(And yet a place of high respect with me), Than to be used as you do use your dog? Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my

spirit; For I am sick, when I do look on thee.

Hel. And I am sick, when I look not on you.

Dem. You do impeach 19 your modesty too much To leave the city, and commit yourself Into the hands of one that loves

you

not;
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.

Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that.
It is not night, when I do see your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night:
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company;
For you, in my respect, are all the world :
Then how can it be said, I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?

Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd; Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind Makes speed to catch the tiger: Bootless speed! When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions ; let me go: Or, if thou follow me, do not believe But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, You do me mischief. Fye, Demetrius ! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex: We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be woo’d, and were not made to woo.

19 i. e. bring it into question.

I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon 20 the hand I love so well.

[Exeunt DEM. and Hel. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this

grove, Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.

Re-enter Puck.
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

Puck. Ay, there it is.
Obe.

I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lips 21 and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enameld skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in :
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it, when the next thing he espies
May be the lady: Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on-2.

20 To die upon, &c. appears to have been used for 'to die by the hand. So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

• I'll die on him that says so, but yourself.' 21 The greater cowslip.

22 Steevens thinks this rhyme of man and on a sufficient proof that the broad Scotch pronunciation once prevailed in England. But our ancient poets were not particular in making their rhymes correspond in sound, and I very much doubt a conclusion made upon such slender grounds.

Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her, than she upon her love:
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. Another part of the Wood.

Enter TITANIA, with her train. Tita. Come, now a roundel', and a fairy song; Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds; Some, war with rear-mice” for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats; and some, keep back The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders At our quaint spirits 3 : Sing me now asleep; Then to your offices, and let me rest.

SONG.
1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen ;
Newts“, and blindworms 5, do no wrong;

Come not near our fairy queen:
CHORUS. Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm, nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby. | The roundel, or round, as its name implies, was a dance of a circular kind. Ben Jonson, in the Tale of a Tub, seems to call. the rings which such fairy dances are supposed to make in the

• I'll have no rondels, I, in the queen's paths.'

grass, rondels:

2 Bats.

3 Sports. Dr. Farmer has shown that spirit was used for sport in Decker's play, If It be Not Good, the Devil is in It:- Now, Shalcan, some new spirit ?—Ruff. A thousand wenches stark naked, to play at leap-frog.-Omnes. O rare sight!'

3 Slow-worms.

4 Efts.

II. 2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near ;

Worm, nor snail, do no offence.
CHORUS. Philomel, with melody, fc.
1 Fai. Hence, away; now all is well:
One, aloof, stand sentinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps.

Enter OBERON.
Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost wake,

[Squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids.
Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce“, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak’st, it is thy dear;
Wake, when some vile thing is near. [Exit.

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA. Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the

wood; And to speak troth, I have forgot our way; We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,

And tarry for the comfort of the day.

Her. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed, For I upon this bank will rest my

head. Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.

Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear, Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

6 The small tiger, or tiger-cat.

I mean,

Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence?; Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.

that
my
heart unto yours

is knit;
So that but one heart we can make of it:
Two bosoms interchained with an oath;
So then, two bosoms, and a single troth.
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny;
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Her. Lysander riddles very prettily :
Now much beshrew 8
If Hermia meant to say, Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in human modesty
Such separation, as, may well be said,
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend :
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end !

Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;
And then end life, when I end loyalty !
Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest!
Her. With half that wish the wisher's

eyes

be [They sleep.

my manners and

my pride,

press'd!

Enter Puck.
Puck. Through the forest have I gone,

But Athenian found I none, ? i.e.‘understand the meaning of my innocence, or my innocent meaning. Let no suspicion of ill enter thy mind. In the conversation of those who are assured of each other's kindness, not suspicion but love takes the meaning.

This word implies a sinister wish, and here means the same as if she had said, ' now ill befall my manners,' &c. Chaucer uses To shrew for to curse; a shrew'd woman and a curst woman were the same. Tooke thinks it is the Saxon imperative of Be-sýrepian, Be thou rypepe, or vexed. Florio gives the following old erroneous origin of this expression : Museragno. A kinde of mouse called a shrew, which is deadly to other beasts if he but bite them, and laming all if he but touch them, of whome came that ordinary curse, I beshrew you, as much as to say, I wish you death.'