Purk. Up and down, up and down, I can no further crawl, no further go; I will lead ihem up and down:

My legs can keep no pace with my desires. I am fear'd in field and town;

Here will I rest me, till the break of day, Goblin, lead them up and down..

Heaven shield Lysander, if they mean a frav! Here comes one.

(Lies down Puck, On the ground Enter LYSANDER.

Sleep sound: Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius ? speak

I'll apply thou now.

To your eye, Puck. Here, villain ; drawn and ready. Where Gentle lover, remedy. art thou?

[Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eye Lys. I will be with thee straight.

When thou wak'st,
Puck.
Follow me then

Thou tak'st
To plainer ground. (Exit Lys. as following the voice.

True delight

In the sight
Enter DEMETRIUS.

Of thy former lady's eye,
Dem.
Lysander! speak again.

And the country proverb known,
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled ?

That every man should take his own, Speak. In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy

In your waking shall be shown : head?

Jack shall have Jill; Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,

· Nought shall go ill; Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars, The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be And wilt not come? Come, recreant ; come, thou

well.3 child,

(Exit Puck.-DEM. HEL. &.c. sleep. I'll whip thee with a rod: He is defild, That draws a sword on thee.

ACT IV. Dem,

Yea; art thou there? SCENE I. The same. Enter TITANIA and BotPuck. Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood

TOM, Fairies attending; OBERON behind unseen. here.

[Exeunt. Re-enter LYSANDER.

Tita. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,

While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on ;

And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth heaa, When I come where he calls, then he is gone.

And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. The villain is much lighter heel'd than I:

Bot. Where's Peas-blossom? I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;

Peas. Ready. That fallen am I in dark uneven way,

Bot. Scratch my head, Peas-blossom.-Where's And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day!

monsieur Cobweb? (Lies down.

Cob. Ready. For if but once thou show me thy gray light, Bot. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get your I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. (Sleeps. weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped Re-enter Puck and DEMETRIUS.

humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good monPuck. Ho, ho! ho, ho!! Coward, why com’st sieur, bring me the honey-bag: Do not fret yourself

too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monithou not? Dem. Abide me, if thou dar’st ; for well I wot, be loath to have you overflown with the honey-bag,

sieur, have a care the honey-bag break not; I would Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place; And dar’st not stand, nor look me in the face.

signior. Where's monsieur Mustard-seed ?

Must. Ready. Where art thou ?

Bot. Give me your neif, monsieur Mustard-secd. Puck. Come hither; I am here.

Pray

you, Dem. Nay, then thou mock'st mo. Thou shalt

leave your courtesy, good monsieur.

Mūst. What's your will ? buy this dear.2 If ever I thy face by day-light see:

Bot. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help ca

valero Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me

monsieur ; for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy To measure out my length on this cold bed.

about the faces and I am such a tender ass, if my By day's approach look to be visited.

hair do but tickle me, I must scratch. (Lies down and sleeps.

Tita. What, wilt' thou hear some music, my Enter HELENA.

sweet love? Hel. O weary night, O long and tedious night,

Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in music: let Abate thy hours : shine, comforts from the east;

us have the tongs and the bones. That I may back to Athens by day-light,

Tita. Or say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat. From these that my poor company detest :

Bot. Truly, a peck of provender ; I could munch And, sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's

your good dry oats. Methinks, I have a great de

eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company. (Sleeps. sire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath Puck. Yet but three ? Come one more ;

no fellow, Two of both kinds makes up four.

Tila. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek Here she comes, curst and sad :

The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts. Cupid is a knavish lad,

Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of dried Thus to make poor females mad.

peas. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir

me; I have an exposition of sleep.come upon me. Enter HERMIA.

