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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:
And sometimes 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.
Fai. And here my mistress :-'Would
he were gone!

SCENE II.

Is, as in mockery, set: 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 evils comes
From our debate, from our dissention;
We are their parents and original.

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

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'a 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,)

Enter OBERON, at one door, with his train,
and TITANIA, at another, with her's.
Obe. Il met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip

hence;

I have forsworn his bed and company.
Obe. Tarry, rash wanton: Am not I thy lord ?
Tita. Then I must be thy lady: But I know
When thou hast 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?
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskin'd mistress, and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.

Obe. How canst thou thus, for shame, Tita-
nia,

Glance at my credit with Hyppolyta,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?

Didst thou not lead him through the glimmer-
ing night

From Perigenia, whom he ravish'd?

And make him with fair Æglé 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 disturb'd our

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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 distemperature, 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 oderous chaplet of sweet sunimer buds

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Would imitate; and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
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.
Obe. 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 moon-light revels, go with us;
If not shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with

thee.

Tita. Not for thy kingdom.-Fairies, away: We shall chide down-right, if I longer stay. [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
Since once 1 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 shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.

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I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
The next thing then she waking looks upon,
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
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 him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me

not.

Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia ?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth 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 with Hermia.

Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted ada-
mant;

But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

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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 lush woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and de-
light;

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 :

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:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn 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 a place of high respect with me,) Than to be used as you use your dog?

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
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 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
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,

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

Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern

wings,

[back To make my small elves coats; and some, keep The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and

wonders

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II.

Makes speed to catch the tiger: Bootless speed! 2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here,

When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me

go:

Or, if thou follow me, do not believe

But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

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.

Mad, raving.

+ Bring in question.

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Hel. Oh! I am out of breath in this fond chase!

The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt

tears:

If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than her's.
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

For beasts that meet me, run away for fear :
Therefore, no marvel, though Demetrius
Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne ?—
But who is here ?--Lysander! on the ground!
Dead or asleep? I see no blood, no wound :-
Lysander, if you live, good Sir, awake.

And to speak troth, I have forgot our way; We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet And tarry for the comfort of the day. sake. [Waking. Her. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a Transparent Helena! Nature here shows art, bed, That through thy bosom makes me see thy

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 further off yet, do not lie so near.

Lys. O take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;

Love take the meaning, in love's conference.
I mean, that my heart unto your's is knit;
So that but one heart we can make of it:
Two bosoms interchained 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:-
Now much beshrew my manners

pride,

aud

my

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:
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end!

Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I; And then end life, when I end loyalty! Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest! Her. With balf that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd ! [They sleep.

Enter PUCK.

Puck. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here ?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear :
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid:
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

All the power this charm doth owe: t
When thou wak'st, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.
So awake, when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.

[Exit.

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heart.

Where is Demetrius? Oh! how fit a word
Is that vile name, to perish on my sword!

Hel. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so: What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though? Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content. Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent

The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena I love:

Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their sea-

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When, at your hands, did I deserve this scorn ?
Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can,
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you
do.

In such disdainful manner me to woo.
But fare you well: perforce I must confess,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
Oh! that a lady, of one man refus'd,
Should, of another, therefore be abus'd!

[Erit.

Lys. She sees not Hermia :-Hermia, sleep

thou there;

And never may'st thou come Lysander near !
For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings;
Or, as the heresies, that Dien do leave,
Are hated most of those they did deceive;
So thou, my surfeit, and my heresy,
Of all be hated; but the most of me!
And all my powers, address your love and
might,
To honour Helen, and to be her knight!

[Exit.

Her. [starting.] Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best, To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! Ah! me, for pity !-what a dream was here ? Lysander, look, how I do quake with fear: Methought a serpent eat my heart away, And you sat smiling at his cruel prey :Lysander what, remov'd? Lysander ! lord! What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?

Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear; Speak, of all loves; I swoon almost with

fear.

By all that is dear.

No ?-then I well perceive you are not nigh: Either death, or you, I'll find immediately.

ACT III.

lying asleep.

(Exit.

Pyramus and Thisby, says the story, did talk through the chinks of a wall.

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

Bot. Some man or other must present wall: and let him have some plaster, or some k me, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; or let him hold his fingers thus, and through

SCENE 1-The same.-The Queen of Fairies that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.

