Fairy.
  242. COBWEB, Fairy.
  243. MOTH, Fairy.
  244. MUSTARDSEED, Fairy.
  245. PYRAMUS, THISBE, WALL, MOONSHINE, LION } Characters in the
  246. Interlude performed by the Clowns.
  247. Other Fairies attending their King and Queen.
  248. Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta.
  249. SCENE: Athens, and a wood not far from it.
  250. ACT I.
  251. SCENE I. Athens. A room in the Palace of THESEUS.
  252. [Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants.]
  253. THESEUS
  254. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
  255. Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
  256. Another moon; but, oh, methinks, how slow
  257. This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
  258. Like to a step-dame or a dowager,
  259. Long withering out a young man's revenue.
  260. HIPPOLYTA
  261. Four days will quickly steep themselves in nights;
  262. Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
  263. And then the moon, like to a silver bow
  264. New bent in heaven, shall behold the night
  265. Of our solemnities.
  266. THESEUS
  267. Go, Philostrate,
  268. Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
  269. Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
  270. Turn melancholy forth to funerals--
  271. The pale companion is not for our pomp. --
  272. [Exit PHILOSTRATE.]
  273. Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
  274. And won thy love doing thee injuries;
  275. But I will wed thee in another key,
  276. With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling.
  277. [Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS.]
  278. EGEUS
  279. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
  280. THESEUS
  281. Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
  282. EGEUS
  283. Full of vexation come I, with complaint
  284. Against my child, my daughter Hermia.--
  285. Stand forth, Demetrius.--My noble lord,
  286. This man hath my consent to marry her:--
  287. Stand forth, Lysander;--and, my gracious duke,
  288. This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child.
  289. Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
  290. And interchang'd love-tokens with my child:
  291. Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,
  292. With feigning voice, verses of feigning love;
  293. And stol'n the impression of her fantasy
  294. With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
  295. Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats,--messengers
  296. Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth;--
  297. With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart;
  298. Turned her obedience, which is due to me,
  299. To stubborn harshness.--And, my gracious duke,
  300. Be it so she will not here before your grace
  301. Consent to marry with Demetrius,
  302. I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,--
  303. As she is mine I may dispose of her:
  304. Which shall be either to this gentleman
  305. Or to her death; according to our law
  306. Immediately provided in that case.
  307. THESEUS
  308. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair maid:
  309. To you your father should be as a god;
  310. One that compos'd your beauties: yea, and one
  311. To whom you are but as a form in wax,
  312. By him imprinted, and within his power
  313. To leave the figure, or disfigure it.
  314. Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
  315. HERMIA
  316. So is Lysander.
  317. THESEUS
  318. In himself he is:
  319. But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
  320. The other must be held the worthier.
  321. HERMIA
  322. I would my father look'd but with my eyes.
  323. THESEUS
  324. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
  325. HERMIA
  326. I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
  327. I know not by what power I am made bold,
  328. Nor how it may concern my modesty
  329. In such a presence here to plead my thoughts:
  330. But I beseech your grace that I may know
  331. The worst that may befall me in this case
  332. If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
  333. THESEUS
  334. Either to die the death, or to abjure
  335. For ever the society of men.
  336. Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,
  337. Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
  338. Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
  339. You can endure the livery of a nun;
  340. For aye to be shady cloister mew'd,
  341. To live a barren sister all your life,
  342. Chanting faint hymns to the cold, fruitless moon.
  343. Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood
  344. To undergo such maiden pilgrimage:
  345. But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd
  346. Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
  347. Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.
  348. HERMIA
  349. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
  350. Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
  351. Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
  352. My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
  353. THESEUS
  354. Take time to pause; and by the next new moon,--
  355. The sealing-day betwixt my love and me
  356. For everlasting bond of fellowship,--
  357. Upon that day either prepare to die
  358. For disobedience to your father's will;
  359. Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
  360. Or on Diana's altar to protest
  361. For aye austerity and single life.
  362. DEMETRIUS
  363. Relent, sweet Hermia;--and, Lysander, yield
  364. Thy crazed title to my certain right.
  365. LYSANDER
  366. You have her father's love, Demetrius;
  367. Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.
  368. EGEUS
  369. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love;
  370. And what is mine my love shall render him;
  371. And she is mine; and all my right of her
  372. I do estate unto Demetrius.
  373. LYSANDER
  374. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
  375. As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
  376. My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
  377. If not with vantage, as Demetrius's;
  378. And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
  379. I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia:
  380. Why should not I then prosecute my right?
  381. Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
  382. Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
  383. And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
  384. Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
  385. Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
  386. THESEUS
  387. I must confess that I have heard so much,
  388. And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
  389. But, being over-full of self-affairs,
  390. My mind did lose it.--But, Demetrius, come;
  391. And come, Egeus; you shall go with me;
  392. I have some private schooling for you both.--
  393. For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
  394. To fit your fancies to your father's will,
  395. Or else the law of Athens yields you up,--
  396. Which by no means we may extenuate,--
  397. To death, or to a vow of single life.--
  398. Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?
  399. Demetrius, and Egeus, go along;
  400. I must employ you in some business
  401. Against our nuptial, and confer with you
  402. Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
  403. EGEUS
  404. With duty and desire we follow you.
  405. [Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, DEMETRIUS, and Train.]
  406. LYSANDER
  407. How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
  408. How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
  409. HERMIA
  410. Belike for want of rain, which I could well
  411. Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
  412. LYSANDER
  413. Ah me! for aught that I could ever read,
  414. Could ever hear by tale or history,
  415. The course of true love never did run smooth:
  416. But either it was different in blood,--
  417. HERMIA
  418. O cross! Too high to be enthrall'd to low!
  419. LYSANDER
  420. Or else misgraffed in respect of years;--
  421. HERMIA
  422. O spite! Too old to be engag'd to young!
  423. LYSANDER
  424. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends:
  425. HERMIA
  426. O hell! to choose love by another's eye!
  427. LYSANDER
  428. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
  429. War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it,
  430. Making it momentary as a sound,
  431. Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
  432. Brief as the lightning in the collied night
  433. That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
  434. And ere a man hath power to say, Behold!
  435. The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
  436. So quick bright things come to confusion.
  437. HERMIA
  438. If then true lovers have ever cross'd,
  439. It stands as an edict in destiny:
  440. Then let us teach our trial patience,
  441. Because it is a customary cross;
  442. As due to love as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,
  443. Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.
  444. LYSANDER
  445. A good persuasion; therefore, hear me, Hermia.
  446. I have a widow aunt, a dowager
  447. Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
  448. From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
  449. And she respects me as her only son.
  450. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
  451. And to that place the sharp Athenian law
  452. Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
  453. Steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night;
  454. And in the wood, a league without the town,
  455. Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
  456. To do observance to a morn of May,
  457. There will I stay for thee.
  458. HERMIA
  459. My good Lysander!
  460. I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow,
  461. By his best arrow, with the golden head,
  462. By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
  463. By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
  464. And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
  465. When the false Trojan under sail was seen,--
  466. By all the vows that ever men have broke,
  467. In number more than ever women spoke,--
  468. In that same place thou hast appointed me,
  469. Tomorrow truly will I meet with thee.
  470. LYSANDER
  471. Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
  472. [Enter HELENA.]
  473. HERMIA
  474. God speed fair Helena! Whither away?
  475. HELENA
  476. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
  477. Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair!
  478. Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
  479. More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
  480. When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
  481. Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
  482. Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
  483. My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
  484. My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
  485. Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
  486. The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
  487. O, teach me how you look; and with what art
  488. You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart!
  489. HERMIA
  490. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
  491. HELENA
  492. O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
  493. HERMIA
  494. I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
  495. HELENA
  496. O that my prayers could such affection move!
  497. HERMIA
  498. The more I hate, the more he follows me.
  499. HELENA
  500. The more I love, the more he hateth me.
  501. HERMIA
  502. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
  503. HELENA
  504. None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
  505. HERMIA
  506. Take comfort; he no more shall see my face;
  507. Lysander and myself will fly this place.--
  508. Before the time I did Lysander see,
  509. Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
  510. O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,
  511. That he hath turn'd a heaven unto hell!
  512. LYSANDER
  513. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
  514. To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
  515. Her silver visage in the watery glass,
  516. Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,--
  517. A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,--
  518. Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal.
  519. HERMIA
  520. And in the wood where often you and I
  521. Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie,
  522. Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
  523. There my Lysander and myself shall meet:
  524. And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
  525. To seek new friends and stranger companies.
  526. Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us,
  527. And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!--
  528. Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
  529. From lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight.
  530. LYSANDER
  531. I will, my Hermia.
  532. [Exit HERMIA.]
  533. LYSANDER
  534. Helena, adieu:
  535. As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!
  536. [Exit LYSANDER.]
  537. HELENA
  538. How happy some o'er other some can be!
  539. Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
  540. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
  541. He will not know what all but he do know.
  542. And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
  543. So I, admiring of his qualities.
  544. Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
  545. Love can transpose to form and dignity.
  546. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
  547. And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.
  548. Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste;
  549. Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
  550. And therefore is love said to be a child,
  551. Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd.
  552. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
  553. So the boy Love is perjur'd everywhere:
  554. For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
  555. He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
  556. And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
  557. So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt.
  558. I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;
  559. Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
  560. Pursue her; and for this intelligence
  561. If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
  562. But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
  563. To have his sight thither and back again.
  564. [Exit HELENA.]
  565. SCENE II. The Same. A Room in a Cottage.
  566. [Enter SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, QUINCE, and STARVELING.]
  567. QUINCE
  568. Is all our company here?
  569. BOTTOM
  570. You were best to call them generally, man by man,
  571. according to the scrip.
  572. QUINCE
  573. Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is thought
  574. fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the
  575. duke and duchess on his wedding-day at night.
  576. BOTTOM
  577. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on;
  578. then read the names of the actors; and so grow to a point.
  579. QUINCE
  580. Marry, our play is--The most lamentable comedy and most
  581. cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.
  582. BOTTOM
  583. A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.--
  584. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll.--
  585. Masters, spread yourselves.
  586. QUINCE
  587. Answer, as I call you.--Nick Bottom, the weaver.
  588. BOTTOM
  589. Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.
  590. QUINCE
  591. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
  592. BOTTOM
  593. What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?
  594. QUINCE
  595. A lover, that kills himself most gallantly for love.
  596. BOTTOM
  597. That will ask some tears in the true performing of it.
  598. If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move
  599. storms; I will condole in some measure. To the rest:--yet my
  600. chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a
  601. part to tear a cat in, to make all split.
  602. The raging rocks
  603. And shivering shocks
  604. Shall break the locks
  605. Of prison gates:
  606. And Phibbus' car
  607. Shall shine from far,
  608. And make and mar
  609. The foolish Fates.
  610. This was lofty.--Now name the rest of the players.--This is
  611. Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein;--a lover is more condoling.
