་ སྙ་ ༈༙ ་

Bot. [As PYRAMUS.] If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine:

Quin. O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray, masters fly, masters! help!

[Excunt all the players, in various ways. Puck. I'll follow, I'll lead them about a round, Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier. [Exit. Bot. Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to make me afcard,

Re-enter SNOUT.

Snout. O Bottom, thou art changed! what do I see on

thee?

Bot. What do you see? you see an ass's-head of your own; do you?

Re-enter QUINCE.

Quin. Bless thec, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated. [Exeunt SNOUT and QUINCE. Bot. I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear that I am not afraid.

The ousel-cock, so black of hue,

With orange-tawny bill,

The throstle with his note so truc,

The wren with little quill:

[Sings.

Tita. [Waking.] What angel wakes me from my flowery

bed?

Bot. The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,

The plain-song cuckoo gray,

Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer, nay;—

Tita. I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again :
Mine car is much enamour'd of thy note,

So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;

And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,
On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee.

Bot. Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays. The more the pity, that some honest neighbours will not make them friends.

Tita. Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

Bot. Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out of

this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.

Tita. Out of this wood do not desire to go; Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. I am a spirit, of no common rate;

The summer still doth tend upon my state,

And I do love thee; therefore, go with me;

I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;

And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, ?
And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep:
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so,

That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

Peas-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-seed! [The Goblins enter as each one is called by name.

Where shall we go? [All making obeisance.

Tit. Be kind and courteous. to this gentleman ;
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks, and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,
And, for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed, and to arise;

And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
Peas. Hail, mortal!

Cob. Hail!

Moth. Hail!

Mus. Hail!

Bot. I cry your worships' mercy, heartily.-(To COBWEB.) I beseech your worship's name.

Cob. Cobweb.

Bot. I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good master Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.(To PEAS.) Your name, honest gentleman ?

Peas. Peas-blossom.

Bot. I pray you, commend me to mistress Squash, your mother, and to master Peas-cod, your father. Good master Peas-blossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance too.(To MUSTARD-SEED.) Your name, I beseech you, sir?

Mus. Mustard-seed.

Bot. Good master Mustard-sced, I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you of more acquaintance, good master Mustard-seed.

Tita. Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.
[They cast garlands of ferns and flowers about him and
lead him off-following TITANIA. After they go off,
R. I. E., OBERON appears at L., preceded by PUCK,
suppressing his laughter and pointing after the oth-

ers.

Obe. How now, mad spirit?

What night-rule now about this haunted grove?

Puck. My mistress with a monster is in love.
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,

A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play,
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,'
Who Pyramus presented in their sport,
Forsook his scene, and enter'd in a brake:
When I did him at this advantage take,
An ass's now I fixed on his head;

And forth my mimic comes when they him spy,
Why, at his sight, away the fellows fly:
He murder cries, and help from Athens calls.
When in that moment (so it came to pass)
Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an ass.

Obc. This falls out better than I could devise.
But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's cycs
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?

Puck. I took him sleeping,-that is finish'd too,And the Athenian woman by his side;

That when he wak'd, of force she must be cy'd.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.

Obe. Stand close; this is the same Athenian.
Puck. This is the woman, but not this the man.
Dem. O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?

Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foc.

Her. Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse;

For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.

If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,

Then kill me too.

The sun was not so true unto the day,

As he to me would he have stol'n away.

From sleeping Hermia?

It cannot be, but thou hast murder'd him ;

So should a murderer look; so dread, so grim.

Dem. So should the murder'd look; and so should I, Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty:

Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,

As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.

Iler. What's this to my Lysander? where is he?

Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

Dem. I'd rather give his carcase to my hounds.

Iler. Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds

Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him then?
Henceforth be never numbered among men !

t

Dem. You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood:

I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;

Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.

Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
Dem. An if I could, what should I get therefore?
Her. A privilege, never to see me more.—

And from thy hated presence part I so:

See me no more, whether he be dead or no.

Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vein :
Here, therefore, for a while I will remain.
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe;
Which now, in some slight measure, it will pay,
If for his tender here I make some stay.

[Exit.

[Lies down.

Obe. What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite, And laid the love-juice on some truc-love's sight:

About the wood go swifter than the wind,
And Helena of Athens look thou find;

All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer

With sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear.
By some illusion see thou bring her here;
I'll charm his eyes against she doth appear.
Puck. I go, I go; look, how I go;
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
Obe. Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye!
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously

As the Venus of the sky.

[Exit.

[Squeezes juice of flower.

When thou wak'st, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.

Re-enter PUCK.

Puck. Captain of our fairy band,

Helena is here at hand;

And the youth mistook by me,

Pleading for a lover's fee;