Tita. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. Her. Never so weary, never so in woe,

Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away. Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briars ; So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle,

Gently entwist,—the female ivy so I Thix exclamation would have been uttered with Dore propriety by Puck, if he were not now playing an wood's Epigrams, or Three Hundred Proverbs, Stee. assumed character, which he seems to forget. In the vene thinks we should read still instead of well, for the old song printed by Percy, in which all his gambols are sake of the rhyme. related, he concludes every stanza with ho! ho! ho ! 4 To coy, is to stroke or soothe with the hand. The I was also the established dramatic exclamation given behaviour of Titania on this occasion seems copied from to the devil whenever he appeared on the stage, and at that of the lady in Apuleius, lib. viii. tributed to him whenever he appeared in reality.

5 That is fist. So in K Henry IV. Part II. Pistol 2 Johnson says, the poet perhaps wrote, thou shalt says: 'Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif." by this dear ;' as in another place, thou shalt aby it.' 6 The old rough rustic music of the tongs. The follo

3 These three last lines are to be found in Hay. Thas this stage direction :“Musicko Tunge, Řurall Music.' Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.'

And since we have the vaward of the day, 0, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!

My love shall hear the music of my hounds.-
[They sleep. Uncouple in the western valley; go:

Despaich, I say, and find the forester.-
OBERON advances. Enter Puck. We will, fair qucen, up to the mountain's top,
Obe. Welcome, good Robin. See'st thou this And mark the musical confusion
sweet sight?

Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
Her dotage now I do begin to pity.

Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, For meeting her of late behind the wood,

When in a wood of Crete they ba y'd the bear
Seeking sweet savours for this hateful fool, With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear
I did upbraid her, and fall out with her:

Such gallant chiding;' for, besides the groves, For she his hairy temples then had rounded

The skies, the fountains, every region near With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;

Serm'd ali ne mutual cry: I never heard And that same dew, which sometime on the buds

So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls,

The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, Stood now within the pretty flourets' eyes,

So few'd, so sanded ;' and their heads are hung Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail. With ears that sweep away the morning dew; When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her, Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian hulls; And she, in mild terms, begg'd my patience, Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, I then did ask of her her changeling child;

Each under each. A cry more tuneable Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn, To bear him to my bower in fairy land.

In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly : And now I have the boy, I will undo

Judge, when you hear.-But, soft; what nymphs This hateful imperfection of her eyes.

are these? And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep: From off the head of this Athenian swain; And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; That he awaking when the other? do,

This Helena, old Nedar's Helena: May all to Athens back again repair;

I wonder of their being here together. And think no more of this night's accidents,

The. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe But as the fierce vexation of a dream.

The rite of May ; and, hearing our intent,
But first I will release the fairy queen.

Came here in grace of our solemnity:-
Be, as thou wast wont to be.

But, speak, Egeus; is not this the day
[Touching her eyes with an hero. Thai Hermia should give answer of her choice?
See, as thou wast wont to see :

Ege. It is, my lord. Dian's bud' o'er Cupid's flower

The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their Hath such force and blessed

horns.

power. Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.

Horns, and shout within. DEMETRIUS, LYSANDER, Tita. My Oberon! what visions have I seen! HERMIA, anul HELENA, wake and start up. Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.

The. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is Obe. There lies your love.

past; Tita.

How came these things to pass ? Begin these wood-birds bui to couple now? 0, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!

Lys. Pardon, my lord. Obe. Silence, awhile.--Robin, take off this head.

[He and the rest kneel to Theseus. Titania, music call; and strike more dead

The.

I

pray you all, stand up. Than common sleep, of all these five the sense.

I know you are two rival enemies ; Tita. Music, ho! music; such as charmeth How comes this gentle concord in the world, sleep.

That hatred is so far from jealousy, Puck. Now, when thou wak’st, with thine own To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity ? fool's eyes peep.

Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly, Obe. Sound, music. [Still music.] Come, my Hali 'sleep, half waking: But as yet, I swear, queen, take hands with me,

I cannot truly say how I came here: And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.