  612. QUINCE
  613. Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
  614. FLUTE
  615. Here, Peter Quince.
  616. QUINCE
  617. Flute, you must take Thisby on you.
  618. FLUTE
  619. What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
  620. QUINCE
  621. It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
  622. FLUTE
  623. Nay, faith, let not me play a woman; I have a beard coming.
  624. QUINCE
  625. That's all one; you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as
  626. small as you will.
  627. BOTTOM
  628. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too:
  629. I'll speak in a monstrous little voice;--'Thisne, Thisne!'--
  630. 'Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby dear! and lady dear!'
  631. QUINCE
  632. No, no, you must play Pyramus; and, Flute, you Thisby.
  633. BOTTOM
  634. Well, proceed.
  635. QUINCE
  636. Robin Starveling, the tailor.
  637. STARVELING
  638. Here, Peter Quince.
  639. QUINCE
  640. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.--
  641. Tom Snout, the tinker.
  642. SNOUT
  643. Here, Peter Quince.
  644. QUINCE
  645. You, Pyramus' father; myself, Thisby's father;--Snug,
  646. the joiner, you, the lion's part:--and, I hope, here is a play
  647. fitted.
  648. SNUG
  649. Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it
  650. me, for I am slow of study.
  651. QUINCE
  652. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
  653. BOTTOM
  654. Let me play the lion too: I will roar that I will do
  655. any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar that I will make the
  656. duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.'
  657. QUINCE
  658. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the
  659. duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were
  660. enough to hang us all.
  661. ALL
  662. That would hang us every mother's son.
  663. BOTTOM
  664. I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies
  665. out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang
  666. us: but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as
  667. gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any
  668. nightingale.
  669. QUINCE
  670. You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a
  671. sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's
  672. day; a most lovely gentleman-like man; therefore you must
  673. needs play Pyramus.
  674. BOTTOM
  675. Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in?
  676. QUINCE
  677. Why, what you will.
  678. BOTTOM
  679. I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard,
  680. your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your
  681. French-crown-colour beard, your perfect yellow.
  682. QUINCE
  683. Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and
  684. then you will play bare-faced.-- But, masters, here are your
  685. parts: and I am to entreat you, request you, and desire you, to
  686. con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a
  687. mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse: for
  688. if we meet in the city, we shall be dogg'd with company, and our
  689. devices known. In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties,
  690. such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not.
  691. BOTTOM
  692. We will meet; and there we may rehearse most obscenely
  693. and courageously. Take pains; be perfect; adieu.
  694. QUINCE
  695. At the duke's oak we meet.
  696. BOTTOM
  697. Enough; hold, or cut bow-strings.
  698. [Exeunt.]
  699. ACT II.
  700. SCENE I. A wood near Athens.
  701. [Enter a FAIRY at One door, and PUCK at another.]
  702. PUCK
  703. How now, spirit! whither wander you?
  704. FAIRY
  705. Over hill, over dale,
  706. Thorough bush, thorough brier,
  707. Over park, over pale,
  708. Thorough flood, thorough fire,
  709. I do wander everywhere,
  710. Swifter than the moon's sphere;
  711. And I serve the fairy queen,
  712. To dew her orbs upon the green.
  713. The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
  714. In their gold coats spots you see;
  715. Those be rubies, fairy favours,
  716. In those freckles live their savours;
  717. I must go seek some dew-drops here,
  718. And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
  719. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:
  720. Our queen and all her elves come here anon.
  721. PUCK
  722. The king doth keep his revels here to-night;
  723. Take heed the Queen come not within his sight.
  724. For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
  725. Because that she, as her attendant, hath
  726. A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;
  727. She never had so sweet a changeling:
  728. And jealous Oberon would have the child
  729. Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild:
  730. But she perforce withholds the loved boy,
  731. Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy:
  732. And now they never meet in grove or green,
  733. By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
  734. But they do square; that all their elves for fear
  735. Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.
  736. FAIRY
  737. Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
  738. Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
  739. Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he
  740. That frights the maidens of the villagery;
  741. Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern,
  742. And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
  743. And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;
  744. Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  745. Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
  746. You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
  747. Are not you he?
  748. PUCK
  749. Thou speak'st aright;
  750. I am that merry wanderer of the night.
  751. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
  752. When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
  753. Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
  754. And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
  755. In very likeness of a roasted crab;
  756. And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
  757. And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
  758. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
  759. Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
  760. Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
  761. And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
  762. And then the whole quire hold their hips and loffe,
  763. And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
  764. A merrier hour was never wasted there.--
  765. But room, fairy, here comes Oberon.
  766. FAIRY
  767. And here my mistress.--Would that he were gone!
  768. [Enter OBERON at one door, with his Train, and TITANIA,
  769. at another, with hers.]
  770. OBERON
  771. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
  772. TITANIA
  773. What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence;
  774. I have forsworn his bed and company.
  775. OBERON
  776. Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?
  777. TITANIA
  778. Then I must be thy lady; but I know
  779. When thou hast stol'n away from fairy-land,
  780. And in the shape of Corin sat all day,
  781. Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love
  782. To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
  783. Come from the farthest steep of India,
  784. But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
  785. Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,
  786. To Theseus must be wedded; and you come
  787. To give their bed joy and prosperity.
  788. OBERON
  789. How canst thou thus, for shame, Titania,
  790. Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
  791. Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
  792. Didst not thou lead him through the glimmering night
  793. From Perigenia, whom he ravish'd?
  794. And make him with fair Aegle break his faith,
  795. With Ariadne and Antiopa?
  796. TITANIA
  797. These are the forgeries of jealousy:
  798. And never, since the middle summer's spring,
  799. Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
  800. By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
  801. Or on the beached margent of the sea,
  802. To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
  803. But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
  804. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
  805. As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
  806. Contagious fogs; which, falling in the land,
  807. Hath every pelting river made so proud
  808. That they have overborne their continents:
  809. The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
  810. The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn
  811. Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard:
  812. The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
  813. And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;
  814. The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud;
  815. And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
  816. For lack of tread, are undistinguishable:
  817. The human mortals want their winter here;
  818. No night is now with hymn or carol blest:--
  819. Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
  820. Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
  821. That rheumatic diseases do abound:
  822. And thorough this distemperature we see
  823. The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
  824. Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
  825. And on old Hyem's thin and icy crown
  826. An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
  827. Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
  828. The childing autumn, angry winter, change
  829. Their wonted liveries; and the maz'd world,
  830. By their increase, now knows not which is which:
  831. And this same progeny of evils comes
  832. From our debate, from our dissension:
  833. We are their parents and original.
  834. OBERON
  835. Do you amend it, then: it lies in you:
  836. Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
  837. I do but beg a little changeling boy
  838. To be my henchman.
  839. TITANIA
  840. Set your heart at rest;
  841. The fairy-land buys not the child of me.
  842. His mother was a vot'ress of my order:
  843. And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
  844. Full often hath she gossip'd by my side;
  845. And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
  846. Marking the embarked traders on the flood;
  847. When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,
  848. And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
  849. Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait
  850. Following,--her womb then rich with my young squire,--
  851. Would imitate; and sail upon the land,
  852. To fetch me trifles, and return again,
  853. As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
  854. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
  855. And for her sake do I rear up her boy:
  856. And for her sake I will not part with him.
  857. OBERON
  858. How long within this wood intend you stay?
  859. TITANIA
  860. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day.
  861. If you will patiently dance in our round,
  862. And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
  863. If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
  864. OBERON
  865. Give me that boy and I will go with thee.
  866. TITANIA
  867. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away:
  868. We shall chide downright if I longer stay.
  869. [Exit TITANIA with her Train.]
  870. OBERON
  871. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove
  872. Till I torment thee for this injury.--
  873. My gentle Puck, come hither: thou remember'st
  874. Since once I sat upon a promontory,
  875. And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
  876. Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
  877. That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
  878. And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
  879. To hear the sea-maid's music.
  880. PUCK
  881. I remember.
  882. OBERON
  883. That very time I saw,--but thou couldst not,--
  884. Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
  885. Cupid, all arm'd: a certain aim he took
  886. At a fair vestal, throned by the west;
  887. And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
  888. As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
  889. But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
  890. Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon;
  891. And the imperial votaress passed on,
  892. In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
  893. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
  894. It fell upon a little western flower,--
  895. Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,--
  896. And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
  897. Fetch me that flower, the herb I showed thee once:
  898. The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
  899. Will make or man or woman madly dote
  900. Upon the next live creature that it sees.
  901. Fetch me this herb: and be thou here again
  902. Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
  903. PUCK
  904. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
  905. In forty minutes.
  906. [Exit PUCK.]
  907. OBERON
  908. Having once this juice,
  909. I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
  910. And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
  911. The next thing then she waking looks upon,--
  912. Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
  913. On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,--
  914. She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
  915. And ere I take this charm from off her sight,--
  916. As I can take it with another herb,
  917. I'll make her render up her page to me.
  918. But who comes here? I am invisible;
  919. And I will overhear their conference.
  920. [Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.]
  921. DEMETRIUS
  922. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
  923. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
  924. The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.
  925. Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood,
  926. And here am I, and wode within this wood,
  927. Because I cannot meet with Hermia.
  928. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
  929. HELENA
  930. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
  931. But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
  932. Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw,
  933. And I shall have no power to follow you.
  934. DEMETRIUS
  935. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
  936. Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
  937. Tell you I do not, nor I cannot love you?
  938. HELENA
  939. And even for that do I love you the more.
  940. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
  941. The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
  942. Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
  943. Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
  944. Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
  945. What worser place can I beg in your love,
  946. And yet a place of high respect with me,--
  947. Than to be used as you use your dog?
  948. DEMETRIUS
  949. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit;
  950. For I am sick when I do look on thee.
  951. HELENA
  952. And I am sick when I look not on you.
  953. DEMETRIUS
  954. You do impeach your modesty too much,
  955. To leave the city, and commit yourself
  956. Into the hands of one that loves you not;
  957. To trust the opportunity of night,
  958. And the ill counsel of a desert place,
  959. With the rich worth of your virginity.
  960. HELENA
  961. Your virtue is my privilege for that.
  962. It is not night when I do see your face,
  963. Therefore I think I am not in the night;
  964. Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company;
  965. For you, in my respect, are all the world:
  966. Then how can it be said I am alone
  967. When all the world is here to look on me?
  968. DEMETRIUS
  969. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes,
  970. And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.
  971. HELENA
  972. The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
  973. Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd;
  974. Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
  975. The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
  976. Makes speed to catch the tiger,--bootless speed,
  977. When cowardice pursues and valour flies.
  978. DEMETRIUS
  979. I will not stay thy questions; let me go:
  980. Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
  981. But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
  982. HELENA
  983. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
  984. You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
  985. Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:
  986. We cannot fight for love as men may do:
  987. We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
  988. I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell,
  989. To die upon the hand I love so well.
  990. [Exeunt DEMETRIUS and HELENA.]
