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SHAKESPEARE'S
A Midsummer-Nights Dream.
Introduction, Notes, Examination Papers, and Plan of Preparation.
(selected.)
By BRAINERD KELLOGG, A.M^
Professor of the English Language and Literature in the Brooklyn
Polytechnic Institute, and author of a " Text-Book on Rhetoric, "
a " Text-Book on English Literature," and one of the authors
of Reed &* Kellogg 's "Graded Lessons in English"
and " Higher Lessons in English."
New Yor£ :
Effingham Maynard & Co., Publishers,
771 Broadway and 67 & 69 Ninth St.
1890.
kellogg's editions. Shakespeare's Plays,
WITH NOTES.
Uniform i?i style and price with this volume.
THUS FAR COMPRISE :
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
KING HENRY V.
AS YOU LIKE IT.
JULIUS CAESAR.
KING LEAR.
MACBETH.
TEMPEST.
HAMLET.
KING HENRY VIII.
KING HENRY IV., Part I.
KING RICHARD III.
A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM.
A WINTER'S TALE.
Copyright, 1890, by EFFINGHAM MAYNARD & CO,
EDITOR'S NOTE.
The text here presented, adapted for use in mixed classes, has been carefully collated with that of six or seven of the latest and best editions. Where there was any disagreement those readings have been adopted which seemed most reasonable and were supported bj the best authority.
The notes of English editors have been freely used. Those taken as the basis of our work have been rigor- ously pruned wherever they were thought too learned or too minute, or contained matter that for any other reason seemed unsuited to our purpose. We have generously added to them, also, wherever they seemed to be lacking. B. K.
GENERAL NOTICE.
" An attempt has been made in these new editions to interpret Shakespeare by the aid of Shakespeare himself. The Method of Comparison has been constantly employ- ed ; and the language used by him in one place has been compared with the language used in other places in simi- lar circumstances, as well as with older English and with newer English. The text has been as carefully and as thoroughly annotated as the text of any Greek or Latin classic.
" The first purpose in this elaborate annotation is, of course the full working out of Shakespeare's meaning. The Editor has in all circumstances taken as much pains with this as if he had been making out the difficult and obscure terms of a will in which he himself was personally interested ; and he submits that this thorough excavation of the meaning of a really profound thinker is one of the very best kinds of training that a boy or girl can receive at school. This is to read the very mind of Shakespeare, and to weave his thoughts into the fibre of one's own mental constitution. And always new rewards come to the care- ful reader — in the shape of new meanings, recognition of 5
VI
thoughts he had before missed, of relations between the characters that had hitherto escaped him. For reading Shakespeare is just like examining Nature ; there are no hollownesses, there is no scamped work, for Shakespeare is as patiently exact and as first-hand as Nature herself.
" Besides this thorough working-out of Shakespeare's meaning, advantage has been taken of the opportunity to teach his English — to make each play an introduction to the English of Shakespeare. For this purpose copi- ous collections of similar phrases have been gathered from other plays ; his idioms have been dwelt upon ; his pecu- liar use of words ; his style and his rhythm. Some Teachers may consider that too many instances are given ; but, in teaching, as in everything else, the old French say- ing is true : Assez tfy a, s'il trop tfy a. The Teacher need not require each pupil to give him all the instances collected. If each gives one or two, it will probably be enough ; and, among them all, it is certain that one ortw> will stick in the memory. It is probable that, for those pu~ pils who do not study either Greek or Latin, this close ex- amination of every word and phrase in the text of Shake- speare will be the best substitute that can be found for the study of the ancient classics.