But, as I think, (for truly would I speak,Now thou and I are new in amity;

And now I do beirink me, so it is ;) And will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly,

I came with Hermia hither: our intent Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,

Was to be gonc from Athens, where we might be And bless it to all fair posterity:

Without the peril of the Athenian law. There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be

Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough: Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.

I beg the law, the law, upon his head.-
Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark; They would have stol'n away, they would,Demetrius,
I do hear the morning lark.

Thereby to have defeated you and me :
Obe. Then, my queen, in silence sad, You, of your wife; and me, of my consent;
Trip we after the night's shade :

Of my consent that she should be your wife.
We the globe can compass soon,

Dem. My lord, fair Helen iold me of their stealth, Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

of this their purpose hither, to this wood; Tita. Come, my lord ; and in our flight,

And I in fury hither followed them; Tell me how it came this night,

Fair Helena in fancy?" following nie. That I sleeping here was found,

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power With these mortals on the ground. [Ercunt. (But by some power it is), my love to Hermia,

[Horns sound within. Melted as doth the snow, seems to me now Enter Theseus, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and Train. As the remembrance of an idle gawd," The. Go, one of you, find out the forester

Which in my childhood I did dote upon : For now our observation is perform'd ::

5 i. e. the honours due to the morning of May. So in I Steevens says, what Shakspeare seems to mean is a former scene- to do observance to a moru of May.' this--So the woodbine, i. c. the sweet honeysuckle doth 6 Forepart. gently entwist the barky fingers of the elm, and so doth 7 Chiding means here the cry of hounds. "To chide the female ivy enring the same fingers.

is used sometimes for to sound, or make a noise, without 2 This was the phraseology of the time. So in K. any reference to scolding. Henry IV. Part I. -' and unbound the rest, and then Ś The flews are the large chaps of a deep-moullied came in the other.'

hound. 3 Dian's bud is the bud of the Agnus Castus, or 9 Sanded means of a sandy colour, which is one of Chaste Tree. "The vertue of this hearbe is, that he the true denotements of a blood-hound. will kepe man and woman chaste."

10 Fancy is here love or affection, and is opposed to 4 Sad here signiuos only grate, serious.

Tfury.

And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,

Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is a The object, and iho pleasure of mine eyo,

very paramour, for a sweet voico. Is only Helena. To her, my lord,

Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is, Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia :

God bless us, a thing of 'nought.
But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food:
Bili, as in health, come to my natural taste,

Enter Snug.
Wow do I wish it, love it, long for it,

Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from tho temAnd will for evermore be true to it.

ple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more Tke. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: married: if our sport had gone forward, we had all Of this discourse we more will hear anon.

been made men. Egeus, I will overbear your will;

Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost For in the temple, by and by with us,

sixpence a-day during his life ; he could not have These couples shall eternally be knit.

'scaped sixpence a-day: an thé duke had not given And, for the morning now is something worn, him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.-- hang'd; he would have deserved it: sixpence a-day, Away, with us, to Athens : Three and three, in Pyramus, or nothing.' Well hold a feast in great solemnity.

Enter Bottom. Come, Hippolyta. (Ereunt The. Hip. Ege. and Train.

Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts? Dem. These things seem small and undistinguish- happy hour!

Quin. Bottom!-0 most courageous day! O most able, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders : but Her. Methinks, I see these things with parted eye, Athenian. I will tell you every thing, right as it

ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true When every thing seems double.

fell out. He.

So methinks : And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,

Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom.

Bot. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you, Mine own, and not mine own. Dem.

Are you sure

is, that the Duke hath dined: Get your apparel too That we are awake? It seems to me,

gether; good strings to your beards, new ribbons to That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think,

your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every The duke was here, and bid us follow him ?

man look 'o'er his part; for, the short and the long Her. Yea; and my father.

is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby Hel.

And Hippolyta.

have clean linen; and let not him, that plays the Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple.

lion, pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the Dem. Why then, we are awake: let's follow him ; nor garlick, for we are to utter

sweet breath ; and I

lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions, And, by the way, let us rccount our dreams.