  991. OBERON
  992. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,
  993. Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.--
  994. [Re-enter PUCK.]
  995. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
  996. PUCK
  997. Ay, there it is.
  998. OBERON
  999. I pray thee give it me.
  1000. I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
  1001. Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;
  1002. Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
  1003. With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
  1004. There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
  1005. Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight;
  1006. And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
  1007. Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
  1008. And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
  1009. And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  1010. Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
  1011. A sweet Athenian lady is in love
  1012. With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
  1013. But do it when the next thing he espies
  1014. May be the lady: thou shalt know the man
  1015. By the Athenian garments he hath on.
  1016. Effect it with some care, that he may prove
  1017. More fond on her than she upon her love:
  1018. And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
  1019. PUCK
  1020. Fear not, my lord; your servant shall do so.
  1021. [Exeunt.]
  1022. SCENE II. Another part of the wood.
  1023. [Enter TITANIA, with her Train.]
  1024. TITANIA
  1025. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
  1026. Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;
  1027. Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;
  1028. Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,
  1029. To make my small elves coats; and some keep back
  1030. The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders
  1031. At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
  1032. Then to your offices, and let me rest.
  1033. SONG.
  1034. I.
  1035. FIRST FAIRY
  1036. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
  1037. Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
  1038. Newts and blind-worms do no wrong;
  1039. Come not near our fairy queen:
  1040. CHORUS.
  1041. Philomel, with melody,
  1042. Sing in our sweet lullaby:
  1043. Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
  1044. Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
  1045. Come our lovely lady nigh;
  1046. So good-night, with lullaby.
  1047. II.
  1048. SECOND FAIRY
  1049. Weaving spiders, come not here;
  1050. Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence;
  1051. Beetles black, approach not near;
  1052. Worm nor snail do no offence.
  1053. CHORUS
  1054. Philomel with melody, &c.
  1055. FIRST FAIRY
  1056. Hence away; now all is well.
  1057. One, aloof, stand sentinel.
  1058. [Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps.]
  1059. [Enter OBERON.]
  1060. OBERON
  1061. What thou seest when thou dost wake,
  1062. [Squeezes the flower on TITANIA'S eyelids.]
  1063. Do it for thy true-love take;
  1064. Love and languish for his sake;
  1065. Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
  1066. Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
  1067. In thy eye that shall appear
  1068. When thou wak'st, it is thy dear;
  1069. Wake when some vile thing is near.
  1070. [Exit.]
  1071. [Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.]
  1072. LYSANDER
  1073. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;
  1074. And, to speak troth, I have forgot our way;
  1075. We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
  1076. And tarry for the comfort of the day.
  1077. HERMIA
  1078. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed,
  1079. For I upon this bank will rest my head.
  1080. LYSANDER
  1081. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
  1082. One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
  1083. HERMIA
  1084. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
  1085. Lie farther off yet, do not lie so near.
  1086. LYSANDER
  1087. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;
  1088. Love takes the meaning in love's conference.
  1089. I mean that my heart unto yours is knit;
  1090. So that but one heart we can make of it:
  1091. Two bosoms interchained with an oath;
  1092. So then two bosoms and a single troth.
  1093. Then by your side no bed-room me deny;
  1094. For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
  1095. HERMIA
  1096. Lysander riddles very prettily:--
  1097. Now much beshrew my manners and my pride
  1098. If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied!
  1099. But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
  1100. Lie further off; in human modesty,
  1101. Such separation as may well be said
  1102. Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid:
  1103. So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend:
  1104. Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!
  1105. LYSANDER
  1106. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer say I;
  1107. And then end life when I end loyalty!
  1108. Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest!
  1109. HERMIA
  1110. With half that wish the wisher's eyes be pressed!
  1111. [They sleep.]
  1112. [Enter PUCK.]
  1113. PUCK
  1114. Through the forest have I gone,
  1115. But Athenian found I none,
  1116. On whose eyes I might approve
  1117. This flower's force in stirring love.
  1118. Night and silence! Who is here?
  1119. Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
  1120. This is he, my master said,
  1121. Despised the Athenian maid;
  1122. And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
  1123. On the dank and dirty ground.
  1124. Pretty soul! she durst not lie
  1125. Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
  1126. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
  1127. All the power this charm doth owe;
  1128. When thou wak'st let love forbid
  1129. Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
  1130. So awake when I am gone;
  1131. For I must now to Oberon.
  1132. [Exit.]
  1133. [Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running.]
  1134. HELENA
  1135. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
  1136. DEMETRIUS
  1137. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.
  1138. HELENA
  1139. O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
  1140. DEMETRIUS.
  1141. Stay on thy peril; I alone will go.
  1142. [Exit DEMETRIUS.]
  1143. HELENA
  1144. O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!
  1145. The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
  1146. Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies,
  1147. For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
  1148. How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
  1149. If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
  1150. No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;
  1151. For beasts that meet me run away for fear:
  1152. Therefore no marvel though Demetrius
  1153. Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.
  1154. What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
  1155. Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?--
  1156. But who is here?--Lysander! on the ground!
  1157. Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.
  1158. Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.
  1159. LYSANDER
  1160. [Waking.]
  1161. And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.
  1162. Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,
  1163. That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
  1164. Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
  1165. Is that vile name to perish on my sword!
  1166. HELENA
  1167. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so:
  1168. What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
  1169. Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
  1170. LYSANDER.
  1171. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
  1172. The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
  1173. Not Hermia but Helena I love:
  1174. Who will not change a raven for a dove?
  1175. The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
  1176. And reason says you are the worthier maid.
  1177. Things growing are not ripe until their season;
  1178. So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;
  1179. And touching now the point of human skill,
  1180. Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
  1181. And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook
  1182. Love's stories, written in love's richest book.
  1183. HELENA
  1184. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
  1185. When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
  1186. Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
  1187. That I did never, no, nor never can
  1188. Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
  1189. But you must flout my insufficiency?
  1190. Good troth, you do me wrong,--good sooth, you do--
  1191. In such disdainful manner me to woo.
  1192. But fare you well: perforce I must confess,
  1193. I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
  1194. O, that a lady of one man refus'd
  1195. Should of another therefore be abus'd!
  1196. [Exit.]
  1197. LYSANDER
  1198. She sees not Hermia:--Hermia, sleep thou there;
  1199. And never mayst thou come Lysander near!
  1200. For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
  1201. The deepest loathing to the stomach brings;
  1202. Or, as the heresies that men do leave
  1203. Are hated most of those they did deceive;
  1204. So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
  1205. Of all be hated, but the most of me!
  1206. And, all my powers, address your love and might
  1207. To honour Helen, and to be her knight!
  1208. [Exit.]
  1209. HERMIA
  1210. [Starting.]
  1211. Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
  1212. To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
  1213. Ay me, for pity!--What a dream was here!
  1214. Lysander, look how I do quake with fear!
  1215. Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
  1216. And you sat smiling at his cruel prey.--
  1217. Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
  1218. What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
  1219. Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear;
  1220. Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
  1221. No?--then I well perceive you are not nigh:
  1222. Either death or you I'll find immediately.
  1223. [Exit.]
  1224. ACT III.
  1225. SCENE I. The Wood. The Queen of Fairies lying asleep.
  1226. [Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING.]
  1227. BOTTOM
  1228. Are we all met?
  1229. QUINCE
  1230. Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our
  1231. rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn
  1232. brake our tiring-house; and we will do it in action, as we will
  1233. do it before the duke.
  1234. BOTTOM
  1235. Peter Quince,--
  1236. QUINCE
  1237. What sayest thou, bully Bottom?
  1238. BOTTOM
  1239. There are things in this comedy of 'Pyramus and Thisby' that
  1240. will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill
  1241. himself; which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that?
  1242. SNOUT
  1243. By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
  1244. STARVELING
  1245. I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
  1246. BOTTOM
  1247. Not a whit: I have a device to make all well. Write me a
  1248. prologue; and let the prologue seem to say we will do no harm
  1249. with our swords, and that Pyramus is not killed indeed; and for
  1250. the more better assurance, tell them that I Pyramus am not
  1251. Pyramus but Bottom the weaver: this will put them out of fear.
  1252. QUINCE
  1253. Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be
  1254. written in eight and six.
  1255. BOTTOM
  1256. No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
  1257. SNOUT
  1258. Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
  1259. STARVELING
  1260. I fear it, I promise you.
  1261. BOTTOM
  1262. Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to bring in,
  1263. God shield us! a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing:
  1264. for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living;
  1265. and we ought to look to it.
  1266. SNOUT
  1267. Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
  1268. BOTTOM
  1269. Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen
  1270. through the lion's neck; and he himself must speak through,
  1271. saying thus, or to the same defect,--'Ladies,' or, 'Fair ladies, I
  1272. would wish you, or, I would request you, or, I would entreat you,
  1273. not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours. If you think I
  1274. come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no such
  1275. thing; I am a man as other men are:'--and there, indeed, let him
  1276. name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
  1277. QUINCE
  1278. Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard things; that
  1279. is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber: for, you know,
  1280. Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight.
  1281. SNOUT
  1282. Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
  1283. BOTTOM
  1284. A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanack; find out
  1285. moonshine, find out moonshine.
  1286. QUINCE
  1287. Yes, it doth shine that night.
  1288. BOTTOM
  1289. Why, then may you leave a casement of the great chamber-window,
  1290. where we play, open; and the moon may shine in at the casement.
  1291. QUINCE
  1292. Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a
  1293. lantern, and say he comes to disfigure or to present the person
  1294. of moonshine. Then there is another thing: we must have a
  1295. wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby, says the
  1296. story, did talk through the chink of a wall.
  1297. SNOUT
  1298. You can never bring in a wall.--What say you, Bottom?
  1299. BOTTOM
  1300. Some man or other must present wall: and let him have
  1301. some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to
  1302. signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that
  1303. cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.
  1304. QUINCE
  1305. If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down, every
  1306. mother's son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin:
  1307. when you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake; and so
  1308. every one according to his cue.
  1309. [Enter PUCK behind.]
  1310. PUCK
  1311. What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
  1312. So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
  1313. What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;
  1314. An actor too perhaps, if I see cause.
  1315. QUINCE
  1316. Speak, Pyramus.--Thisby, stand forth.
  1317. PYRAMUS
  1318. 'Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,'
  1319. QUINCE
  1320. Odours, odours.
  1321. PYRAMUS
  1322. '--odours savours sweet:
  1323. So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.--
  1324. But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,
  1325. And by and by I will to thee appear.'
  1326. [Exit.]
  1327. PUCK
  1328. A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here!
  1329. [Aside.--Exit.]