" It were much to be hoped that Shakespeare should become more and more of a study, and that every boy and girl should have a thorough knowledge of at least one play of Shakespeare before leaving school. It would be one of the best lessons in human life, without the chance of a polluting or degrading experience. It would also have the effect of bringing back into the too pale and for- mal English of modern times a large number of pithy and
vii
vigorous phrases which would help to develop as well as to reflect vigor in the characters of the readers. Shake- speare used the English language with more power than any other writer that ever lived — he made it do more and say more than it had ever done ; he made it speak in a more original way ; and his combinations of words are per- petual provocations and invitations to originality and to newness of insight." — J. M. D. Meiklejohn, M.A., Professor of the Theory \ History, and Practice of Educa- tion in the University of St. Andrews.
Shakespeare's Grammar.
Shakespeare lived at a time when the grammar and vocabulary of. the English language were in a state of transition. Various points were not yet settled ; and so Shakespeare's grammar is not only somewhat different from our own but is by no means uniform in itself. In the Elizabethan age, " Almost any part of speech can be used, as any other part of speech. An adverb can be used as a verb, ' They askance their eyes ; ' as a noun, ' the backward and abysm of time;' or as an adjective, 'a seldom pleasure.' Any noun, ad- jective, or neuter [intrans.] verb can be us<ed as an active [trans.] verb. You can ' happy ' your friend, ' malice ' or ' foot ' your en- emy, or ' fall ' an axe on his neck. An adjective can be used as an adverb; and you can speak and act 'easy,' 'free,' 'excel- lent;' or as a noun, and you can talk of 'fair' instead of 'beau- ty,' and ' a pale ' instead of ' a paleness.' Even the pronouns are not exempt from these metamorphoses. A ' he ' is used for a man, and a lady is described by a gentleman as ' the fairest she he has yet beheld.' In the second place, every variety of apparent grammati- cal inaccuracy meets us. He for him, him for he ; spoke and took for spoken and taken ; plural nominatives with singular verbs ; relatives omitted where they are now considered necessary ; unnecessary an- tecedents inserted ; shall for will, should for would, would for wish ; to omitted after '2 ought,' inserted after ' I durst;'' double nega- tives : double comparatives (' more better,' &c.) and superlatives ; such followed by which [or that], that by as, as used for as if; that ior so that ; and lastly some verbs apparently with two nominatives, and others without any nominative at all."— Dr. Abbott's Shakespe* rian Grammar.
Shakespeare's Versification.
Shakespeare's Plays are written mainly in what is known as un- limed, or blank-verse; but they contain a number of riming, and a considerable number of prose, lines. As a general rule, rime is much commoner in the earlier than in the later plays. Thus, Love's Labors Lost contains nearly 1,100 rimins lines, while (if we except the songs) Winter's Tale has none. The Merchant of Venice has 124.
In speaking we lay a stress on particular syllables : this stress is called accent. When the words of a composition are so arranged that the accent recurs at regular intervals, the composition is said to be metrical or rhythmical. Rhythm, or Metre, is an embellishment of language which, though it does not constitute poetry itself, yet provides it with a suitably elegant dress ; and hence most mode-n poets have written in metre. In blank verse the lines consist v —
fl-Ty of ten syllables, of which the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and Jenth are accented. The line consists, therefore, of Ave parts, each of which contains an unaccented followed by an accented syllable, as in the word attend. Each of these five parts forms what is called a. foot or measure ; and the five together form a pentameter. " Penta- meter "is a Greek word signifying "five measures." This is the usual form of a line of blank verse. But a long poem composed en- tirely of such lines would be monotonous, and for the sake of variety several important modifications have been introduced.
(a) After the tenth syllable, one or two unaccented syllables are sometimes added ; as—
" Me-thought \ you said \ you nei | ther lend \ nor bor I row.''''
(6) In any foot the accent may be shifted from the second to the first syllable, provided two accented syllables do not come together.
" Pluck' the | young suck' \ ing cubs' \from the' | she bear'. | "
(c) In snch words as "yesterday," "voluntary," "honesty," the syllables -day, -ta-, and ty falling in the place of the accent, are, for the purposes of the verse, regarded as truly accented.
