Re-enter LYSANDER.
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 heeled than I.
I followed fast, but faster he did fly;
That fallen am I in dark, uneven way,
And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day!

[Lies down. For if but once thou show me thy gray 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?
Dem. Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot,
Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place;
And dar’st not stand, nor look me in the face.
Where art thou ?
Puck.

Come hither; I am here.
Dem. Nay, then thou mock'st me. Thou shalt

buy this dear,
If ever I thy face by day-light see.
Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
By day's approach look to be visited.

[Lies down and sleeps.

Enter HELENA. Hel. O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy hours. Shine, comforts, from the east; 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,
Steal me awhile from mine own company. [Sleeps.

Puck. Yet but three ? Come one more;
Two of both kinds makes up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad.—
Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad.

Enter HERMIA.
Her. Never so weary, never so in woe,

Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers, I can no farther crawl, no farther go;

My legs can keep no pace with my desires. Here will I rest me, till the break of day. Heaven shield Lysander if they mean a fray!

Lies down. Puck. On the ground

Sleep sound.
I'll apply

To your eye,
Gentle lover, remedy.

[Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eye.
When thou wak'st,
Thou tak'st
True delight

In the sight
Of thy former lady's eye;
And the country proverb known,
That every man should take his own,
In your waking shall be shown.

Jack shall have Jill;

Nought shall go ill; The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be

well.? [Exit Puck.-Dem., Hel., &c. sleep.

1 These three last lines are to be found in Heywood's Epigrams, or Three Hundred Proverbs.

Enter Titania and Bottom, Fairies attending; OBERON

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

While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,

And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
Bot. Where's Peas-blossom ?
Peas. Ready.

Bot. Scratch my head, Peas-blossom.—Where's monsieur Cobweb?

Cob. Ready.

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 the honey-bag, seignior. Where's monsieur Mustard-seed ?

Must. Ready.

Bot. Give me your neif, 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 music, my sweet love?

Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in music. 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 The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.

Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of dried peas. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.

Tita. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away. So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle, Gently entwist,—the female ivy so Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!

[They sleep.

me; I havsleep thou, he all way, honeysuck

OBERON advances. Enter Puck.
Obe. Welcome, good Robin. See'st thou this

sweet sight?
Her dotage now I do begin to pity.
For meeting her of late, behind the wood,
Seeking sweet savors for this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her, and fall out with her.
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes,
Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her,
And she, in mild terms, begged my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child ;
Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent

1 The old, rough, rustic music of the tongs. direction : “ Musicke Tongs, Rurall Music."

The folio has this stage

To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
And now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes.
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
From off the head of this Athenian swain ;
That he, awaking when the others do,
May all to Athens back again repair;
And think no more of this night's accidents,
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
But first I will release the fairy queen.
Be thou as thou wast wont to be ;

[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 enamored of an ass.

Obe. There lies your love.
Tita.

How came these things to pass ? 0, how mine eyes do loath his visage now!

Obe. Silence, awhile.—Robin, take off this head.Titania, music call; and strike more dead Than common sleep, of all these five the sense.

Tita. Music, ho! music; such as charmeth sleep. Puck. Now when thou wak'st, with thine own

fool's eyes peep. Obe. Sound, music. [Still music.] Come, my

queen, take hands with me,
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly,
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair posterity.
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.

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

i Dian's bud is the bud of the Agnus Castus.