  1330. THISBE
  1331. Must I speak now?
  1332. QUINCE
  1333. Ay, marry, must you: for you must understand he goes
  1334. but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
  1335. THISBE
  1336. 'Most radiant Pyramus, most lily white of hue,
  1337. Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
  1338. Most brisky juvenal, and eke most lovely Jew,
  1339. As true as truest horse, that would never tire,
  1340. I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.'
  1341. QUINCE
  1342. Ninus' tomb, man: why, you must not speak that yet:
  1343. that you answer to Pyramus. You speak all your part at once,
  1344. cues, and all.--Pyramus enter: your cue is past; it is 'never
  1345. tire.'
  1346. [Re-enter PUCK, and BOTTOM with an ass's head.]
  1347. THISBE
  1348. O,'--As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire.'
  1349. PYRAMUS
  1350. 'If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine:--'
  1351. QUINCE
  1352. O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray, masters!
  1353. fly, masters! Help!
  1354. [Exeunt Clowns.]
  1355. PUCK
  1356. I'll follow you; I'll lead you about a round,
  1357. Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier;
  1358. Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
  1359. A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
  1360. And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
  1361. Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
  1362. [Exit.]
  1363. BOTTOM
  1364. Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make
  1365. me afeard.
  1366. [Re-enter SNOUT.]
  1367. SNOUT
  1368. O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?
  1369. BOTTOM
  1370. What do you see? you see an ass-head of your own, do you?
  1371. [Re-enter QUINCE.]
  1372. QUINCE
  1373. Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated.
  1374. [Exit.]
  1375. BOTTOM
  1376. I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to
  1377. fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this
  1378. place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here,
  1379. and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.
  1380. [Sings.]
  1381. The ousel cock, so black of hue,
  1382. With orange-tawny bill,
  1383. The throstle with his note so true,
  1384. The wren with little quill.
  1385. TITANIA
  1386. [Waking.]
  1387. What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
  1388. BOTTOM
  1389. [Sings.]
  1390. The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
  1391. The plain-song cuckoo gray,
  1392. Whose note full many a man doth mark,
  1393. And dares not answer nay;--
  1394. for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird?
  1395. Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry 'cuckoo' never so?
  1396. TITANIA
  1397. I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again;
  1398. Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note.
  1399. So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
  1400. And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,
  1401. On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee.
  1402. BOTTOM
  1403. Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for
  1404. that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little
  1405. company together now-a-days: the more the pity that some honest
  1406. neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon
  1407. occasion.
  1408. TITANIA
  1409. Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
  1410. BOTTOM
  1411. Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out of
  1412. this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
  1413. TITANIA
  1414. Out of this wood do not desire to go;
  1415. Thou shalt remain here whether thou wilt or no.
  1416. I am a spirit of no common rate,--
  1417. The summer still doth tend upon my state;
  1418. And I do love thee: therefore, go with me,
  1419. I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;
  1420. And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
  1421. And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep:
  1422. And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
  1423. That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.--
  1424. Peasblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!
  1425. [Enter Four Fairies.]
  1426. FIRST FAIRY
  1427. Ready.
  1428. SECOND FAIRY
  1429. And I.
  1430. THIRD FAIRY
  1431. And I.
  1432. FOURTH FAIRY
  1433. Where shall we go?
  1434. TITANIA
  1435. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
  1436. Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;
  1437. Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
  1438. With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
  1439. The honey bags steal from the humble-bees,
  1440. And, for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs,
  1441. And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
  1442. To have my love to bed and to arise;
  1443. And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
  1444. To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
  1445. Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
  1446. FIRST FAIRY
  1447. Hail, mortal!
  1448. SECOND FAIRY
  1449. Hail!
  1450. THIRD FAIRY
  1451. Hail!
  1452. FOURTH FAIRY
  1453. Hail!
  1454. BOTTOM
  1455. I cry your worships mercy, heartily.--I beseech your
  1456. worship's name.
  1457. COBWEB
  1458. Cobweb.
  1459. BOTTOM
  1460. I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. If I
  1461. cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.--Your name, honest
  1462. gentleman?
  1463. PEASBLOSSOM
  1464. Peasblossom.
  1465. BOTTOM
  1466. I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and
  1467. to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peasblossom, I
  1468. shall desire you of more acquaintance too.--Your name, I beseech
  1469. you, sir?
  1470. MUSTARDSEED
  1471. Mustardseed.
  1472. BOTTOM
  1473. Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:
  1474. That same cowardly giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a
  1475. gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred hath made my
  1476. eyes water ere now. I desire you of more acquaintance, good
  1477. Master Mustardseed.
  1478. TITANIA
  1479. Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.
  1480. The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye;
  1481. And when she weeps, weeps every little flower;
  1482. Lamenting some enforc&egrave;d chastity.
  1483. Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently.
  1484. [Exeunt.]
  1485. SCENE II. Another part of the wood.
  1486. [Enter OBERON.]
  1487. OBERON
  1488. I wonder if Titania be awak'd;
  1489. Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
  1490. Which she must dote on in extremity.
  1491. [Enter PUCK.]
  1492. Here comes my messenger.--How now, mad spirit?
  1493. What night-rule now about this haunted grove?
  1494. PUCK
  1495. My mistress with a monster is in love.
  1496. Near to her close and consecrated bower,
  1497. While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
  1498. A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
  1499. That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
  1500. Were met together to rehearse a play
  1501. Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.
  1502. The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort
  1503. Who Pyramus presented in their sport,
  1504. Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake;
  1505. When I did him at this advantage take,
  1506. An ass's nowl I fix&egrave;d on his head;
  1507. Anon, his Thisbe must be answered,
  1508. And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
  1509. As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
  1510. Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
  1511. Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
  1512. Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
  1513. So at his sight away his fellows fly:
  1514. And at our stamp here, o'er and o'er one falls;
  1515. He murder cries, and help from Athens calls.
  1516. Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears, thus strong,
  1517. Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;
  1518. For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
  1519. Some sleeves, some hats: from yielders all things catch.
  1520. I led them on in this distracted fear,
  1521. And left sweet Pyramus translated there:
  1522. When in that moment,--so it came to pass,--
  1523. Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an ass.
  1524. OBERON
  1525. This falls out better than I could devise.
  1526. But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
  1527. With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
  1528. PUCK
  1529. I took him sleeping,--that is finish'd too,--
  1530. And the Athenian woman by his side;
  1531. That, when he wak'd, of force she must be ey'd.
  1532. [Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.]
  1533. OBERON
  1534. Stand close; this is the same Athenian.
  1535. PUCK
  1536. This is the woman, but not this the man.
  1537. DEMETRIUS
  1538. O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?
  1539. Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
  1540. HERMIA
  1541. Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse;
  1542. For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
  1543. If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
  1544. Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
  1545. And kill me too.
  1546. The sun was not so true unto the day
  1547. As he to me: would he have stol'n away
  1548. From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon
  1549. This whole earth may be bor'd; and that the moon
  1550. May through the centre creep and so displease
  1551. Her brother's noontide with the antipodes.
  1552. It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;
  1553. So should a murderer look; so dead, so grim.
  1554. DEMETRIUS
  1555. So should the murder'd look; and so should I,
  1556. Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty:
  1557. Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,
  1558. As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
  1559. HERMIA
  1560. What's this to my Lysander? where is he?
  1561. Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
  1562. DEMETRIUS
  1563. I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
  1564. HERMIA
  1565. Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds
  1566. Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
  1567. Henceforth be never number'd among men!
  1568. Oh! once tell true; tell true, even for my sake;
  1569. Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake,
  1570. And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!
  1571. Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
  1572. An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
  1573. Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
  1574. DEMETRIUS
  1575. You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood:
  1576. I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;
  1577. Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
  1578. HERMIA
  1579. I pray thee, tell me, then, that he is well.
  1580. DEMETRIUS
  1581. An if I could, what should I get therefore?
  1582. HERMIA
  1583. A privilege never to see me more.--
  1584. And from thy hated presence part I so:
  1585. See me no more whether he be dead or no.
  1586. [Exit.]
  1587. DEMETRIUS
  1588. There is no following her in this fierce vein:
  1589. Here, therefore, for a while I will remain.
  1590. So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
  1591. For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe;
  1592. Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
  1593. If for his tender here I make some stay.
  1594. [Lies down.]
  1595. OBERON
  1596. What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite,
  1597. And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
  1598. Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
  1599. Some true love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true.
  1600. PUCK
  1601. Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
  1602. A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
  1603. OBERON
  1604. About the wood go, swifter than the wind,
  1605. And Helena of Athens look thou find:
  1606. All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer,
  1607. With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear.
  1608. By some illusion see thou bring her here;
  1609. I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.
  1610. PUCK
  1611. I go, I go; look how I go,--
  1612. Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
  1613. [Exit.]
  1614. OBERON
  1615. Flower of this purple dye,
  1616. Hit with Cupid's archery,
  1617. Sink in apple of his eye!
  1618. When his love he doth espy,
  1619. Let her shine as gloriously
  1620. As the Venus of the sky.--
  1621. When thou wak'st, if she be by,
  1622. Beg of her for remedy.
  1623. [Re-enter PUCK.]
  1624. PUCK
  1625. Captain of our fairy band,
  1626. Helena is here at hand,
  1627. And the youth mistook by me
  1628. Pleading for a lover's fee;
  1629. Shall we their fond pageant see?
  1630. Lord, what fools these mortals be!
  1631. OBERON
  1632. Stand aside: the noise they make
  1633. Will cause Demetrius to awake.
  1634. PUCK
  1635. Then will two at once woo one,--
  1636. That must needs be sport alone;
  1637. And those things do best please me
  1638. That befall preposterously.
  1639. [Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.]
  1640. LYSANDER
  1641. Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
  1642. Scorn and derision never come in tears.
  1643. Look when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,
  1644. In their nativity all truth appears.
  1645. How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
  1646. Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?
  1647. HELENA
  1648. You do advance your cunning more and more.
  1649. When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
  1650. These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?
  1651. Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
  1652. Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,
  1653. Will even weigh; and both as light as tales.
  1654. LYSANDER
  1655. I had no judgment when to her I swore.
  1656. HELENA
  1657. Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.
  1658. LYSANDER
  1659. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
  1660. DEMETRIUS
  1661. [Awaking.]