" Bars' me I the right' \ of vol'- \ un-ta' I ry choos' \ ing.~"
(d) Sometimes we have a succession of accented syllables ; this occurs with monosyllabic feet only.
" Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark.''''
{e) Sometimes, but more rarely, two or even three unaccented syllables occupy the place of one ; as —
"He says | he does, | be-ing then \ most flat | ter-ed.'1
(f) Lines may have any number of feet from one to six.
Finally, Shakespeare adds much to the pleasing variety of hir Dlank verse by placing the pauses in different parts of the line (especially after the second or third foot), instead of placing them all at the ends of lines, as was the earlier custom.
N. B.— In some cases the rhythm requires that what we usually pronounce as one syllable shall be divided into two, asfl-er (fire), su-er (sure), mi-el /mile), &c. ; too-elve (twelve), jaw-ee (joy), &c. Similarly, she-on (tion or -sion).
It is very important to give the pupil plenty of ear-trainin/* by means of formal scansion. This will greatly assist him in *** reading. .
PLAN OF STUDY
PERFECT POSSESSION/
To attain to the standard of ' Perfect Pos- session,' the reader ought to have an inti- mate and ready knowledge of the subject. (See opposite page.)
The student ought, first of all, to read the play as a pleasure ; then to read it over again, with his mind upon the characters and the plot ; and lastly, to read it for the meanings, grammar, &c.
With the help of the scheme, he can easily draw up for himself short examination papers (i) on each scene, (2) on each act, (3) on the whole play.
1. The Plot and Story of the Play.
(a) The general plot ;
(b) The special incidents.
2. The Characters: Ability to give a connected account
of all that is done and most of what is said by each character in the play.
3. The Influence and Interplay of the Characters upon
each other.
(a) Relation of A to B and of B to A ;
(b) Relation of A to C and D.
4. Complete Possession of the Language.
(a) Meanings of words ;
(b) Use of old words, or of words in an old mean-
ing ;
(c) Grammar ;
(d) Ability to quote lines to illustrate a gram-
matical point.
5. Power to Reproduce, or Quote.
(a) What was said by A or B on a particular
occasion ;
(b) What was said by A in reply to B ;
(c) What argument was used by C at a particu-
lar juncture ;
(d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or of
a peculiar meaning.
6. Power to Locate.
(a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain
person on a certain occasion ; (6) To cap a line ; (c) To fill in the right word or epithet.
INTRODUCTION
TO
A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM.
There are four old editions of this play, and the re- ceived text is an eclectic text made up from the four, with the addition of several conjectural emendations of the earlier editors and commentators, some of which appear too probable and valuable to be rejected even by the most conservative adherents of the original texts. The first of these editions was in quarto form, and appears thus on the Register of the Stationers' Company : " 8 Oct. 1600 Tho. Fysher] A booke called a Mydsomer nights Dreame." The second was also a quarto, and appeared in the same year, " printed by lames Roberts, 1600." The second was merely a reprint of the first, and was probably a pirated edition printed for the use of the players. It was the edition however that was followed in the famous first folio of 1623 — the third of our editions — some of its obvious misprints being copied there in spite of its ed- itors' depreciatory remarks about sundry earlier " stolne and surreptitious" copies of the plays. The fourth edition of importance is of course the second folio of 1632, a reprint of the first, containing conjectural emendations, which are however more often wrong than right.
