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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 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,

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Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, 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
I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the hand I love so well. Exit.
Obe. Fare thee well, nymph. Ere he do leave
this grove,

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Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love. 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 where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, 250
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell'd 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

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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. Effect it with some care, that he may prove 265 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 II-A bank of thyme, oxlips, and other wild flowers in 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.

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5

The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and

wonders

At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep; Then to your offices, and let me rest.

Fairies sing.

[1. Fairy.] 'You spotted snakes with double tongue,

Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen.'

[Cho.] '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.'

2. Fairy. Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offence.'

[Cho.] 'Philomel, with melody,' etc.

2. Fairy. Hence, away! now all is well. One aloof stand sentinel.

ΙΟ

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25

[Exeunt Fairies.] Titania sleeps.

Enter Oberon [and squeezes the flower on Titania's eyelids].

Obe. What thou seest when thou dost wake,

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.

Enter Lysander and Hermia.

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. Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence! Love takes the meaning in love's conference. 46 I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit So that but one heart can you make of it; Two bosoms interchanged 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.

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55

Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
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.

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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.

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Exit.

Star. I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.

16 Bot. Not a whit! I have a device to make all well. Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to say, we will do no harm with our swords and that Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more better assurance, tell them that I Pyramus am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver. This will put them out of fear. 23 Quin. Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be written in eight and six.

Bot. No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.

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36

Snout. Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion? Star. I fear it, I promise you. Bot. Masters, you ought to consider with your selves. To bring in-God shield us!—a lion among ladies, is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to look to it. Snout. Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion. Bot. Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion's neck; and he himself must speak through, saying thus, or to the same defect, 'Ladies,' or 'Fair ladies, I would wish you,' or 'I would request you,' or 'I would entreat you, not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no such thing; I am a man as other men are;' and there indeed let him name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner. Quin. Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard things: that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for, you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.

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51 Snout. Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?

Bot. A calendar, a calendar! Look in the almanac! Find out moonshine, find out moonshine.

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Quin. Yes, it doth shine that night. Bot. Why, then may you leave a casement of the great chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon may shine in at the casement. Quin. Ay, or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby, says the story, did talk through the chink of a wall.

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Snout. You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?

Bot. Some man or other must present Wall; and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; or let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper. 73 Quin. If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down, every mother's son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin. When you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake. And so every one according to his cue.

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