  1662. O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
  1663. To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
  1664. Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
  1665. Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
  1666. That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow,
  1667. Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
  1668. When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
  1669. This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
  1670. HELENA
  1671. O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
  1672. To set against me for your merriment.
  1673. If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
  1674. You would not do me thus much injury.
  1675. Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
  1676. But you must join in souls to mock me too?
  1677. If you were men, as men you are in show,
  1678. You would not use a gentle lady so;
  1679. To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
  1680. When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
  1681. You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
  1682. And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
  1683. A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
  1684. To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
  1685. With your derision! None of noble sort
  1686. Would so offend a virgin, and extort
  1687. A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.
  1688. LYSANDER
  1689. You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;
  1690. For you love Hermia: this you know I know:
  1691. And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
  1692. In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
  1693. And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
  1694. Whom I do love and will do till my death.
  1695. HELENA
  1696. Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
  1697. DEMETRIUS
  1698. Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:
  1699. If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone.
  1700. My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd;
  1701. And now to Helen is it home return'd,
  1702. There to remain.
  1703. LYSANDER
  1704. Helen, it is not so.
  1705. DEMETRIUS
  1706. Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
  1707. Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.--
  1708. Look where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.
  1709. [Enter HERMIA.]
  1710. HERMIA
  1711. Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
  1712. The ear more quick of apprehension makes;
  1713. Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
  1714. It pays the hearing double recompense:--
  1715. Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
  1716. Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound.
  1717. But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
  1718. LYSANDER
  1719. Why should he stay whom love doth press to go?
  1720. HERMIA
  1721. What love could press Lysander from my side?
  1722. LYSANDER
  1723. Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,--
  1724. Fair Helena,--who more engilds the night
  1725. Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light.
  1726. Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know
  1727. The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?
  1728. HERMIA
  1729. You speak not as you think; it cannot be.
  1730. HELENA
  1731. Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
  1732. Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three
  1733. To fashion this false sport in spite of me.
  1734. Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!
  1735. Have you conspir'd, have you with these contriv'd,
  1736. To bait me with this foul derision?
  1737. Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd,
  1738. The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,
  1739. When we have chid the hasty-footed time
  1740. For parting us,--O, is all forgot?
  1741. All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?
  1742. We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
  1743. Have with our needles created both one flower,
  1744. Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
  1745. Both warbling of one song, both in one key;
  1746. As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds,
  1747. Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
  1748. Like to a double cherry, seeming parted;
  1749. But yet a union in partition,
  1750. Two lovely berries moulded on one stem:
  1751. So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
  1752. Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
  1753. Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
  1754. And will you rent our ancient love asunder,
  1755. To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
  1756. It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
  1757. Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
  1758. Though I alone do feel the injury.
  1759. HERMIA
  1760. I am amazed at your passionate words:
  1761. I scorn you not; it seems that you scorn me.
  1762. HELENA
  1763. Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
  1764. To follow me, and praise my eyes and face?
  1765. And made your other love, Demetrius,--
  1766. Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,--
  1767. To call me goddess, nymph, divine, and rare,
  1768. Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
  1769. To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander
  1770. Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
  1771. And tender me, forsooth, affection,
  1772. But by your setting on, by your consent?
  1773. What though I be not so in grace as you,
  1774. So hung upon with love, so fortunate;
  1775. But miserable most, to love unlov'd?
  1776. This you should pity rather than despise.
  1777. HERMIA
  1778. I understand not what you mean by this.
  1779. HELENA
  1780. Ay, do persever, counterfeit sad looks,
  1781. Make mows upon me when I turn my back;
  1782. Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up:
  1783. This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
  1784. If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
  1785. You would not make me such an argument.
  1786. But fare ye well: 'tis partly my own fault;
  1787. Which death, or absence, soon shall remedy.
  1788. LYSANDER
  1789. Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse;
  1790. My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!
  1791. HELENA
  1792. O excellent!
  1793. HERMIA
  1794. Sweet, do not scorn her so.
  1795. DEMETRIUS
  1796. If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
  1797. LYSANDER
  1798. Thou canst compel no more than she entreat;
  1799. Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.--
  1800. Helen, I love thee; by my life I do;
  1801. I swear by that which I will lose for thee
  1802. To prove him false that says I love thee not.
  1803. DEMETRIUS
  1804. I say I love thee more than he can do.
  1805. LYSANDER
  1806. If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.
  1807. DEMETRIUS
  1808. Quick, come,--
  1809. HERMIA
  1810. Lysander, whereto tends all this?
  1811. LYSANDER
  1812. Away, you Ethiope!
  1813. DEMETRIUS
  1814. No, no, sir:--he will
  1815. Seem to break loose; take on as you would follow:
  1816. But yet come not. You are a tame man; go!
  1817. LYSANDER
  1818. Hang off, thou cat, thou burr: vile thing, let loose,
  1819. Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent.
  1820. HERMIA
  1821. Why are you grown so rude? what change is this,
  1822. Sweet love?
  1823. LYSANDER
  1824. Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!
  1825. Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence!
  1826. HERMIA
  1827. Do you not jest?
  1828. HELENA
  1829. Yes, sooth; and so do you.
  1830. LYSANDER
  1831. Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
  1832. DEMETRIUS
  1833. I would I had your bond; for I perceive
  1834. A weak bond holds you; I'll not trust your word.
  1835. LYSANDER
  1836. What! should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
  1837. Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so.
  1838. HERMIA
  1839. What! can you do me greater harm than hate?
  1840. Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love?
  1841. Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander?
  1842. I am as fair now as I was erewhile.
  1843. Since night you lov'd me; yet since night you left me:
  1844. Why then, you left me,--O, the gods forbid!--
  1845. In earnest, shall I say?
  1846. LYSANDER
  1847. Ay, by my life;
  1848. And never did desire to see thee more.
  1849. Therefore be out of hope, of question, doubt,
  1850. Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest
  1851. That I do hate thee and love Helena.
  1852. HERMIA
  1853. O me! you juggler! you cankerblossom!
  1854. You thief of love! What! have you come by night,
  1855. And stol'n my love's heart from him?
  1856. HELENA
  1857. Fine, i' faith!
  1858. Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
  1859. No touch of bashfulness? What! will you tear
  1860. Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
  1861. Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
  1862. HERMIA
  1863. Puppet! why so? Ay, that way goes the game.
  1864. Now I perceive that she hath made compare
  1865. Between our statures; she hath urg'd her height;
  1866. And with her personage, her tall personage,
  1867. Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.--
  1868. And are you grown so high in his esteem
  1869. Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
  1870. How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
  1871. How low am I? I am not yet so low
  1872. But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
  1873. HELENA
  1874. I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
  1875. Let her not hurt me. I was never curst;
  1876. I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
  1877. I am a right maid for my cowardice;
  1878. Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
  1879. Because she is something lower than myself,
  1880. That I can match her.
  1881. HERMIA
  1882. Lower! hark, again.
  1883. HELENA
  1884. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
  1885. I evermore did love you, Hermia;
  1886. Did ever keep your counsels; never wrong'd you;
  1887. Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
  1888. I told him of your stealth unto this wood:
  1889. He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him;
  1890. But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me
  1891. To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
  1892. And now, so you will let me quiet go,
  1893. To Athens will I bear my folly back,
  1894. And follow you no farther. Let me go:
  1895. You see how simple and how fond I am.
  1896. HERMIA
  1897. Why, get you gone: who is't that hinders you?
  1898. HELENA
  1899. A foolish heart that I leave here behind.
  1900. HERMIA
  1901. What! with Lysander?
  1902. HELENA
  1903. With Demetrius.
  1904. LYSANDER
  1905. Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
  1906. DEMETRIUS
  1907. No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
  1908. HELENA
  1909. O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd:
  1910. She was a vixen when she went to school;
  1911. And, though she be but little, she is fierce.
  1912. HERMIA
  1913. Little again! nothing but low and little!--
  1914. Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
  1915. Let me come to her.
  1916. LYSANDER
  1917. Get you gone, you dwarf;
  1918. You minimus, of hind'ring knot-grass made;
  1919. You bead, you acorn.
  1920. DEMETRIUS
  1921. You are too officious
  1922. In her behalf that scorns your services.
  1923. Let her alone: speak not of Helena;
  1924. Take not her part; for if thou dost intend
  1925. Never so little show of love to her,
  1926. Thou shalt aby it.
  1927. LYSANDER
  1928. Now she holds me not;
  1929. Now follow, if thou dar'st, to try whose right,
  1930. Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
  1931. DEMETRIUS
  1932. Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jole.
  1933. [Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS.]
  1934. HERMIA
  1935. You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you:
  1936. Nay, go not back.
  1937. HELENA
  1938. I will not trust you, I;
  1939. Nor longer stay in your curst company.
  1940. Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray;
  1941. My legs are longer though, to run away.
  1942. [Exit.]
  1943. HERMIA
  1944. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say.
  1945. [Exit, pursuing HELENA.]
  1946. OBERON
  1947. This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st,
  1948. Or else commit'st thy knaveries willfully.
  1949. PUCK
  1950. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
  1951. Did not you tell me I should know the man
  1952. By the Athenian garments he had on?
  1953. And so far blameless proves my enterprise
  1954. That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes:
  1955. And so far am I glad it so did sort,
  1956. As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
  1957. OBERON
  1958. Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight;
  1959. Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
  1960. The starry welkin cover thou anon
  1961. With drooping fog, as black as Acheron,
  1962. And lead these testy rivals so astray
  1963. As one come not within another's way.
  1964. Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
  1965. Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
  1966. And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
  1967. And from each other look thou lead them thus,
  1968. Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
  1969. With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
  1970. Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
  1971. Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
  1972. To take from thence all error with his might
  1973. And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
  1974. When they next wake, all this derision
  1975. Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision;
  1976. And back to Athens shall the lovers wend
  1977. With league whose date till death shall never end.
  1978. Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
  1979. I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy;
  1980. And then I will her charmed eye release
  1981. From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.
  1982. PUCK
  1983. My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
  1984. For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast;
  1985. And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger,
  1986. At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there,
  1987. Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,
  1988. That in cross-ways and floods have burial,
  1989. Already to their wormy beds are gone;
  1990. For fear lest day should look their shames upon
  1991. They wilfully exile themselves from light,
  1992. And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
  1993. OBERON
  1994. But we are spirits of another sort:
  1995. I with the morning's love have oft made sport;
  1996. And, like a forester, the groves may tread
  1997. Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
  1998. Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
  1999. Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams.
  2000. But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:
  2001. We may effect this business yet ere day.
  2002. [Exit OBERON.]
  2003. PUCK
  2004. Up and down, up and down;
  2005. I will lead them up and down:
  2006. I am fear'd in field and town.
  2007. Goblin, lead them up and down.
  2008. Here comes one.
  2009. [Enter LYSANDER.]
  2010. LYSANDER
  2011. Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.
  2012. PUCK
  2013. Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou?
  2014. LYSANDER
  2015. I will be with thee straight.
  2016. PUCK
  2017. Follow me, then,
  2018. To plainer ground.
  2019. [Exit LYSANDER as following the voice.]
  2020. [Enter DEMETRIUS.]
  2021. DEMETRIUS
  2022. Lysander! speak again.
  2023. Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
  2024. Speak. In some bush? where dost thou hide thy head?
  2025. PUCK
  2026. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
  2027. Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
  2028. And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;
  2029. I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled
  2030. That draws a sword on thee.
  2031. DEMETRIUS
  2032. Yea, art thou there?
  2033. PUCK
  2034. Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood here.
