Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

Ob. Sound, mufic; come, my Queen, take hand

with me,

And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.

Now thou and I are new in amity;

And will to morrow midnight folemnly
Dance in Duke Thefeus' houfe triumphantly,
And blefs it to all fair* pofterity; 8
There fhall these pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Thefeus, all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy King, attend and mark;
I do hear the morning lark.

Ob. Then, my Queen, in filence fad ; »
Trip we after the night's fhade;
We the globe can compass toon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord, and in your flight
Tell me how it came this night,
That I fleeping here was found,

With these mortals on the ground.

[Sleepers lie ftill. [Exeunt.

[Wind borns within.

Enter Thefeus, Egeus, Hippolita, and all his Train.

The. Go one of you, find out the forefter, For now our obfervation is perform'd,

* I. Profperity.

8 Dance in Duke Thefeus' boufe triumphantly, And blefs it to all FAIR pofterity;] We should ead, to all FAR pofterity .e. to the remoteft pofterity. WARBURTON. 9 Then, my Queen, in filence fad, Trip we after the night's

jbade.] Mr. Theobald says, why fad? Fairies are pleafed to follow night. He will have it fade; and fo, to mend the rhime,

And

fpoils both the fenfe and gram

mar. But he mistakes the meaning of fad; it fignifies only grave, fober; and is opposed to their dances and revels, which were now ended at the finging of the morning lark.So Winter's Tale, A&t 4. My father and the gentleman are in SAD talk. For grave o ferious. WARBURTON.

1 Our obfervation is performed] The honours due to the morning of May. I know not why Shakespear calls this play a Mid

Summer

And fince we have the vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the mufic of my hounds.
Uncouple in the western valley, go-
Difpatch, I fay, and find the forefter.
We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the mufical confufion

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 befides the groves,
The fkies, the fountains, ev'ry region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So mufical a difcord, fuch fweet thunder.

The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, fo+ fanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that fweep away the morning dew;
Crook knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable

Was never hallo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Theffaly:

Judge, when you hear. But foft, what nymphs are these?

Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep,
And this Lyfander, this Demetrius is,
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena;

I wonder at their being here together.

The. No doubt, they rofe up early to obferve

The Rite of May; and, hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our Solemnity.
But fpeak, Egeus, is not this the day,

That Hermia fhould give anfwer of her choice?
Ege. It is, my lord.

fammer Night's Dream, when he
fo carefully informs us that it
happened on the night preceding
May day

• So fewed, That is, fo

mouthed. Flews are the large
Chaps of a deep mouthed Hound.
HANMER.
So fanded. So marked with

fall spots.

The.

The Go bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.

Horns, and Shout within: Demetrius, Lyfander,
Hermia and Helena, wake and start up.

The. Good morrow, friends; Saint Valentine is
past ;

Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
Lys. Pardon, my lord.

The. I pray you all, ftand up:
I know, you two are rival enemies.
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is fo far from jealousy,

To fleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lys. My lord, I fhall reply amazedly,
Half fleep, half waking. But as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly fay how I came here:
But as I think, for truly would I speak,
And now I do bethink me, fo it is;

I came with Hermia hither. Our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be
Without the peril of th' Athenian law.

Ege. Enough, enough; my lord, you have enough; I beg the law, the law upon his head:

They would have ftoll'n away, they would, Demetrius, Thereby to have defeated you and me;

You, of your wife; and me, of my confent;

Of my confent, that she should be your wife.

Dem. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth, Of this their purpose hither to this wood; And I in fury hither follow'd them; Fair Helena in fancy following me.

2 Fair Helena in fancy following me.] Fancy is here taken for love or affection and is opposed to fury, as before.

But

Sighs and tears poor Fancy's followers.

Some now call that which a man takes particular delight in his

Fancy

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
But by fome power it is, my love to Hermia.
Is melted as the fnow; feems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaude,
Which in my childhood I did doat upon,
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betrothed ere I Hermia faw;
But like a fick nefs did I loath this food
But as in health, come to my natural tafte,
Now do I wifh it, love it, long for it;
And will for ever more be true to it.

The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this difcourfe we fhall hear more anon.
Egeus, I will over-bear your will;
For in the temple, by and by with us,
These couples fhall eternally be knit;
And, for the morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd hunting fhall be fet afide.
Away, with us to Athens; three and three,
We'll hold a feaft in great folemnity.

Come, Hippolita.

[Exe. Duke, Hippol. and Train. Dem. Thele things feem fmall and undiftinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

Hr. Methinks I fee thefe things with parted Eye; When every thing feems double.

Hl. So, methinks;

And I have found Demetrius like a Jewel,

Fancy Flower fancier, for a Hi, and Bird fancier, for a lover and feeder of birds, are colloquial wo:ds.

And I have found Demetrius

like a JEWEL, Mine own, and not mine own.} Hermia had obferv'd that things

Mine

appeared double to her. Helena replies. fo methinks; and then fubjoins, that Demetrius was ke a jervel, her own and not her own. He is here, then, compared to fome thing which had the property of appearing to be one thing when it was another.

Not

Mine own, and not mine own.

Dem. It feems to me,

That yet we fleep, we dream.

Do not you think,

The Duke was here, and bid us follow him?

Her. Yea, and my father.

Hel. And Hippolita.

Lyf. And he bid us follow to the temple.

Dem. Why then, we are awake; let's follow him And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [Exeunt.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will anfwer. My next is, moft fair Pyramus heyho, -Peter Quince, Flute the bellows-mender! Snout the tinker! Starveling! god's my life! ftoll'n hence, and left me afleep? I have had a moft rare vifion. I had a dream, paft the wit of man to fay what dream it was man is but an afs, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was, there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had ——But man is but a patch'd fool, if he will offer to fay what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not feen; man's hand

[blocks in formation]
« PředchozíPokračovat »