10
IN TROD UCTION. 1 1
The earliest known reference to the play occurs in the Palladis Tamia of Francis Meres, published in 1598. Its composition is dated by Drake, 1593 ; by Chalmers, 1598; by Malone, 1594; by Delius, later than 1594; by Fleay, 1592 ; but the evidence points most strongly to 1593 or 1594. It is difficult to resist the belief that the passage in Act II. (sc. i. 88-114), in which Titania describes the recent bad seasons, owed its point to the similar weather in the years 1593 and 1594, which would still be fresh in people's memories. Again, the lines in Act V. (sc. i. 52, 53) alluding to the recent hapless fortune of a poet and a scholar, correspond well either to Spenser's poem, The Tears of the Muses, published in 1591, or to Robert Greene's miserable death in 1592. Metrical tests, more- over, prove that the play was an early work written about the same time as the Two Gentlemen of Verona. It con- tains a large proportion of rhyming lines — one of the safest marks of its being an early work, as rhymed lines become fewer and fewer in Shakespeare's later plays. But too much must not be made of this in comparing it with plays of the same period, as the character of our play naturally called for a more liberal use of rhyme than usual. Such a succession of rhymes repeating a single sound as occur in Act III. (sc. i. 102-109), and Act. IV. (sc. i. 82- 89), were of course introduced with a special purpose. Here also we find comparatively few lines where the pause or break occurs in any part of the line save at the end. This is a second test of the date of the composition of a
12 INTRODUCTION.
play, as Shakespeare in his earlier plays usually has his pauses and breaks at the end of the line, while gradually he came more and more to carry on the sense from one line to another without a pause at the end of the line, with an obvious gain to the flexibility and variety of his dra- matic dialogue. A third test of time from the meter is the use of weak and unemphatic monosyllabic endings. These scarcely appear at all in the earlier plays — the present play contains but one — while they are frequent in plays like Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. Again, double or feminine endings — that is, lines with an extra end- syllable are very rare in the earlier plays, becoming very numerous in such later plays as Cymbeline and the Tempest. *
Our play then may be fearlessly dated as having been written about 1593 or 1594. It has been conjectured that it was written to grace the wedding of some noble person — Southampton, who was married in 1598, or Essex, who was married in 1 590 ; but from what has been said above, it will be seen that the second date is too early, the other too late. It was probably acted before Elizabeth. The praise of " single blessedness" (Act I. sc. i. 74-78) would be
* Mr. Fleay, in his Shakespeare Manual (1878), p. 135, gives the following statistics about A Midsummer-Night's Dream l Total number of lines, 2251 ; of prose lines, 441 ; blank-verse lines, 878 ; rhymes, five measures, 731; rhymes, short lines, 138 ; songs, 63 ; double endings, 29 ; alternately rhyming lines, 158 ; two measures, 5 ; three measures, 3.
IN TR OD UC TION. i 3
pleasing to the ears of the maiden queen, and Oberon's vision (Act II. sc. i. 145-165), Warburton's ingenuity apart, beyond a doubt contains a splendid piece of poetic flattery to Elizabeth.
The action of the play is comprised within three days, concluding with the night of the new moon; though there is some confusion of time, as will be seen, the note of time at the beginning being inconsistent with the discourse of the clowns in Act III. (i. 45-)*
The plot of A Midsummer-Night ' s Dream is entirely Shakespeare's own, though, as usual, in working it out, he borrowed freely from other sources. He had read carefully the life of Theseus in North's Plutarch, and he may have read Chaucer's Knight's Tale. For the inter- lude of Pyramus and Thisbe he was doubtless indebted to Golding's translation of Ovid, and Chaucer's Thisbe of Babylon. Robin Goodfellow and his other fairies he owed to the rich folk-lore of his boyhood, but Oberon may have been suggested to him by Greene's James IV. of Scotland.
The play has not kept its place upon the stage, and it is unlikely ever to be successful there. As Hazlitt has said, " A Midsu7n?ner-Night 's Dream, when acted, is converted
* Mr. Daniel, in the Transactions of the New Shakespeare Society (1877-79), p. 149, gives the following " time-analysis11 of the play:
Day 1. Act I. " a. Acts II., III., and part of sc. i. Act IV. " 3, Part of sc. i. Act. IV., sc. ii. Act IV., and Apt V.
