"That stand'st between her father's ground and mine; "Thou wall, O wall, O sweet, and lovely wall, "Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne. his fingers. "Thanks, courteous wall. Jove shield thee well for this! [Wall holds up "But what see I? No Thisby do I see. "O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss. "Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!" The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again. Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving me, is Thisby's cue. She is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told you.-Yonder she comes. Enter THISBE. This. "O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, "My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones; This. "My love! Thou art my love, I think." Pyr. "Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; "And like Limander1 am I trusty still." This. "And I like Helen, till the fates me kill." This. "Tide life, tide death, I come without delay." 1 Limander and Helen, blunderingly for Leander and Hero, as Shafalus and Procrus for Cephalus and Procris. Narita p. 28 Wall. "Thus have I, wall, my part discharged so; "And, being done, thus wall away doth go." [Exeunt Wall, PYRAMUS, and THISBE. The. Now is the mural down between the two neighbors. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear without warning.' Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. The. The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. Here The. If we imagine no worse of them, than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. come two noble beasts in, a man 2 and a lion. Enter Lion and Moon-shine. Lion. "You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear "The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, "May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. "Then know, that I, one Snug the joiner, am "No lion fell, nor else no lion's dam: "For if I should as lion come in strife "Into this place, 'twere pity on my life." The. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw. Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valor. The. True; and a goose for his discretion. Dem. Not so, my lord; for his valor cannot carry his discretion; and the fox carries the goose. The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valor; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well. Leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon. 1 This alludes to the proverb, "Walls have ears." A wall between almost any two neighbors, says Johnson, would soon be down, were it to exercise this faculty without previous warning. 2 Theobald altered this word to moon, without apparent reason. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon pre sent." Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the circumference. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon present. "Myself the man i'the moon do seem to be." The. This is the greatest error of all the rest. The man should be put into the lantern. How is it else the man i'the moon? Dem. He dares not come there for the candle; for, you see, it is already in snuff.1 Hip. I am aweary of this moon. Would he would change! The. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time. Lys. Proceed, moon. Moon. All that I have to say, is, to tell you, that the lantern is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thorn bush, my thorn bush; and this dog, my dog. Dem. Why, all these should be in the lantern; for they are in the moon. But silence; here comes Thisbe. Enter THISBE. This. "This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?" Lion. "Oh." [The Lion roars.-THISBE runs off. Dem. Well roared, lion. The. Well run, Thisbe. Hip. Well shone, moon.-Truly, the moon shines with a good grace. The. Well moused,2 lion. [The Lion tears THISBE's mantle, and exit. 1 An equivoque. Snuff signifies both the cinder of a candle and hasty anger. 2 To mouse, according to Malone, signified to mammock, to tear in pieces, as a cat tears a mouse. cla Dem. And so comes Pyramus. Lys. And so the lion vanished. Enter PYRAMUS. Pyr. "Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny "I thank thee, moon, for shining now so bright. "But mark;-Poor knight, "How can it be? "O dainty duck! O dear! "O fates! come, come; “Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!" 2 The. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad. Hip. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man. "Come, tears, confound. "Where heart doth hop; "Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. 1 Thrum is the end or extremity of a weaver's warp. It is used for any collection or tuft of short thread. Destroy. 3 Countenance. "Now am I dead, "Now am I fled; "My soul is in the sky. "Now die, die, die, die, die." [Dies.-Exit Moon-shine. Dem. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one. Lys. Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing. The. With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover, and prove an ass. Hip. How chance moon-shine is gone, before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover? The. She will find him by star-light. Here she comes; and her passion ends the play. Enter THISBE. Hip. Methinks, she should not use a long one, for such a Pyramus. I hope she will be brief. Dem. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better. Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes. Dem. And thus she moans,' videlicet. This. "Asleep, my love? "What, dead, my dove? "O Pyramus, arise; "Speak, speak. Quite dumb? "Dead, dead? A tomb "Must cover thy sweet eyes. "These lily brows,2 "This cherry nose, "These yellow cowslip cheeks, "Are gone, are gone. "Lovers, make moan! 1 The old copies read means, which had anciently the same signification as moans. Theobald made the alteration. 2 The old copies read lips instead of brows. The alteration was made for the sake of the rhyme by Theobald. |