[Ereuni.

do not doubt, but to hear them say, it is a sweet

comedy. No more words; away; go, away. As they go out, Botton awakes.

[Ereunt. Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will

ACT V. answer :-my next is, Most fair Pyromus.—Hoy, bo!-Peter Quince! 'Flute, ihe bellows-mender! SCENE I. The same. An Apartment in the Palace Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life! stolen of Theseus. Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, Phi. hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare LOSTRATE, Lords, and Attendants. Vision. I have had a dream,-past the wit of man to say what dream it was : Man is but an ass, if he

Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers

speak of. go about to expound this dream. Methought I was there is no man can tell what. Methought I was; These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.

The. More strange than true. I never may believe and methought I had,—But man is but a patched Lovers, and madmen, have such seething brains, fol, if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath More than cool reason ever comprehends.

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend not seen; man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue The lunatick, the lover, and the poet, to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream

Are of imagination all compact :S was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream; it shall be called Bottom's Dream, be- One secs more devils than vast hell can hold; cause it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the That is, the manman: the lover, all as frantick, latter end of a play, before the duke : Peradventure, The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to death.

[Exit.

heaven; SCENE II. Athens. A Room in Quince's House. And, as imagination bodies forth Enter QUINCE, FLUTE, Snout, and STARVE- The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he A local habitation, and a name. come home yet?

Such tricks hath strong imagination;
Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, he That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
is transported.

It comprehends somo bringer of that joy;
Flu. If he come not, then the play is marred; or, in the night, imagining some fear,
It goes not forward, doth it?

How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear?
Quin. It is not possible : you have not a man in

Hip. But all the story of the nighi told over,

And all their minds transfigur'd so together, an Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he. F. No; he hath simply the best wit of any More witnesseth than fancy's images,

And handicraft man in Athens.

grows to something of great constancy ;6

But, howsoever, strange and admirable. 1 Helena, perhaps, means to say, that having founul Demetrius unexpectedly, she considered her property 3 Steevens says that Preston, the actor and author of in him as insecure as that which a person has in a jewelCambyses, was meant to be ridiculed here. The queen th he has found by accident, which he knows not having bestowed a pension on him of twenty poonds a shiher he shall retain, and which therefore may pro. year for the pleasure she received from his acting in the perly enough be called his own and not his owon. Warplay of Dido, at Cambridge, in 1564. burton propored to read gemell, i. e. double; and it has 4 So in the Tempest :

thy lirains, aisu» been proposed to read gimmal, which signifies a pouble ring

Now uselexx, boiled within thy skull.' 2 Thuobald conjectured, happily enough, that we 5 i. e. are made of more imagination. should read after death.'

6 i. c. consisituey, utability, certainty.

Enter LYSANDEE, DEMETRIUS, Hermia, and For never any thing can be amiss,
HELENA.

When simpleness and duty tender it. The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and Go, bring them in ;-and iake your places, ladies. mirth.

(Erit PHILOSTRATE Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love,

Hip. I love not to see wreichedness o'ercharg'd,

And duty in his service perishing.
Accompany your hearts !
Lys.
More than to us

The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such

thing. Wait on your royal walks, your board, your bed! The. Come now; what masks, what dances shall Hip. He says they can do nothing in this kinda we have,

The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for no To wear away this long age of three hours,

thing: Between our after-supper, and bed time?

Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake: Where is our usual manager of mirth?

And what pour duty cannot do, What revels are in hand ? Is there no play,

Noble respect takes it in might, not merit." To case the anguish of a torturing hour ?

Where I have come, great clerks have purposed Call Philostrate.

To greet me with premeditated welcomes; Philost. Hero, mighty Thescus.

Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, The. Say, what abridgment' have you for this Make periods in the midst of sentences, evening?

Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears, What mask ? what music? How shall we beguile. And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off, The lazy time, if not with some delight?