1 4 IN TR OD UC TIO N.
from a delightful fiction into a dull pantomime. . . . Fancy cannot be embodied any more than a simile can be painted; and it is as idle to attempt it as to personate Wall or Moons/iine. . . . The boards of a theatre and the region of fancy are not the same thing." The most amusing cir- cumstance in the history of the play is Pepys' record in his Diary, under date September 29, 1662 : "To the King's Theatre, where we saw Midsummer-Night's Dream, which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in my, life."
Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer-Night' 's Dream at a time of his life when fancy was strong, and a sense of the prose realities of life comparatively weak. The action of the play depends on circumstances hardly even hypothet- ically possible. It is quite without a parallel in dramatic literature. The only other play of Shakespeare resem- bling it in its preternatural machinery is the Tempest, which however is of quite another mood in feeling and thought, and, with perhaps higher attributes, wants its peculiar fascination. It is, as Coleridge described it, " one continued specimen of the dramatized lyrical," the whole a fabric of the most creative and visionary imagination. We move amid a delightful world of ideal forms, and at the touch of the magician these " airy nothings" assume for us " a local habitation and a name." The charm he has cast around the fairy world has changed permanently, for English-speaking people, their conceptions of its
INTRODUCTION. 15
inhabitants. Under the spell of his creation we have for- gotten all the ugliness and malignity of the old fairy world, and now we see only its abiding grace and beauty; and indeed it is hardly too much to say that it is to the master-hand of Shakespeare that our children mainly owe their heritage of an imaginative world of fascinating beauty, peopled by ideal forms full of sportive kindliness to be regarded with perpetual interest and love instead of repugnance and terror. In our play the unreal and shadowy world becomes real to us, while the real world with its actual life becomes less distinct and real looking, as is quite consistent in a dream. Consequently the human interest is of less importance than the supernatural — the two pairs of young lovers are graceful figures enough, but they do not touch us with the quick sympa- thies of fellow men and women, and we find ourselves wonderfully indifferent to their crossed loves and other perplexities. Duke Theseus and Hippolyta are heroic medieval figures, full of splendor and romantic quality, but they do not breathe with the same life as the kings and queens of later plays. Most of the persons are too idealized and distant from us to feel their brotherhood as English men and women. It is only bully Bottom and his honest fellows that bring us back to the village green and homely familiar English life. From their lips we hear the everyday speech of kindly Warwickshire, and with them we feel that we stand once more on the familiar earth. Their humor is all the more delightful after we
16 INTRODUCTION.
have breathed for a while the upper air, and already gives promise of the infinitely richer and fuller but hardly more genial and human humor that we ore to find in later plays.
DRAMATIS PERSONiE.
Theseus, Duke to Athens.
EGEUS, father to Hermia.
Lysander, ) . , . , TT
^ V in love wit n Hermit
Demetrius, )
Philostrate, master of the revels to Theseus,
Quince, a carpenter.
Snug, a joiner.
Bottom, a weaver.
Flute, a bellows-mender.
Snout, a tinker.
Starveling, a tailor.
Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus*
Hermia, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysando- ,
Helena, in love with Demetrius.
Oberon, king of the fairies.
TlTANlA, queen of the fairies.
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, a fairy*
Peaseblossom,
Cobweb,
Moth,
Mustardseed,
yfairies.
IS
DRAMATIS PERSONS.
Pyramus,
Thisbe,
Wall,
Moonshine
Lion,
characters in the Interlude performed by the clowns.
Other fairies attending their King and Queen.
Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta. SCENE.— Athens and a Wood near it.
A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM.
ACT I.
SCENE I. Athens. A Room in the Palace of Theseus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, and Attendants.
The. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial-hour Draws on apace ; four happy days bring in Another moon: but O, methinks, how slow This old moon wanes ! she lingers my desires, Like to a step-dame, or a dowager, Long withering out a young man's revenue.
Hip. Four days will quickly steep themselves in night ; Four nights will quickly dream away 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, —
i9
20 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act i.
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, «;^Demetrius.
