Biron. A twelvemonth! well, befall whatwiil befall, 111 jest a twelvemonth in a hospital.

Pvin. \ To the King J Ay, sweet my lord; and so 1

take my leave. King. No, madam; we will bring you on ycarway. Biron, Our wooing doth not end like an old play ,

iack hath not Jill; tnese ladies' courtesy light well have made our sport a comedy. King. Come, sir, it wants a twelvemonth and a day, And then twill end. Biron. That's too long for a play.

Enter Anna do.

Ar?n. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,—

Prin. Was not that Hector?

Dum. The worthy knight of Troy.

Arm. I will kiss thy royal ringer, and take leave. I am a votary; 1 have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for "her sweet love three years. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo I it should have followed in the end of our show.

King. Call them forth quickly; we will do so.
A rm. Holloa 1 approach.

Re-enter Holofernesi Nathaniel, Moth. Costard, and others.

This side is Hiems, winter; this Ver, the spring; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.

SONG.

Spring. When daisies pied, and "violets blue.
And lady-smocks all stiver-white.
And enckoo-buds of yellow hue,
Do paint the meadows with delight.

The cuckoo then, on every tree.

Mocks married ineti ;for thus sings he.

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo,—O, word of fear I

Unpteasing to a married ear.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws.

And merry larks are ploughmeti sclocks.
When turtles tread, and rooxs, and daws,

A fid maidens bleach tlietr summer si/cocks,
The cuckoo theft, on every tree.
Mocks married men ; for thus sings he.
Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo,—0 word of fear I
Unpteasing to a married ear.
Winter, When icicles hang by the wall.

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail.
And lorn bears logs into the halt.

And milk comes frozen home in pail.
When blood is nipf'd, and u-ays befoul.
Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;
To-whit. to-who. a merry note.
While greasy Joan doth keel tlie pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,

And coughing drowns tlie parson's saw.
And birds sit brooding in the snow.

And Marian s nose looks red and raw.
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl.
Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;
To-whit, to-who, a merry note.
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this way.

I Exeunt,

ACT I.

SCENE I.—Athens. A Room in the Palace of Theseus.

£nter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, and
Attendants.
The. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
Another moon: but, oh, methinks how slow
This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires
IJke to a step-dame, or a dowager.
Long withering out a young man's revenue.
Hip. Four days will quickly steep themselves in
nights i

Four nights will quickly dream nway the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow

New bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.

The. Go, Philostrate,

Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth:
Turn melancholy forth to funerals,—
The pale companion is not for our pomp.—

[Exit Philostrate.
Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword.
And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key.
With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling.

Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke 1 7*he. Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with

Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daugUier Hermia.— Stand forth, Demetrius.—My noble lord. This man hath my consent lo marry her.— , Stand forth, Lysander :—and, my gracious duke, This man hath "witch'd the bosuui of my child :— Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes. And interchanged love-tokens with my child: Thou hast by moonlight at her winnow sung. With feigning voice, verses of feigning iove; And stoT'n th' impression of her fantasy With bracelets ot thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats ; messengers Of strong provailnlent in unharden'd youth: With cunning hast thou iilcii'd my daughter's heart; Turu'd her obedience, which is due to me, To stubborn harshness:—and, my gracious duke, Be it so she will not here before your grace Consent-to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens; As she is mine, I may dispose of her: Which shall be either to this gentleman, Or to her death, according to our law Immediately provided in that case.

The. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair maid: To you, your father should be as a god; One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one To whom you are but as a form in wax. By him imprinted, and within his power To leave the figure, or disfigure it. Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

Her. So is Lysander.

The. In himself he is;

But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
The other must be held the worthier.

Her. 1 would my father look*d but with my eyes.

The. Rather, your eyes must with his judgment look.

Her. I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold.
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
But I beseech your grace, that I may know
The worst that may befall me in this case,
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

The. Either to die the death, or to abjure
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires:
Know of your youth, examine well your blood.
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice.
You can endure the livery of a nun;
For aye to be in shady cloister inew'd,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage:
But earthiier happy is the rose distill'd.
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.

Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

The. Take time to pause; and, by the next new moon,

(The sealing-day betwixt my love and me
For everlasting "bond of fellowship.)
Upon that day either prepare to die
For disobedience to your father's will,
Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana's altar to protest.
For aye, austerity and single life.

Dent. Relent, sweet Hermia:—and, Lysander, yield 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 1 true, he hath my love;
And what is mine my love shall render him;
And she is mine, and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.

Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
As well possess d; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd
If not with vantage, as Demetrius*;
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutiy ao tes, dutes in idolatry,
Upon tins spotted and inconstant man.

inc. 1 inu^t conies that 1 have heard so much
And with DeunrLriii;; thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being ovor-f.ill oi seli-alfairs,
My mind did lose it.—But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egcus: you shall go with me,
1 have some private schooling lor you both.—
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To tit your fancies to your lather's will;
Or else the law of Athens yields you up
(Which by no means we may extenuate]
To death, or to a vow of single life.—
Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my lover-
Demetrius, and F-geus, go along:
I must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial ; and confer with you
Ofsomething nearly that concerns yourselves.

Ege. W ith duty and desire we follow you.

[Exeunt Thcs., Hip., Kge.. Dem., and train.

Lys. How now, my love I Why isy-jurcheek sopoleir How chance the roses there to fade so fast?

Her. Belike, for want of rain, which I could well Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes.

Lys. Ah me 1 for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth:
But, either it was different in blood,—

Her. O cross! too high to be uithraU'd to low 1

Lys. Or else niisgratied in respect of years,—

Her. O spite! too old to be engag'd to young!

Lys. Or elso it stood upon the choice ol friends,—

Her. O hell! to choose love by another's eye!

Lys. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice.
War, death, or sickness, diil lay siege to it.
Making it momentary as a sound.
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the co lied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say,—Behoid I
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.

Her. If, then, true lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as an edict in destiny:
Then let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary cross,
As due to iovc as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs,
Wishes, ami tears, poor fancy's followers.

Lys. A good persuasion : therefore, hear me, Hermia. I have a widow aunt, a dowager Of great revenue, and she hath no child: From Athens is her house remote seven leagues; And she respects me as her only son. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee; And to that place the sharp Athenian law Cannot pursue us. If thou lov'st me, then. Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night; And in the wood, a league without the town, Where I did meet thee once with Helena, To do observance to a morn of May, There will 1 stay for thee.

Her. ' My good Lysander I

I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow;
By his best arrow with the golden head;
By the simplicity of Venus' doves;
By that which knittcth souls and prospers loves,
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the false Trojan under sail was seen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke :—
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I med with thee.

Lys. Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.

Enter Helena.

Her. God speed fair Helena I Whither away?

Hel. Call you ine fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair! Your eyes ays lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear. When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear. Sickness is catching: O, were favour so, Vours would I catch, fair Hermia! ere I go; My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye, My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody; Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated. The rest I'll ^ive to be to you translated.

O, teach me how you look; and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart 1

Her. 1 frown upon him, yet he loves mc still.

Hel. O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill 1

Her. I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
Hel. O th-it my prayers could such affection move 1
Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me.
Hel. The more 1 love, the more he hatcth ine.
Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
Hel. None, but your beauty: would that fault were
mine I

Her. Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.
Before the time 1 did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
O, then, what graces in my love do dwell.
That he hath turn'd A heaven unto a hell I

Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
To-morrow night, when Phtcbe doth behold
Her silver visage in the wat'ry glass.
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
(A time that lovers* flights doth still conceal,)
Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal.

Her. And in the wood where often you and I
Upon faint primiose-beds were wont to lie.
Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
And thence from Athens turn away our eyes.
To seek new friends and stranger companies.
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius !—
Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lovers' food till morrow deefc midnight.

Lys. I will, my Hermia.—[Exit Henn.] Helena, adieu:

As you on him, Demetrius dote on you t [Exit.