  2035. [Exeunt.]
  2036. [Re-enter LYSANDER.]
  2037. LYSANDER
  2038. He goes before me, and still dares me on;
  2039. When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
  2040. The villain is much lighter heeled than I:
  2041. I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
  2042. That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
  2043. And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day!
  2044. [Lies down.]
  2045. For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
  2046. I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite.
  2047. [Sleeps.]
  2048. [Re-enter PUCK and DEMETRIUS.]
  2049. PUCK
  2050. Ho, ho, ho, ho! Coward, why com'st thou not?
  2051. DEMETRIUS
  2052. Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot
  2053. Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place;
  2054. And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face.
  2055. Where art thou?
  2056. PUCK
  2057. Come hither; I am here.
  2058. DEMETRIUS
  2059. Nay, then, thou mock'st me.
  2060. Thou shalt buy this dear,
  2061. If ever I thy face by daylight see:
  2062. Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
  2063. To measure out my length on this cold bed.--
  2064. By day's approach look to be visited.
  2065. [Lies down and sleeps.]
  2066. [Enter HELENA.]
  2067. HELENA
  2068. O weary night, O long and tedious night,
  2069. Abate thy hours! Shine comforts from the east,
  2070. That I may back to Athens by daylight,
  2071. From these that my poor company detest:--
  2072. And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,
  2073. Steal me awhile from mine own company.
  2074. [Sleeps.]
  2075. PUCK
  2076. Yet but three? Come one more;
  2077. Two of both kinds makes up four.
  2078. Here she comes, curst and sad:--
  2079. Cupid is a knavish lad,
  2080. Thus to make poor females mad.
  2081. [Enter HERMIA.]
  2082. HERMIA
  2083. Never so weary, never so in woe,
  2084. Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers;
  2085. I can no further crawl, no further go;
  2086. My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
  2087. Here will I rest me till the break of day.
  2088. Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
  2089. [Lies down.]
  2090. PUCK
  2091. On the ground
  2092. Sleep sound:
  2093. I'll apply
  2094. To your eye,
  2095. Gentle lover, remedy.
  2096. [Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER'S eye.]
  2097. When thou wak'st,
  2098. Thou tak'st
  2099. True delight
  2100. In the sight
  2101. Of thy former lady's eye:
  2102. And the country proverb known,
  2103. That every man should take his own,
  2104. In your waking shall be shown:
  2105. Jack shall have Jill;
  2106. Nought shall go ill;
  2107. The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
  2108. [Exit PUCK.--DEMETRIUS, HELENA &c, sleep.]
  2109. ACT IV
  2110. SCENE I. The Wood.
  2111. [Enter TITANIA and BOTTOM; PEASBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH,
  2112. MUSTARDSEED, and other FAIRIES attending; OBERON behind, unseen.]
  2113. TITANIA
  2114. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
  2115. While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
  2116. And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
  2117. And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
  2118. BOTTOM
  2119. Where's Peasblossom?
  2120. PEASBLOSSOM
  2121. Ready.
  2122. BOTTOM
  2123. Scratch my head, Peasblossom.--
  2124. Where's Monsieur Cobweb?
  2125. COBWEB
  2126. Ready.
  2127. BOTTOM
  2128. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get you your weapons in
  2129. your hand and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a
  2130. thistle; and, good monsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not
  2131. fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur; and, good
  2132. monsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not; I would be
  2133. loath to have you overflown with a honey-bag, signior.--
  2134. Where's Monsieur Mustardseed?
  2135. MUSTARDSEED
  2136. Ready.
  2137. BOTTOM
  2138. Give me your neif, Monsieur Mustardseed.
  2139. Pray you, leave your curtsy, good monsieur.
  2140. MUSTARDSEED
  2141. What's your will?
  2142. BOTTOM
  2143. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help Cavalero Cobweb to
  2144. scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; for methinks I am
  2145. marvellous hairy about the face; and I am such a tender ass,
  2146. if my hair do but tickle me I must scratch.
  2147. TITANIA
  2148. What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?
  2149. BOTTOM
  2150. I have a reasonable good ear in music; let us have the
  2151. tongs and the bones.
  2152. TITANIA
  2153. Or say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat.
  2154. BOTTOM
  2155. Truly, a peck of provender; I could munch your good dry
  2156. oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good
  2157. hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.
  2158. TITANIA
  2159. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
  2160. The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
  2161. BOTTOM
  2162. I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas. But,
  2163. I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an
  2164. exposition of sleep come upon me.
  2165. TITANIA
  2166. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
  2167. Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away.
  2168. So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
  2169. Gently entwist,--the female ivy so
  2170. Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
  2171. O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
  2172. [They sleep.]
  2173. [OBERON advances. Enter PUCK.]
  2174. OBERON
  2175. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this sweet sight?
  2176. Her dotage now I do begin to pity.
  2177. For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
  2178. Seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool,
  2179. I did upbraid her and fall out with her:
  2180. For she his hairy temples then had rounded
  2181. With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
  2182. And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
  2183. Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
  2184. Stood now within the pretty flow'rets' eyes,
  2185. Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
  2186. When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her,
  2187. And she, in mild terms, begg'd my patience,
  2188. I then did ask of her her changeling child;
  2189. Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent
  2190. To bear him to my bower in fairy-land.
  2191. And now I have the boy, I will undo
  2192. This hateful imperfection of her eyes.
  2193. And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
  2194. From off the head of this Athenian swain,
  2195. That he awaking when the other do,
  2196. May all to Athens back again repair,
  2197. And think no more of this night's accidents
  2198. But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
  2199. But first I will release the fairy queen.
  2200. Be as thou wast wont to be;
  2201. [Touching her eyes with an herb.]
  2202. See as thou was wont to see.
  2203. Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
  2204. Hath such force and blessed power.
  2205. Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
  2206. TITANIA
  2207. My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
  2208. Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.
  2209. OBERON
  2210. There lies your love.
  2211. TITANIA
  2212. How came these things to pass?
  2213. O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!
  2214. OBERON
  2215. Silence awhile.--Robin, take off this head.
  2216. Titania, music call; and strike more dead
  2217. Than common sleep, of all these five, the sense.
  2218. TITANIA
  2219. Music, ho! music; such as charmeth sleep.
  2220. PUCK
  2221. Now when thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes peep.
  2222. OBERON
  2223. Sound, music. [Still music.] Come, my queen, take hands with me,
  2224. And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
  2225. Now thou and I are new in amity,
  2226. And will to-morrow midnight solemnly
  2227. Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
  2228. And bless it to all fair prosperity:
  2229. There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
  2230. Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
  2231. PUCK
  2232. Fairy king, attend and mark;
  2233. I do hear the morning lark.
  2234. OBERON
  2235. Then, my queen, in silence sad,
  2236. Trip we after night's shade.
  2237. We the globe can compass soon,
  2238. Swifter than the wand'ring moon.
  2239. TITANIA
  2240. Come, my lord; and in our flight,
  2241. Tell me how it came this night
  2242. That I sleeping here was found
  2243. With these mortals on the ground.
  2244. [Exeunt. Horns sound within.]
  2245. [Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and Train.]
  2246. THESEUS
  2247. Go, one of you, find out the forester;--
  2248. For now our observation is perform'd;
  2249. And since we have the vaward of the day,
  2250. My love shall hear the music of my hounds,--
  2251. Uncouple in the western valley; go:--
  2252. Despatch, I say, and find the forester.--
  2253. [Exit an ATTENDANT.]
  2254. We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
  2255. And mark the musical confusion
  2256. Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
  2257. HIPPOLYTA
  2258. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once
  2259. When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
  2260. With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
  2261. Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves,
  2262. The skies, the fountains, every region near
  2263. Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
  2264. So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
  2265. THESEUS
  2266. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
  2267. So flew'd, so sanded; and their heads are hung
  2268. With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
  2269. Crook-knee'd and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls;
  2270. Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
  2271. Each under each. A cry more tuneable
  2272. Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
  2273. In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly.
  2274. Judge when you hear.--But, soft, what nymphs are these?
  2275. EGEUS
  2276. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;
  2277. And this Lysander; this Demetrius is;
  2278. This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:
  2279. I wonder of their being here together.
  2280. THESEUS
  2281. No doubt they rose up early to observe
  2282. The rite of May; and, hearing our intent,
  2283. Came here in grace of our solemnity.--
  2284. But speak, Egeus; is not this the day
  2285. That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
  2286. EGEUS
  2287. It is, my lord.
  2288. THESEUS
  2289. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
  2290. [Horns, and shout within. DEMETRIUS, LYSANDER,HERMIA, and HELENA
  2291. awake and start up.]
  2292. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past;
  2293. Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
  2294. LYSANDER
  2295. Pardon, my lord.
  2296. [He and the rest kneel to THESEUS.]
  2297. THESEUS
  2298. I pray you all, stand up.
  2299. I know you two are rival enemies;
  2300. How comes this gentle concord in the world,
  2301. That hatred is so far from jealousy
  2302. To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
  2303. LYSANDER
  2304. My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
  2305. Half 'sleep, half waking; but as yet, I swear,
  2306. I cannot truly say how I came here:
  2307. But, as I think,--for truly would I speak--
  2308. And now I do bethink me, so it is,--
  2309. I came with Hermia hither: our intent
  2310. Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be,
  2311. Without the peril of the Athenian law.
  2312. EGEUS
  2313. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough;
  2314. I beg the law, the law upon his head.--
  2315. They would have stol'n away, they would, Demetrius,
  2316. Thereby to have defeated you and me:
  2317. You of your wife, and me of my consent,--
  2318. Of my consent that she should be your wife.
  2319. DEMETRIUS
  2320. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
  2321. Of this their purpose hither to this wood;
  2322. And I in fury hither follow'd them,
  2323. Fair Helena in fancy following me.
  2324. But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,--
  2325. But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia,
  2326. Melted as the snow--seems to me now
  2327. As the remembrance of an idle gawd
  2328. Which in my childhood I did dote upon:
  2329. And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
  2330. The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
  2331. Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
  2332. Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
  2333. But, like a sickness, did I loathe this food;
  2334. But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
  2335. Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,
  2336. And will for evermore be true to it.
  2337. THESEUS
  2338. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
  2339. Of this discourse we more will hear anon.--
  2340. Egeus, I will overbear your will;
  2341. For in the temple, by and by with us,
  2342. These couples shall eternally be knit.
  2343. And, for the morning now is something worn,
  2344. Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.--
  2345. Away with us to Athens, three and three,
  2346. We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.--
  2347. Come, Hippolyta.
  2348. [Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and Train.]