20 Egc. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
The. Thanks, good Egeus : what's the news with
thee? Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia. Stand forth, Demetrius. — My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her. Stand forth, Lysander: — and, my gracious duke, This hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child. Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, And interchang'd love-tokens with my child :
30 Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung With feigning voice verses of feigning love ; And stol'n the impression of her fantasy With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats — messengers Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth. With cunning hast thou filch 'd my daughter's heart; Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me, To stubborn harshness : and, my gracious duke, Be' t so she will not here before your grace
40 Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens, — As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 21
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 5-
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. I 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, 60
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 ; 7°
For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd, To live a barren sister all vour life,
22 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S BREAM, [acc i.
Chanting faint hynwas to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they that master so their blood
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage ;
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd
Than that which, withering on the virgin throne,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.
Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, 80 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 93 For aye austerity and single life.
Dem. Relent, sweet Hermia: — and, Lysandcr, 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 ! 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, 100 As well possess'd ; my love is more than his ; My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd, If not with vantage, as Demetrius's ; And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
SC. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT7 S DREAM. 23
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,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
TJic. I must confess that I have heard so much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof ; But, being overfull of self-affairs, My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come ; And come, Egeus ; you shall go with me, I have some private schooling for you both. For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself To fit your fancies to your father's will ; Or else the law of Athens holds you up — Which by no means we may extenuate — To death, or to a vow of single life. Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love? Demetrius and Egeus, go along : I must employ you in some business Against our nuptial ; and confer with you Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
Ege. With duty and desire we follow you.
{Exeunt all but Lysander and Hermia.
Lys. How now, my love ! Why is your cheek so pale ? 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. Ay me ! for aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth :
24 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act I,
But, either it was different in blood, — Her. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low ! Lys. Or else misgraffed in respect of years, — Her. O spite ! too old to be engag'd to young ! Lys. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends ,— - 140 Her. O hell ! to choose love by another's eye ! Lys. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentany as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream ; Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say, " Behold ! " The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion. 150 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 love as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs, Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers. Lys. A good persuasion : therefore, hear me, Her- mia. I have a widow aunt, a dowager Of great revenue, and she hath no child : From Athens is her house remote seven leagues ; 160 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
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 25
To do observance to a morn of May, There will I stay for thee.
Her. My good Lysander !
I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow, By his best arrow with the golden head, 170
By the simplicity of Venus' doves, 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, By all the vows that ever men have broke, In number more than ever women spoke, — In that same place thou has appointed me, To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
Lys. Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
Enter Helena.
Her. God speed fair Helena ! Whither away ? 180 Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair : O happy fair ! Your eyes are lode-stars ; and your tongue's sweet
air More tunable than lark to shepherd's ear, When wheat is green, when hawthorn-buds appear. Sickness is catching : O, were favor so, Yours 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, 190
The rest I'd give to be to you translated. O teach me how you look ; and with what art You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart !
26 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act. i.
Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
Hel. O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill !
Her. I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
Hel. O that my prayers could such affection move !
Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me.
Hel. The more I love, the more he hateth me. 200 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. Before the time I 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 !
Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold : To-morrow night, when Phcebe doth behold 210 Her silver visage in the watery 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 primrose-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. 220 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 deep midnight.
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 27
Lys. I will, my Hermia [Exit Hermia]. — Helena, adieu ; As you on him, Demetrius dote on you !
[Exit Lys and er.
Hel. How happy some o'er other some can be ! 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 Hermia's eyes, 230
So I, admiring of his 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 Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, 240
So the boy Love is perjur'd everywhere : For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne, He hail'd down oaths that 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, 250
To have his sight thither and back again. {Exit.
28 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act i.
SCENE II. The same. A Room in Quince's House.
£nter 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.
Quin. Here is the scroll of every man's name which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play 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 lOso grow to a point.
Quin. Marry, our play is — The most lamentable 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 your- selves.