Hel. How happy some, o'er other some can be 1 Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know, what all but he do know. And as he errs, doting on Hennia's eyes. So I, admiring of Ins qualities. Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind: Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste; "Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste: And therefore is I -ove said to be a child. Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjur'd every where: For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne, He hail'd down oathsthat he was only mine: And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt. I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight: Then to the wood will he, to-morrow night. Pursue her; and for this intelligence If I have thanks, it is a dear expense: But herein mean I to enrich my pain. To have his sight thither and back again. {Exit.

SCENE II.—Athens. A Room in a Cottage.

Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.

Quin. Is all our company here?

Rot. You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip.

Quin. Here is the scroll of every man'sname, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess on his weddingday at night.

Sot. 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 lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.

Rot. A very good piece of work, 1 assure you, and a merry.—Nov/, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll : Masters, spread yourselves.

Quin. Answer, as I call you.—Nick Bottom, the weaver.

Bat. Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.

Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.

Rot. What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant? Quin. A lover, that kills himself most gallantly for love.

Rot. 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, 1 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
And shivering shocks
Shall break the locks

Ofprison-gates;
And Phibbus' car
Shall shine front far,
And make and mar
The foolish fates."

This was lofty 1—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.

Flu. Here. Peter Quince.

Quin. You must take Thisby on you.

Flu. What is Thisby? a wandering knight?

Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love.

Flu. Nay, faith, let not ine play a woman ; 1 have a beard coming.

Quin. That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will.

Rot. An I may hide my face, let mc play Thisby too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice ;—"Thisne, Thisne"—"Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear J thy Thisby dear, and Lady dear /"

Quin. No, no; you must play Pyramus: and Flute, you Thisby. *

Rot. Well, proceed.

Quin. Robin Starveling, the tailor.

Star. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.—Tom Snout, the tinker. Snout. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You, Pyramus's 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.

Rot. 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 hang us all.

All. That would hang us, every mother's son.

Rot. 1 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.

Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man. as one shall see in a summer's day ; a most lovely, gentlemanlike man: therefore, you must needs play Pyramus.

Rot. Well, 1 will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in?

Quin. Why, what you will.

Rot. I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-v^rain beard, or your French-crown 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 am 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 moonlight; there will we rehearse: for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with company, and our devices known. In the meantime, I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not.

Hot. We wilt meet; and there we may rehearse more obscenely, and courageously. Take pains; be perfect; adieu.

Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.

Rot. Enough; hold, or cut bow-strings. [Exeunt. ACT II.

SCENE l.—A Wood near Athens.
Enter a Fairy on one side, and Puck on (he other.
Puck. How now, spirit I whither wander you I
Fai. Over hill, over dale.

Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen.
To dew her orbs upon the green:
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours.
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dew-drops here.
And hang a peart in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

Puck. The king doth keep his revels here to-night:
Take heed the queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath.
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling:
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she, perforce, withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled star-light sheen,
But they do square; that all their elves, for fear.
Creep into acom cups, and hide them there.

Fai. Either I mistake your shape and making quite. Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite, Call'd Robin Good-fellow; are you not he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quem. And bootless makes the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck: Are not you hef

Puck. Thou speak'st aright;

I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon. and make him smile,
when I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile.
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
Ana sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl.
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And "tailor " cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe;
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there,—
But, room. Fairy! here comes Oberon. [g°ne ■

Fai. And here my mistress :—Would that he were

SCENE II.— The Same.

Enter Oberon ctt one side, -with his train; and Titania on the other, with hers.

Ohc. Ill met by inoon-Iight, proud Titania.

Tita. What, jealous Oberon 1 Fairy, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company.

Ohe Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?

Tita, Then, I must be thy lady: but I know
When thou has stol'n away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day.
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here.
Come from the farthest steep of India?
Put that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskin d mistress and your warrior love,
To Theseus must lie wedded; and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity;

Oae. How canst ihm thus, for shame, Titania,
Glance at iny credit with Hippolyta,
Knowing I know thy love to Tli^seus?
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night

From Perigenia, whom he ravished?