  2349. DEMETRIUS
  2350. These things seem small and undistinguishable,
  2351. Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.
  2352. HERMIA
  2353. Methinks I see these things with parted eye,
  2354. When every thing seems double.
  2355. HELENA
  2356. So methinks:
  2357. And I have found Demetrius like a jewel.
  2358. Mine own, and not mine own.
  2359. DEMETRIUS
  2360. It seems to me
  2361. That yet we sleep, we dream.--Do not you think
  2362. The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
  2363. HERMIA
  2364. Yea, and my father.
  2365. HELENA
  2366. And Hippolyta.
  2367. LYSANDER
  2368. And he did bid us follow to the temple.
  2369. DEMETRIUS
  2370. Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him;
  2371. And by the way let us recount our dreams.
  2372. [Exeunt.]
  2373. [As they go out, BOTTOM awakes.]
  2374. BOTTOM
  2375. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is 'Most
  2376. fair Pyramus.'--Heigh-ho!--Peter Quince! Flute, the
  2377. bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life,
  2378. stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare
  2379. vision. I have had a dream--past the wit of man to say
  2380. what dream it was.--Man is but an ass if he go about
  2381. to expound this dream. Methought I was--there is no man can tell
  2382. what. Methought I was, and methought I had,--but man is but a
  2383. patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. The
  2384. eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen; man's
  2385. hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart
  2386. to report, what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a
  2387. ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because
  2388. it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a
  2389. play, before the duke: peradventure, to make it the more
  2390. gracious, I shall sing it at her death.
  2391. [Exit.]
  2392. SCENE II. Athens. A Room in QUINCE'S House.
  2393. [Enter QUINCE, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING.]
  2394. QUINCE
  2395. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet?
  2396. STARVELING
  2397. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, he is transported.
  2398. FLUTE
  2399. If he come not, then the play is marred; it goes not
  2400. forward, doth it?
  2401. QUINCE
  2402. It is not possible: you have not a man in all Athens
  2403. able to discharge Pyramus but he.
  2404. FLUTE
  2405. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft man in
  2406. Athens.
  2407. QUINCE
  2408. Yea, and the best person too: and he is a very paramour
  2409. for a sweet voice.
  2410. FLUTE
  2411. You must say paragon: a paramour is, God bless us, a thing of
  2412. naught.
  2413. [Enter SNUG.]
  2414. SNUG
  2415. Masters, the duke is coming from the temple; and there is
  2416. two or three lords and ladies more married: if our sport had gone
  2417. forward, we had all been made men.
  2418. FLUTE
  2419. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day
  2420. during his life; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a-day; an
  2421. the duke had not given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus,
  2422. I'll be hanged; he would have deserved it: sixpence a-day in
  2423. Pyramus, or nothing.
  2424. [Enter BOTTOM.]
  2425. BOTTOM
  2426. Where are these lads? where are these hearts?
  2427. QUINCE
  2428. Bottom!--O most courageous day! O most happy hour!
  2429. BOTTOM
  2430. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not
  2431. what; for if I tell you, I am not true Athenian. I will tell you
  2432. everything, right as it fell out.
  2433. QUINCE
  2434. Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
  2435. BOTTOM
  2436. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is, that the
  2437. duke hath dined. Get your apparel together; good strings to
  2438. your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the
  2439. palace; every man look over his part; for the short and the long
  2440. is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean
  2441. linen; and let not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for
  2442. they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And, most dear actors,
  2443. eat no onions nor garlick, for we are to utter sweet breath; and
  2444. I do not doubt but to hear them say it is a sweet comedy. No more
  2445. words: away! go; away!
  2446. [Exeunt.]
  2447. ACT V
  2448. SCENE I. Athens. An Apartment in the Palace of THESEUS.
  2449. [Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords, and Attendants.]
  2450. HIPPOLYTA
  2451. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.
  2452. THESEUS
  2453. More strange than true. I never may believe
  2454. These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
  2455. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
  2456. Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
  2457. More than cool reason ever comprehends.
  2458. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
  2459. Are of imagination all compact:
  2460. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
  2461. That is the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
  2462. Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
  2463. The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
  2464. Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
  2465. And as imagination bodies forth
  2466. The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
  2467. Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
  2468. A local habitation and a name.
  2469. Such tricks hath strong imagination,
  2470. That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
  2471. It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
  2472. Or in the night, imagining some fear,
  2473. How easy is a bush supposed a bear?
  2474. HIPPOLYTA
  2475. But all the story of the night told over,
  2476. And all their minds transfigur'd so together,
  2477. More witnesseth than fancy's images,
  2478. And grows to something of great constancy;
  2479. But, howsoever, strange and admirable.
  2480. [Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA.]
  2481. THESEUS
  2482. Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.--
  2483. Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love
  2484. Accompany your hearts!
  2485. LYSANDER
  2486. More than to us
  2487. Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!
  2488. THESEUS
  2489. Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have,
  2490. To wear away this long age of three hours
  2491. Between our after-supper and bed-time?
  2492. Where is our usual manager of mirth?
  2493. What revels are in hand? Is there no play
  2494. To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
  2495. Call Philostrate.
  2496. PHILOSTRATE
  2497. Here, mighty Theseus.
  2498. THESEUS
  2499. Say, what abridgment have you for this evening?
  2500. What masque? what music? How shall we beguile
  2501. The lazy time, if not with some delight?
  2502. PHILOSTRATE
  2503. There is a brief how many sports are ripe;
  2504. Make choice of which your highness will see first.
  2505. [Giving a paper.]
  2506. THESEUS
  2507. [Reads.]
  2508. 'The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
  2509. By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.'
  2510. We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
  2511. In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
  2512. 'The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
  2513. Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.'
  2514. That is an old device, and it was play'd
  2515. When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
  2516. 'The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
  2517. Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary.'
  2518. That is some satire, keen and critical,
  2519. Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
  2520. 'A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
  2521. And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.'
  2522. Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!
  2523. That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
  2524. How shall we find the concord of this discord?
  2525. PHILOSTRATE
  2526. A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
  2527. Which is as brief as I have known a play;
  2528. But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
  2529. Which makes it tedious: for in all the play
  2530. There is not one word apt, one player fitted:
  2531. And tragical, my noble lord, it is;
  2532. For Pyramus therein doth kill himself:
  2533. Which when I saw rehears'd, I must confess,
  2534. Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
  2535. The passion of loud laughter never shed.
  2536. THESEUS
  2537. What are they that do play it?
  2538. PHILOSTRATE
  2539. Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,
  2540. Which never labour'd in their minds till now;
  2541. And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories
  2542. With this same play against your nuptial.
  2543. THESEUS
  2544. And we will hear it.
  2545. PHILOSTRATE
  2546. No, my noble lord,
  2547. It is not for you: I have heard it over,
  2548. And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
  2549. Unless you can find sport in their intents,
  2550. Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
  2551. To do you service.
  2552. THESEUS
  2553. I will hear that play;
  2554. For never anything can be amiss
  2555. When simpleness and duty tender it.
  2556. Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.
  2557. [Exit PHILOSTRATE.]
  2558. HIPPOLYTA
  2559. I love not to see wretchedness o'er-charged,
  2560. And duty in his service perishing.
  2561. THESEUS
  2562. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
  2563. HIPPOLYTA
  2564. He says they can do nothing in this kind.
  2565. THESEUS
  2566. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
  2567. Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:
  2568. And what poor duty cannot do,
  2569. Noble respect takes it in might, not merit.
  2570. Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
  2571. To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
  2572. Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
  2573. Make periods in the midst of sentences,
  2574. Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
  2575. And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
  2576. Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
  2577. Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome;
  2578. And in the modesty of fearful duty
  2579. I read as much as from the rattling tongue
  2580. Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
  2581. Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
  2582. In least speak most to my capacity.
  2583. [Enter PHILOSTRATE.]
  2584. PHILOSTRATE
  2585. So please your grace, the prologue is address'd.
  2586. THESEUS
  2587. Let him approach.
  2588. [Flourish of trumpets. Enter PROLOGUE.]
  2589. PROLOGUE
  2590. 'If we offend, it is with our good will.
  2591. That you should think, we come not to offend,
  2592. But with good will. To show our simple skill,
  2593. That is the true beginning of our end.
  2594. Consider then, we come but in despite.
  2595. We do not come, as minding to content you,
  2596. Our true intent is. All for your delight
  2597. We are not here. That you should here repent you,
  2598. The actors are at hand: and, by their show,
  2599. You shall know all that you are like to know,'
  2600. THESEUS
  2601. This fellow doth not stand upon points.
  2602. LYSANDER
  2603. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
  2604. not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak,
  2605. but to speak true.
  2606. HIPPOLYTA
  2607. Indeed he hath played on this prologue like a child
  2608. on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.
  2609. THESEUS
  2610. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all
  2611. disordered. Who is next?
  2612. [Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, WALL, MOONSHINE, and LION, as in dumb
  2613. show.]
  2614. PROLOGUE
  2615. Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
  2616. But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
  2617. This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
  2618. This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.
  2619. This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
  2620. Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;
  2621. And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
  2622. To whisper, at the which let no man wonder.
  2623. This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,
  2624. Presenteth Moonshine: for, if you will know,
  2625. By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
  2626. To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
  2627. This grisly beast, which by name Lion hight,
  2628. The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
  2629. Did scare away, or rather did affright;
  2630. And as she fled, her mantle she did fall;
  2631. Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain:
  2632. Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall,
  2633. And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain;
  2634. Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
  2635. He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast;
  2636. And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
  2637. His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
  2638. Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain,
  2639. At large discourse while here they do remain.
  2640. [Exeunt PROLOGUE, THISBE, LION, and MOONSHINE.]
  2641. THESEUS
  2642. I wonder if the lion be to speak.
  2643. DEMETRIUS
  2644. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.
  2645. WALL
  2646. In this same interlude it doth befall
  2647. That I, one Snout by name, present a wall:
  2648. And such a wall as I would have you think
  2649. That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
  2650. Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
  2651. Did whisper often very secretly.
  2652. This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth show
  2653. That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
  2654. And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
  2655. Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
  2656. THESEUS
  2657. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?
  2658. DEMETRIUS
  2659. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
  2660. discourse, my lord.
  2661. THESEUS
  2662. Pyramus draws near the wall; silence.
  2663. [Enter PYRAMUS.]
  2664. PYRAMUS
  2665. O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!
  2666. O night, which ever art when day is not!
  2667. O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,
  2668. I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!--
  2669. And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
  2670. That stand'st between her father's ground and mine;
  2671. Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
  2672. Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.
  2673. [WALL holds up his fingers.]
  2674. Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
  2675. But what see what see I? No Thisby do I see.
  2676. O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss,
  2677. Curs'd be thy stones for thus deceiving me!
  2678. THESEUS
  2679. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.