Quin. Answer, as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver. 20 Bot. Ready. Name what part I am for, and pro- ceed.
Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyra- mus.
Bot. What is Pyramus ? a lover, or a tyrant ?
Quin. A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love.
Bot. That will ask some tears in the true per- forming of it: if I do it, let the audience look to
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 29
their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest : yet my chief humor 30 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
Of prison-gates ; And Phibbus' car Shall shine from far, And make and mar
The foolish Fates. 4°
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.
Flu. Here, Peter Quince.
Quiii. You must take Thisby on you.
Fht. What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
Flu. Nay, faith, let not me play a woman ; I have a beard coming. 50
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.
Quin. Robin Starveling, the tailor. 6o*
30 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT1 S DREAM, [act l
Star. Here, Peter Quince.
Quzn. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother. Tom Snout, the tinker.
Snout. Here, Peter Quince.
Qitin. 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. 70 Quzn. 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 hang us all.
All. That would hang us, every mother's son. So 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 1 will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently as any sucking-dove ; I will roar you an 't were any night- ingale.
Quzn. 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,
gentleman-like man ; therefore you must needs play
90 Pyramus.
Bot. Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in ?
Quin. Why, what you will.
SC. II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 31
Bot. I will discharge it in either your straw-color beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in- grain beard, or your French-crown-color beard, your perfect yellow.
Quiii. Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play barefaced. But, mas- ters, here are your parts : and I am to entreat you, 100 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 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. no
Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.
Bot. Enough ; hold or cut bow-strings. {Exeunt.
ACT II.
SCENE I. A Wood near Athens.
Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy and Puck.
Puck. • How now, spirit ! whither wander you ?
Fai. Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere,
32 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act n„
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon ihe green.
10 The cowslips tall her pensioners be : In their gold coats spots you see ; Those be rubies, fairy favors, In those freckles live their savors : I must go seek some dew-drops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob of spirits ; I'll be gone ; \\ Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
Puck. The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight ;
20 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 starlight sheen,
30 But they do square, that all their elves for fear Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.
Fat. Either I mistake your shape and making quite Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow : are you not he That frights the maidens of the villagery ; Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn ;
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 33
And sometimes makes the drink to bear no barm ; Misleads night-wanderers, laughing at their harm ? Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, 40 You do their work, and they shall have good-luck : Are not you he ?
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 dewlap pour the ale. 50
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ; Then slip I from her, when down topples she, And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough ; And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there. But, room, fairy ! here comes Oberon.
Fat. And here my mistress. — Would that he were gone !
Enter, from one side, Oberon with his train ; and from the other, Titania with hers.
Ode. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. 60
Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence; I have forsworn his bed and company.
Ode. 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,
34 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act 11.
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 steppe of India,
70 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.
Ode. How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering- night From Perigenia, whom he ravished ? And make him with fair yEgle break his faith,
80 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 in the beached margent of the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
90 Contagious fogs; which, falling in the land, Hath every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents : The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The plowman 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 ;
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 35
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 ; 100
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 Hiems' thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer-buds 1 10
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 dissension;
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 120
To be my henchman.
Tita. Set your heart at rest :
The fairy-land buys not the child of me. 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 ; Which she with pretty and with swimming gait Would imitate, and sail upon the land
36 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT1 S DREAM, [act II.
I3°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 moonlight revels, go with us ; If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. 140 Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Tita. Not for thy fairy kingdom. — Fairies, away ! We shall chide downright if I longer stay.
[Exit Titania, with her train.
Ode. Well, go thy way : thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee for this injury. My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberest 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, 150 And certain stars shot madly from their spheres To hear the sea-maid's music.
Puck. I remember.
Obe. That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, 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 Ouench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT 'S DREAM. 37
And the imperial votaress passed on, 160
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell :
It fell 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 I show'd thee once :
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again 170
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes. [Exit PUCK.
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 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, — 180 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 overhear their conference.