Not paying me a welcomc: Trust me, sweet, Philost. There is a brief,2 how many sports are out of this silence, yet, I pick'd a welcome; ripe;

And in tho modesty of fearful duty Make choice of which your highness will see first.

I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
(Giving a paper.

Of saucy and audacious eloqnence.
The. (Reads.) The battle with the Centaurs, to be Love, therefore, and tongue-ried simplicity,

In least speak niost, to my capacity.
sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.

Enter PHILOSTRATE. We'll none of that: that have I told my love, Philost. So please your grace, the prologue is In glory of my kinsman Hercules.

addrest." The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,

The. Let him approach. (Flourish of trumpets." Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.

Enter Prologue.
That is an old device; and it was play'd
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.

Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will.
T'he thrice thrce Muses mourning for the death

That you should think we come not to offenud, Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary."

But with good-will. To show our simple skill, That is some satire, keen, and critical,

That is the true beginning of our end. Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.

Consider then, we come but in despite. A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus,

We do not come as minding to content you, And his love Thisbe : very tragical mirth.

Our true intent is. All for your delight, Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief!

We are not here. That you should here repent you. That is, hot ice, and wonderous strange snow.

The actors are at hand: and, by their show, How shall we find the concord of this discord ? You shall know all, that you are like to knoto. Philost. A play there is, my lord, some ten words

The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. long;

Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt, Which is as brief as I have known a play;

he knows not the stop. 'A good moral, my lord: li But by ten words, my lord, it is too long;

is not enough to speak, but to speak true. Which makes it tedious : for in all the play

Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue like There is not one word apt, one player fitted.

a child on a recorder ;'° a sound, but not in governe And tragical, my noble lord, it is ;

ment,11, For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.

The. His speech was like a tangled chain; ngWhich, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess, thing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? Made mine oyes water; but more merry tears Enter Pyramus and Tasbe, Wall, Moonshine, The passion of loud laughter never shed.

and Lion, as in dumb show. The. What are they that do play it? Philost. Hard-handed men, thai work in Athens

Prol. “Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this here,

“ But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. Which never labour'd in their minds till now; “ This man is Pyramus, if you would know; And now have toil'd their unbreath'd' memories

“ This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. With this same play, against your nuptial. The. And we will hear it.

“ This man, with lime and rough-cast doth present Philost.

No, my noble lord,

“Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers senIt is not for you : I have heard it over,

" And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are And it is nothing, nothing in the world:

content Unless you can find sport in their intents, Extremely stretch'd, and conn'd with cruel pain,

“To whisper; at the which let no man wonder. To do you service.

“ This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn, The. I will hear that play;

“ Presenteth moon-shino ; for, if you will know,

“ By moon-shine did these lovers think no scorn 1 Stecvens thought, that by abridgment was meant 6 Intents may be put for the object of their attention a dramatic performance which crowds the events of To intend and to attend were anciently synonymous years into a few hours. Surely the context seems to 7. The sense of this passage appears to be :- What require a different explanation; an abridgment appears dutifulness tries to perform without ability, regardfulger to mcan some pastime to shorten the tedious evening. nerosity receives with complacency; estimating it, nak 2 Short account.

by the actual merit, but according to the power or might 3 This may be an allusion to Spenser's poem: "The of the humble but Zealous performers.' Tears of the Muses on the Neglect and Contempt of 8 Ready. Learning;' first printed in 1591. 4 It is thought that shakspeare alludes here to 'cer-ing of the trumpets, or, as we should now say, after the

9 Anciently the prologue entered after the third sound. tain good hearied men of Coventry,' who petitioned that third music. they mought renew their old storial shew' before the Queen at Kenilworth: where the poet himself may have w modulate ; perhaps the name arose from birds being

10 A kind of flageolet. To record anciently signific! been prosent, as he was then twelve years old.

taught to record by it. 5 i e. unexcrciecd, unpractised,

li i. e. not regularly, according to the time.

10

show ;

der :

Scess I.