And make him with fair ^gle break his faith,

With Ariadne, and Antiopa?

Tita. These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never, since the middle summer's spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead.
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the sea.
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain.
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which, falling in the land.
Have every pelting river made so proud.
That they have overborne their continents:
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard:
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
; And crows are fatted with the murrain flock;
The nine-men's morris is fill'd up with mud;
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green.
For lack of tread are undistinguishable:
The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest:—
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air.
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And thorough this disteinperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, sef: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries: and the 'mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evil comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.

Ode. Do you amend it, then; it lies in you:
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeiing boy,
To be my henchman.

Tita. Set your heart at rest:

The fairy land buys not the child of ine.
His mother was a votaress 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.
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 gait
Following, (her womb then rich with my young squire)
Would imitate, and sail upon the land.
To fetch me trifles, and return again.
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake I do rear up her boy;
And for her sake I will not part with him.

Ode. How long within this wood intend you stay?

Tita. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round, And see our moonlight revels, go with us; If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.

Ode. Give me that boy, and I will go with^-hee.

Tita, Not for thy fairy kingdom.—Fairies, away I We shall chide downright, if 1 longer stay.

[Exit Titania, and her train.

Ode. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this Till I torment thee for tins injury.— [grove, My gentle Puck, come hither: Thou remember st Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back, Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song; And certain stars snot madly from their spheres. To hear the sea-maid's music.

Puck. I remember.

Obe. That very time I saw (but thou couldst nofy Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal throned by the west; And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts: But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd hi the chaste beams of the watery inooa, And the imperial votaress passed on.

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:

It felt upon a little western flower,—

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,—

And maidens call it, love-in-idleness.

Fetch me that flower; the herb 1 show'd thee once:

The juice of it on deeping eyelids laid.

Will make or man or woman madly dote

Upon the next live creature that it sees. X

Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again,

Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

Puck. IH put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes. \Exit.

Obe. Having once this juice,

I'll watch Titania when she is asleep.
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes;
The next thing tnen she waking looks upon,
(fie it on lion, uear, or wolf, or null,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,}
She shall pursue it with the soul of love
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
(As I can take it with another herb)
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible:
And I will over-hear their conference.

Enter Demetrius, Helena following hint.

Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue ine not.
Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia?
The one 111 stay, the other stayeth me.
Thou told"st me they were stol'n into this wood;
And here am I, and wood within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence I 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
Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.

Dem. Do I entice you t Do I speak you fair
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you, I do not nor I cannot love you f

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:
Use me but m your spaniel, spum me, strike 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 .1 place of high respect with me,)
Than to be used as you use your dog?

Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on you.

Hel. And I am sick when I look not on thee.

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 iny privilege for that.
It is not night when 1 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 v.-.lour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions ; let me go:
Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
But 1 shall do thee mischief in the wood.

Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius I
Your wrongs do set a scandal 011 my sex:
"Wr. 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.

I 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, 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 cnamell'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
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it, when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shaft know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
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.

Duck. Fear not, ray lord, your servant shall do so,

[Exit.

SCENE III.—Another part 0/the Wood. Enter Titania, with her train. Tita. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song; Then, for the third of a minute, hence; Some, to kill cankers in the inusk-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. Sing me now asleep; Then to your offices, and let me rest.

SONG.

1 Fat. Yon spotted snakes, with double tongue.

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wr
Come not near our /airy queen.
Chorus. Philomel, with melody.

Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lutla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullmby;
Never harm.
Nor spell, nor charm.
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.

2 Fai. Weaving spiders come not here; Hettce.you long-legg'd spinners, hence I

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.

JExeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps,
nter Oberon.
Obe. {Squeezes the flower on Titania's eyelids.]
What thou seest when thou dost wake.
Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake i
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shatl 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 farther off yet; do not lie so near.

Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence I
Love takes the meaning in love's conference.
I mean, 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 lxisoms, 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 i—