Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint This hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child : rhymes, And interchang'd love-tokens with my child : But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd, Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessed ness. Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my Ere I will yield my virgin patent up (The sealing-day betwixt my love and me, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats; messen-I gers Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth: Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me, duke, my gracious Be it so she will not here before your grace I beg the ancient privilege of Athens; The. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair To you your father should be as a god; one To whom you are but as a form in wax, The. In himself he is: Thy crazed title to my certain right. Lys. You have her father's love, Demetrius; Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him. Ege. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my And what is mine my love shall render him; Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he, And, which is more than all these boasts cau I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia: Upon this spotted and inconstant man. The. I must confess, that I have heard so much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof; and But, being over-full of self-affairs, Her. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. In such a presence here, to plead my thoughts: The. Either to die the death, or to abjure Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, choice, You can endure the livery of a nun; moon. Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood, To undergo such maiden pilgrimage: My mind did lose it.-But, Demetrius, come; I have some private schooling for you both.- I must employ you in some business [Exeunt THES. HIP. EGE. DEM. and Lys. How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale ? How chance the roses there do fade so fast? Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes. Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's + followers. I have a widow aunt, a dowager Of great revenue, and she hath no child: From Athens is her house remote leagues; seven And she respects me as her only son. Her. My good Lysander! I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow; By that which knitteth souls, and prospers loves; And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen, When the false Trojan under sail was seen; Enter HELENA. Her. God speed fair Helena ! Whither away? Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine. Hel. None, but your beauty; Would that fault were mine! Her. Take comfort; he no more shall see my face; Lysander and myself will fly this place.- O then, what graces in my love do dwell, Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold: To-morrow night when Phoebe doth behold Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass, and I Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie, From lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight. [Exit LYSANDER. Hel. How happy some, o'er other some can be 1 Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. Things base and vile, holding no quantity, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind: So the boy love is perjur'd every where: Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again un- For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne, t He hail'd down oaths, that he was only nine; And when this bail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt. [Exit. SCENE 11.-The same.-A Room in a Enter SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, QUINCE, and STARVELING. Quin. Is all our company here? Bot. You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip. which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play Quin. Here is the scroll of every man's name, in our interlude before the duke and duchess, on his wedding-day at night. Bot. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and so grow to a point. Quin. Marry, our play is -The most lament able comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus! and Thisby. Bot. A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.-Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll: Masters, spread yourselves. Quin. Auswer as I call you,-Nick Bottom, the weaver. Bot. Ready: Name what part I am for, proceed. and Quin. You, Nick Bottom are set down for Pyramus. Bot. Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in ? Quin. Why, what you will. Bot. I will discharge it in either your strawcoloured beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your Frenchcrown-colour beard, your perfect yellow. Quin. Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-faced. ¡-But, masters, here are your parts and I anı to entreat you, request you, and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by Bot. What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant? Quin. A lover, that kills himself most gallant-moon-light; there will we rehearse: for if we ly for love. Bot. That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes: I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest :-Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split. "The raging rocks, "With shivering shocks, "Of prison-gates: "Shall shine from far, "And make and mar "The foolish fates." This was lofty !-Now, name the rest of the players. This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more condoling. Quin. Francis Flute, the bellows-mender. Quin. You must take Thisby on you. Quin. That's all one; you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will. Bot. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too: I'll speak in a monstrous little Voice ;-Thisne, Thisne,-Ah! Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby dear! and lady dear! Quin. No, no; you must play Pyramus, and, Flute, you Thisby. Bot. Well, proceed. must Quin. Robin Starveling, the tailor. play Quin. You, Pyramus' father; myself, Thisby's father;-Snug, the joiner, you, the lion's part :-and, I hope, here is a play fitted. Snug. Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. Bot. Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will make the duke say, Let him roar again, Let him roar again. Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek: and that were enough to bang us all. All. That would hang us every mother's son. Bot. I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale. meet in the city, we shall be dog'd with company, and our devices known. In the mean time I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. Bot. We will meet; and there we may rehearse more obscenely, and courageously. Take pains; be perfect; adieu. Quin. At the duke's oak we meet. ACT II. SCENE 1.-A Wood near Athens. Enter a FAIRY at one door, and PUCE at another. Puck. How now, spirit! whither wander you f Thorough bush, thorough brier, Thorough flocd, thorough fire, Swifter than the moones sphere; Take heed, the queen come not within his sight, And now they never meet in grove, or green, Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there. quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite, And sometime make the drink to bear no luck : Quin. You can play no part out Pyramus: for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely, gentleman-like man; therefore Are not you be? you must needs play Pyramus. • As if. Articles required in performing a play. Puck. Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night. And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear SCENE II. [Is, as in mockery, set: The spring, the summer, And this same progeny of evils comes We are their parents and original. Obe. Do you amend it then; it lies in you: Tita. Set your heart at rest, The fairy land buys not the child of me. His mother was a vot'ress of my order: And, in the spiced Indian air, by night, Full often hath she gossip'd by my side; And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, that Marking the embarked traders on the flood; When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive, And grow big-bellied, with the wanton wind: Which she, with pretty and with swimming (Following her womb, then rich with my young gait, 'squire,) Enter OBERON, at one door, with his train, I have forsworn his bed and company. Obe. How canst thou thus, for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hyppolyta, Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night From Perigenia, whom he ravish'd? Tita. These are the forgeries of jealousy: our Therefore the winds piping to us in vain, corn Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard: • Wild apple. Would imitate; and sail upon the land, Tita. Perchance, till after Theseus' weddingday. If you will patiently dance in our round, Tita. Not for thy kingdom.-Fairies, away : [Exeunt TITANIA, and her train. Obe. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove, Till I torment thee for this injury. My gentle Puck, come hither: Thon remember'st Puck. I remember. Obe. That very time I saw, (but thou could'st not,) Flying between the cold moon and the earth, And the imperial vot'ress passed on, Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: And maidens call it, love-in-idleness. once : The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid, Obe. Having once this juice, Antumn producing flowers unseasonably. fl'roduce. 1 Page. § Exempt from lora. I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, And ere I take this charm off from her sight, Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him. not. Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia? And here am I, and wood within this wood, Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; But yet you draw not iron, for my heart I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, To die upon 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, And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, grove : Is true as steel: Leave you your power to A sweet Athenian lady is in love draw, And I shall have no power to follow you. Dem. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth Tell you-I do not, nor I cannot love you? Hel. And even for that do I love you the more, I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love, (And yet a place of high respect with me,) Than to be used as you use your dog? With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; SCENE III. Another part of the Wood. Enter TITANIA, with her train. Tita. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song; Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; 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 your modesty too much, To leave the city, and commit yourself Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that. Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. Run when you will the story shall be chang'd; Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern hence: Beetles black, approach not near; Worm, nor snail, do no offence. CHORUS. Philomel, with melody, &c. 1 Fai. Hence, away; now all is well: One, aloof, stand sentinel. Exeunt Fairies.-TITANIA sleeps. By. A kind of dance. .. Efts. 1 Vigorous. Sports. The greater cowslip. Bats. tt Slow-worms. |