Let her not strike me: You, perhaps, may think, Her. Lower! hark, again. Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you, Hermia, Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you; I told him of your stealth unto this wood: Her. Why, get you gone: Who is't that hinders you? Hel. A foolish heart, that I leave here behind. Her. What, with Lysander? Hel. With Demetrius. Lys. Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by Her. You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you: Nay, go not back. Hel. [Exit. I will not trust you, I; Nor longer stay in your curst company. Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray; My legs are longer though, to run away. Her. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say. [Exit, pursuing HELENA. Obe. This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st, Or else commit'st thy knaveries wilfully. Puck. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook. Did not you tell me, I should know the man By the Athenian garments he had on? And so far blameless proves my enterprize, That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes: And so far am I glad it so did sort, As this their jangling I esteem a sport. Obe. Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie, therefore, Robin, overcast the night; The starry welkin cover thou anon With drooping fog, as black as Acheron; And lead these testy rivals so astray, As one come not within another's way. Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with haste; I with the Morning's Love 7 have oft made sport; I will lead them up and down: I am fear'd in field and town; Here comes one. Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on; When I come where he calls, then he is gone. The villain is much lighter heel'd than I: And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day! [Lies down. For if but once thou show me thy grey light, I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. [Sleeps. Re-enter Puck and DEMETRIUS. Puck. Ho, ho! ho, ho! Coward, why com'st thou not? Hel. O weary night, O long and tedious night, That I may back to Athens, by day light, From these that my poor company detest: And, sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, Puck. On the ground To your eye, [Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eye. Thou tak'st True delight In the sight Of thy former lady's eye : And the country proverb known, Steal me awhile from mine own company. [Sleeps. The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be Puck. Yet but three? Come one more; Two of both kinds makes up four. ACT IV. Enter TITANIA and Вorтом, Fairies attending; Tita. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed, And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, Peas. Ready. Bot. Scratch my head, Peas-blossom. monsieur Cobweb? Cob. Ready. Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in musick: let us have the tongs and the bones. Tita. Or, say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat. Bot. Truly, a peck of provender; I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks, I have a great desire to a bottle of hay; good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow. Tita. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek Bot. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good monsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not: I would be loath to have you overflown with a honeybag, signior. Where's monsieur Mustard-seed? Must. Ready. Bot. Give me your nief?, monsieur Mustard-seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur. Must. What's your will? Bot. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help cavalero Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy about the face and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch. Tita. What, wilt thou hear some musick, my sweet love? [Exeunt Fairies. Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail. [Touching her eyes with an herb. See, as thou wast wont to see : Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower Hath such force and blessed power. Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen. Tita. My Oberon! what visions have I seen! Methought, I was enamour'd of an ass. Obe. There lies your love. Tita. How came these things to pass? O, how mine eyes do loath his visage now! Obe. Silence, a while. - Robin, take off this head. Titania, musick call; and strike more dead Than common sleep, of all these five the sense. Tita. Musick, ho! musick, such as charmeth sleep. Puck. Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes peep. Obe. Sound, musick. [Still musick.] Come, my queen, take hands with me, And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be. Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark; Obe. Then, my queen, in silence sad, Tita. Come, my lord; and in our flight, [Exeunt. [Horns sound within. Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train. The. Go, one of you, find out the forrester ; — For now our observation is perform'd; And since we have the vaward' of the day, My love shall hear the musick of my hounds. Uncouple in the western valley; go: Despatch, I say, and find the forester. We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, And mark the musical confusion Of hounds and echo in conjunction. Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves, The skies, the fountains, every region near 1 Forepart. Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard are these? - But, soft; what, nymphs Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep : And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; This Helena, old Nedar's Helena: I wonder of their being here together. The. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe That Hermia should give answer of her choice? The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns. Horns, and shouts within. DEMETRIUS, LYSANDER, Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? The. [He and the rest kneel to THESEUs. How comes this gentle concord in the world, Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly, I came with Hermia hither: our intent Was, to be gone from Athens, where we might be Without the peril of the Athenian law. Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough: I beg the law, the law, upon his head. 2 The flews are the large chaps of a hound. 3 Love. The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met : [Exeunt THE. HIP. EGE. and train. Dem. These things seem small and undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. SCENE II.-Athens. A Room in Quince's House. Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, he is transported. Flu. If he come not, then the play is marred; It goes not forward, doth it? Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man in all Athens, able to discharge Pyramus, but he. Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handycraft man in Athens. Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is a Her. Methinks, I see these things with parted very paramour, for a sweet voice. [Excunt. As they go out, BorтOм awakes. Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer: my next is, Most fair Pyramus. Hey, ho! - Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling! Odd's my life! stolen hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, - past the wit of man to say what dream it was: Man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was- there is no man can tell what. Methought was, and methought I had, But man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of the play, before the duke! Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death. Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is a thing of nought. Enter SNUG. Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more married: if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men. Flu. O sweet bully Buttom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day during his life; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a-day: an the duke had not given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged; he would have deserved it: sixpence a-day, in Pyramus, or nothing. Enter BOTTOM. Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts? Quin. Bottom! O most courageous day! O most happy hour! Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I will tell you every thing, right as it fell out. Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom. Bot. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you, is, that the duke hath dined: Get your apparel together; good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace ; every man look o'er his part; for, the short and the long is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen; and let not him, that plays the lion pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions, nor garlick, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt, but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words; away; go, [Exit. away. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I.-An Apartment in the palace of Theseus. | Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords, and Attendants. Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers The. More strange than true. I never may believe Compacted, made. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; And, as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Such tricks hath strong imagination; It comprehends some bringer of that joy; easy is a bush suppos'd a bear? By an Athenian songster to the harp, The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, Which is as brief as I have known a play; The. What are they, that do play it? Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens here, Which never labour'd in their minds till now; 5 Pastime. For never any thing can be amiss, Go, bring them in ;-and take your places, ladies. The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing. Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. I read as much, as from the rattling tongue Enter PHILOStrate. Philost. So please your grace, the prologue is addrest.7 The. Let him approach. [Flourish of trumpets. Enter Prologue. Prol. If we offend, it is with our good-will. That is the true beginning of our end. We are not here. That you should here repent you. The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt; he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: It is not enough to speak, but to speak true. Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue, like a child on a recorder 8; a sound, but not in government. The. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show. Prol. "Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show; "But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. "This man is Pyramus, if you would know; "This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. "This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present "Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder: "And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content "To whisper; art the which let no man wonder. |