  2680. PYRAMUS
  2681. No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me' is
  2682. Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to spy her through
  2683. the wall. You shall see it will fall pat as I told you.--Yonder
  2684. she comes.
  2685. [Enter THISBE.]
  2686. THISBE
  2687. O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
  2688. For parting my fair Pyramus and me:
  2689. My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones:
  2690. Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
  2691. PYRAMUS
  2692. I see a voice; now will I to the chink,
  2693. To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face.
  2694. Thisby!
  2695. THISBE
  2696. My love! thou art my love, I think.
  2697. PYRAMUS
  2698. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;
  2699. And like Limander am I trusty still.
  2700. THISBE
  2701. And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.
  2702. PYRAMUS
  2703. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
  2704. THISBE
  2705. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
  2706. PYRAMUS
  2707. O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall.
  2708. THISBE
  2709. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.
  2710. PYRAMUS
  2711. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?
  2712. THISBE
  2713. 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.
  2714. WALL
  2715. Thus have I, wall, my part discharged so;
  2716. And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.
  2717. [Exeunt WALL, PYRAMUS and THISBE.]
  2718. THESEUS
  2719. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.
  2720. DEMETRIUS
  2721. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear
  2722. without warning.
  2723. HIPPOLYTA
  2724. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
  2725. THESEUS
  2726. The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst
  2727. are no worse, if imagination amend them.
  2728. HIPPOLYTA
  2729. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.
  2730. THESEUS
  2731. If we imagine no worse of them than they of
  2732. themselves, they may pass for excellent men.
  2733. Here come two noble beasts in, a moon and a lion.
  2734. [Enter LION and MOONSHINE.]
  2735. LION
  2736. You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
  2737. The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
  2738. May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,
  2739. When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
  2740. Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am
  2741. A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam:
  2742. For, if I should as lion come in strife
  2743. Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.
  2744. THESEUS
  2745. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience.
  2746. DEMETRIUS
  2747. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.
  2748. LYSANDER
  2749. This lion is a very fox for his valour.
  2750. THESEUS
  2751. True; and a goose for his discretion.
  2752. DEMETRIUS
  2753. Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his
  2754. discretion, and the fox carries the goose.
  2755. THESEUS
  2756. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour;
  2757. for the goose carries not the fox. It is well; leave it to his
  2758. discretion, and let us listen to the moon.
  2759. MOONSHINE
  2760. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present:
  2761. DEMETRIUS
  2762. He should have worn the horns on his head.
  2763. THESEUS
  2764. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within
  2765. the circumference.
  2766. MOONSHINE
  2767. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;
  2768. Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.
  2769. THESEUS
  2770. This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man should be
  2771. put into the lantern. How is it else the man i' the moon?
  2772. DEMETRIUS
  2773. He dares not come there for the candle: for, you
  2774. see, it is already in snuff.
  2775. HIPPOLYTA
  2776. I am aweary of this moon: would he would change!
  2777. THESEUS
  2778. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he
  2779. is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must
  2780. stay the time.
  2781. LYSANDER
  2782. Proceed, moon.
  2783. MOON
  2784. All that I have to say, is to tell you that the lantern
  2785. is the moon; I, the man i' the moon; this thorn-bush, my
  2786. thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.
  2787. DEMETRIUS
  2788. Why, all these should be in the lantern; for all
  2789. these are in the moon. But silence; here comes Thisbe.
  2790. [Enter THISBE.]
  2791. THISBE
  2792. This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?
  2793. LION
  2794. Oh!
  2795. [The LION roars.--THISBE runs off.]
  2796. DEMETRIUS
  2797. Well roared, lion.
  2798. THESEUS
  2799. Well run, Thisbe.
  2800. HIPPOLYTA
  2801. Well shone, moon.--Truly, the moon shines with a good grace.
  2802. [The LION tears THISBE'S Mantle, and exit.]
  2803. THESEUS
  2804. Well moused, lion.
  2805. DEMETRIUS
  2806. And so comes Pyramus.
  2807. LYSANDER
  2808. And then the lion vanishes.
  2809. [Enter PYRAMUS.]
  2810. PYRAMUS
  2811. Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
  2812. I thank thee, moon, for shining now so bright:
  2813. For, by thy gracious golden, glittering streams,
  2814. I trust to take of truest Thisby's sight.
  2815. But stay;--O spite!
  2816. But mark,--poor knight,
  2817. What dreadful dole is here!
  2818. Eyes, do you see?
  2819. How can it be?
  2820. O dainty duck! O dear!
  2821. Thy mantle good,
  2822. What! stained with blood?
  2823. Approach, ye furies fell!
  2824. O fates! come, come;
  2825. Cut thread and thrum;
  2826. Quail, rush, conclude, and quell!
  2827. THESEUS
  2828. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go
  2829. near to make a man look sad.
  2830. HIPPOLYTA
  2831. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.
  2832. PYRAMUS
  2833. O wherefore, nature, didst thou lions frame?
  2834. Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear;
  2835. Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame
  2836. That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with cheer.
  2837. Come, tears, confound;
  2838. Out, sword, and wound
  2839. The pap of Pyramus:
  2840. Ay, that left pap,
  2841. Where heart doth hop:--
  2842. Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
  2843. Now am I dead,
  2844. Now am I fled;
  2845. My soul is in the sky:
  2846. Tongue, lose thy light!
  2847. Moon, take thy flight!
  2848. Now die, die, die, die, die.
  2849. [Dies. Exit MOONSHINE.]
  2850. DEMETRIUS
  2851. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.
  2852. LYSANDER
  2853. Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.
  2854. THESEUS
  2855. With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover and prove an ass.
  2856. HIPPOLYTA
  2857. How chance moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes
  2858. back and finds her lover?
  2859. THESEUS
  2860. She will find him by starlight.--Here she comes; and
  2861. her passion ends the play.
  2862. [Enter THISBE.]
  2863. HIPPOLYTA
  2864. Methinks she should not use a long one for such a
  2865. Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.
  2866. DEMETRIUS
  2867. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which
  2868. Thisbe, is the better.
  2869. LYSANDER
  2870. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.
  2871. DEMETRIUS
  2872. And thus she moans, videlicet.--
  2873. THISBE
  2874. Asleep, my love?
  2875. What, dead, my dove?
  2876. O Pyramus, arise,
  2877. Speak, speak. Quite dumb?
  2878. Dead, dead? A tomb
  2879. Must cover thy sweet eyes.
  2880. These lily lips,
  2881. This cherry nose,
  2882. These yellow cowslip cheeks,
  2883. Are gone, are gone:
  2884. Lovers, make moan!
  2885. His eyes were green as leeks.
  2886. O Sisters Three,
  2887. Come, come to me,
  2888. With hands as pale as milk;
  2889. Lay them in gore,
  2890. Since you have shore
  2891. With shears his thread of silk.
  2892. Tongue, not a word:--
  2893. Come, trusty sword;
  2894. Come, blade, my breast imbrue;
  2895. And farewell, friends:--
  2896. Thus Thisbe ends;
  2897. Adieu, adieu, adieu.
  2898. [Dies.]
  2899. THESEUS
  2900. Moonshine and lion are left to bury the dead.
  2901. DEMETRIUS
  2902. Ay, and wall too.
  2903. BOTTOM
  2904. No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted their fathers.
  2905. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask
  2906. dance between two of our company?
  2907. THESEUS
  2908. No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no
  2909. excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all dead there
  2910. need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it had played
  2911. Pyramus, and hang'd himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have
  2912. been a fine tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably
  2913. discharged. But come, your Bergomask; let your epilogue alone.
  2914. [Here a dance of Clowns.]
  2915. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:--
  2916. Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
  2917. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn,
  2918. As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
  2919. This palpable-gross play hath well beguil'd
  2920. The heavy gait of night.--Sweet friends, to bed.--
  2921. A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
  2922. In nightly revels and new jollity.
  2923. [Exeunt.]
  2924. SCENE II
  2925. [Enter PUCK.]
  2926. PUCK
  2927. Now the hungry lion roars,
  2928. And the wolf behowls the moon;
  2929. Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
  2930. All with weary task fordone.
  2931. Now the wasted brands do glow,
  2932. Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud,
  2933. Puts the wretch that lies in woe
  2934. In remembrance of a shroud.
  2935. Now it is the time of night
  2936. That the graves, all gaping wide,
  2937. Every one lets forth its sprite,
  2938. In the church-way paths to glide:
  2939. And we fairies, that do run
  2940. By the triple Hecate's team
  2941. From the presence of the sun,
  2942. Following darkness like a dream,
  2943. Now are frolic; not a mouse
  2944. Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
  2945. I am sent with broom before,
  2946. To sweep the dust behind the door.
  2947. [Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with their Train.]
  2948. OBERON
  2949. Through the house give glimmering light,
  2950. By the dead and drowsy fire:
  2951. Every elf and fairy sprite
  2952. Hop as light as bird from brier:
  2953. And this ditty, after me,
  2954. Sing and dance it trippingly.
  2955. TITANIA
  2956. First, rehearse your song by rote,
  2957. To each word a warbling note;
  2958. Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
  2959. Will we sing, and bless this place.
  2960. [Song and Dance.]
  2961. OBERON
  2962. Now, until the break of day,
  2963. Through this house each fairy stray,
  2964. To the best bride-bed will we,
  2965. Which by us shall blessed be;
  2966. And the issue there create
  2967. Ever shall be fortunate.
  2968. So shall all the couples three
  2969. Ever true in loving be;
  2970. And the blots of Nature's hand
  2971. Shall not in their issue stand:
  2972. Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,
  2973. Nor mark prodigious, such as are
  2974. Despised in nativity,
  2975. Shall upon their children be.--
  2976. With this field-dew consecrate,
  2977. Every fairy take his gate;
  2978. And each several chamber bless,
  2979. Through this palace, with sweet peace;
  2980. E'er shall it in safety rest,
  2981. And the owner of it blest.
  2982. Trip away:
  2983. Make no stay:
  2984. Meet me all by break of day.
  2985. [Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train.]
  2986. PUCK
  2987. If we shadows have offended,
  2988. Think but this,--and all is mended,--
  2989. That you have but slumber'd here
  2990. While these visions did appear.
  2991. And this weak and idle theme,
  2992. No more yielding but a dream,
  2993. Gentles, do not reprehend;
  2994. If you pardon, we will mend.
  2995. And, as I am an honest Puck,
  2996. If we have unearned luck
  2997. Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
  2998. We will make amends ere long;
  2999. Else the Puck a liar call:
  3000. So, good night unto you all.
  3001. Give me your hands, if we be friends,
  3002. And Robin shall restore amends.
  3003. [Exit.]
  3004. End of Project Gutenberg Etext of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
  3005. PG has multiple editions of William Shakespeare's Complete Works