Quin. If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down, every mother's son, and rehearse your

Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, parts. Pyramus, you begin: when you have

awd STARVELING.

Bot. Are we all met?

Quin. Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal: This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn brake our tyring. house; and we will do it in action, as we will do it before the duke.

Bot. Peter Quince,

Quin. What say'st thou, bully Bottom?

Bot. There are things in this comedy of Py. ramus and Thisby, that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw his sword to kill himself; which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that ?

Snout. By'rlakin,⚫ a parlous † fear.

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

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.

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.

Snout. Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?

Star. I fear it, I promise you.

Bot. Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves 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 your's. 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 moon-light into a chamber: for you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moon-light.

Snug. Doth the moon shine, that night we play our play?

Bot. A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanack; find out moon-shine, find out moonshine.

Quin. Yes, it doth shine that night.

Bot. Why, then you may 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 hush of thorns and a lanthorn, and say, he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of moon-shine. Then, there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for

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spoken your speech, enter into that brake 80 every one according to his cue.

Enter PUCK behind.

and

Puck. What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,

So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
What, a play toward? I'll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.

Quin. Speak, Pyramus :-Thisby, stand forth. Pyr. Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,

Quin. Odours, odours.

Pyr. odours savours sweet:

So doth thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.

But, hark, a voice! stay thou but here a while.

And by and by I will to thee appear.

[Exit. Puck. A stranger Pyramus than e'er play'd here ! [Aside.-Exit.

This. Must I speak now? Quin. Ay, marry, must you: for you must understand, he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.

This. Most radiant Pyramus, most lilywhite of hue,

Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,

Most

brisky juvenal, † and eke most lovely Jew,

As true as truest horse, that yet would never

tire,

I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.

Quin. Ninus' tomb man: Why you must not speak that yet; that you answer to Pyramus: you speak all your part at once, cues and all. —Pyramus enter; your cue is past; it is, never tire.

Re-enter Puck, and BOTTOM with an ass' head.

This. O-As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire.

Pyr. If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine :

Quin. O monstrous ! O strange ! we are baunted.

Pray, masters! fly, masters! help!

[Exeunt Clowns. Puck. I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,

Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar ;

Sometime a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and
buru,

Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. [Exit.

Bot. Why do they run away? this is a kravery of them, to make me afeard. §

Re-enter SNOUT.

I see on thee?
Snout. O Bottom, thou art changed! what do

Bot. What do you see? you see an ass' head of your own; Do you?

• Thicket. + Young man. 1 The last words of the preceding speech, which serve as a bint to him who is to speak best. Afraid.

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The ousel-cock, so black of hue, With orange-tawney bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill; Tita. What angel wakes me from my flowery bed ? [Waking. Bot. The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plain-song cuckoo gray, Whose note full many a man doth mark, And dares not answer, nay ;his wit to so foolish bird the lie, though

for, indeed, who would set a bird? who would give a he cry, cuckoo, never so?

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Tita. I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again : Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note, So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,

On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee. Bot. Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days: The more the pity, that some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, can gleek+ upon occasion.

Tita. Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. Bot. Not so, neither but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.

Tita. Out of this wood do not desire to go; Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. I am a spirit, of no common rate;

The summer still doth tend upon my state,
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep
And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost
sleep:

And I will purge thy mortal grossness so,
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.-
Peas-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-
seed !

Enter four FAIRIES.

1 Fai. Ready.

2 Fai. And I.

3 Fai. And I.

4 Fai. Where shall we go?

Tita. Be kind and courteous to this gentle

man;

Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries, t
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey bags steal from the humble-bees,
And, for night tapers, crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed, and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
1 Fai. Hail, mortal!

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The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye; And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enforced chastity. Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Another part of the Wood.
Enter OBERON.

Obe. I wonder, if Titania be awak'd;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.

Enter PUCK.

Here comes my messenger.-How now, mal spirit?

What night-rule now about this haunted grove?
Puck. My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play,
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
Forsook his scene, and enter'd in a brake:
When I did him at this advantage take,
An ass now! I fixed on his head;
Anon, his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimický comes; When they him

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And the Athenian woman by his side; That when he wak'd, of force she must be ey'd.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA. Obe. Stand close; this is the same Athenian Puck. This is the woman, but not this the

man.

Dem. O why rebuke you him that loves you 80 ?

Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

↑ Joke.

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