“ To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. This. “ I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all." “ This grisly beast, which by name lion hight, Pyr. “Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet mo “ The trustý Thisby, coming first by night,

straightway?” “ Did scare away, or rather did affright;

This. “ Tide lifo, tide death, I come without * And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall;

delay." * Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain: Wall. “ Thus have I, wall, my part discharged so; "Anon comes Pyramus, swee' youth, and tall, “And, being done, thus wall away doth go.' And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain :

[Eceuni Wall, Pyramus, and Thiste. “Whereal with blade, with bloody blameful blade, The. Now is the mural down between the two

“ He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; neighbours. "and, Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,

Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so “ His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, wilful to hear without warning. “Let lion, moon-shine, wall, and lovers twain, Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. * At large discourse, while here they do remain." The. The best in this kind are but shadows : and

{Ereunt Prol. THISBE, Lion, and Moonshine. the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak.

Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when theirs. many asses do.

The. If we imagine no worse of them, than they Wall.“ In this same interlude, it doth befall, of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. " That I, one Snout by name, present a wall : Here come two noble beasts in, a moon“ and a lion. « And such a wall, as I would have you think,

Enter Lion and Moonshine. “ That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink, “ Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,

Lion. “ You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do

fear + Did whisper often very secretly,

“ The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on “ This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth show

floor, « That I am that same wall; the truth is so :

“May now, perchance, both quake and tremble “ And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

here, * Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper." Then know, that I, one Snug the joiner, am

“ When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak “No lion fell, nor else no lion's dam :

better? Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard " into this place, 'twere pity on my life."

" For if I should as lion come in strife discourse, my lord. The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence !

The. A very gentle beast, and of a good coa

science Enter PYRAMUS.

Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'o, Pyr. “ grim-look'd night! 0 night with hue I saw. so black;

Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. “ O nighy, which ever art, when day is not! The. True; and a goose for his discretion. “O nighi, ó night, alack, alack, alack,

Dem. Not 'so, my lord: for his

valour cannot "I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot! carry his discretion; and the fox carries the goose. " And thou, ó wall, sweet, O lovely wall,

The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his “ That stand'st between her father's ground and valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is mine:

well: leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to * Thou wall, wall, O sweet, and lovely wall,

the moon. "Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine Moon. “ This lantern doth the horned moon preeyne.

(Wall holdls up his Fingers. * Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head. for this!

The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invi" Bat what see I? No Thisby do I see. sible within the circumference. “O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss : Moon, “ This lantern doth the horned moon “ Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!”

present : The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should “Myself the man i'the'moon do seom to be." curse again.

The. This is the greatest error of all the rest : the Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving man should be put into the lantern : How is it else The, is Thisby's cae: she is to enter now, and I am the man i'the moon? to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will Dem. He dares not come there for the candle ; fall pat as I told you :-Yonder she comes. for, you see, it is already in snuff.” Enter Thisbe.

Hip. I am aweary of this moon: Would he

would change! This. " () wall, full often hast thou lieard my The. It appears, by his small light of discretion, moans,

that he is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all « For parting my fair Pyramus and mo:

reason, we must stay the time. " My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones : Lys. Proceed, moon.

Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.” Nioon. All that I have to say, is, to tell you, that Pyr." I see a voice : now will I to the chink, the lantern is the moon; 1, the man in the moon;

"To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. this thorn bush, my thorn bush; and this dog my * Thisby!"

Tras.“ My love! thou art my love, I think.” Dem. Why, all these should be in the lantern; Pyr. “ Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's for they are in the moon. But silence; here comes grace ;

Thisbe. "And like Limander? am I trusty still."

Enter THISBE.
This. “ And I like Helen, till the fatos me kill."
Pyr. “Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true."

This. “ This is old Ninny's tomb: Where is my This. “As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.”

love ?" Pyr. “0, kiss me through the hole of this vile

Lion. “Oh," wall."

[The Lion roars.-THISBE runs off. 1 Cailed.

sent:"

dog.