Enter Demetrius, Helen a following ki?n.
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 unto this wood,
38 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act; II.
And here am I, and wood within this wood,
190 Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
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 Is true as steel : leave you your power to 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.
200 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 ?
Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit, For I am sick when I do look on thee.
210 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 ■,
220 Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company For you in my respect are all the world :
SC. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT1 S DREAM. 39
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 \ou 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, 230 When cowardice pursues and valor 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,
[Exit Demetrius. I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, 240
To die upon the hand I love so well. [Exit.
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, here it is.
Obe. I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank where the wild-thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows ; Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,
40 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act ii.
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: J50 There sleeps Titania, sometime of the night, Lull'd in these bowers with dances and delight; 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: A sweet Athenian lady is in love With a disdainful youth : anoint his eyes ; But do it when the next thing he espies :6o 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 II. Another part of the Wood. Enter Titania with her train.
Tita. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song ; Then, 'fore the third part of a minute, hence ; Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds, Some war with rere-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.
sc. ii.] a MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 41
Song.
1.
First Fairy. You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen ; Newts and blindworms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody Sing in our sweet lullaby ; Lulla, lulla, lullaby ; lulla, lulla, lullaby Never harm nor spell nor charm Come our lovely lady nigh ; So good-night, with lullaby !
Second Fairy. Weaving spiders, come not here ;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence; 20 Beetles black, approach not near ; Worm nor snail, do no offence.
CHORUS.
Philomel, with melody &c.
Second Fairy. Hence, away ! now all is well : One aloof stand sentinel. {Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps.
Enter Oberon.
Gbe. What thou seest when thou dost wake,
[Squeezes the flower on Titania's eyelids. Do it for thy true-love take ; Love and languish for his sake : Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
42 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act II.
30 Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall 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 't so, Lysander : find you out a bed ; For I upon this bank will rest my head. 40 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 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 bosoms and a single troth. 50 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 and my pride, 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
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 43
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 ! 60
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 half 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: 70
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, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe.
{Squeezes the flower on Lysander's eyelids. When thou wak'st, let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid : 80
So awake when I am gone, For I must now to Oberon. {Exit.
Enter Demetrius and Helena, running. Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
44 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act n.
Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.
Hel. O, wilt thou darkling leave me ? do not so.
Dem. Stay, on thy peril : I alone will go. [Exit.
Hel. O, 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 ; 90 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 hers. 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 ! 100 Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound. Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.
Lys. \Awaking^\ And run through fire I will, for thy sweet sake. Transparent Helena ! Nature shows art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. Where is Demetrius? O, 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, no 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 ?
sc. II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 45
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 season :
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason ;
And, touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will
And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook 120
Love's stories written in love's richest book.
Hel, Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born ? 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 130
I thought you lord of more true gentleness. O, that a lady, of one man refus'd, Should of another therefore be abus'd ! [Exit.
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 men do leave Are hated most of those they did deceive, So thou, my surfeit and my heresy, 140
Of all be hated, but the most of me! And, all my powers, address your love and might To honor Helen and to be her knight !
Her. [Awaking.} Help me, Lysander, help me ! do thy best
46 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act hi.
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. $o Lysander ! what, remov'd ? Lysander ! lord ! — VVhat, 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. No? — then I well perceive you are not nigh : Either death or you I'll find immediately. [Ext',
ACT III. SCENE I. The same. Tit am a lying asleep.
Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.
Bot. Are we all met ?
Quin. Pat, pat ; and here's a marvelous conven- ient place for our rehearsal. This green-plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our 'tiring-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 Pyramus oand Thisby that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself ; which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that ?
Snout. By 'r lakin, a parlous fear.
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 47
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 thatPyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more better assurance, tell them that I Pyramus 20 am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver : this will put them out of fear.
Quzn. 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 your- selves : to bring in, — God shield us ! — a lion among 30 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, yo umust 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 requestyou," — or, "I would 40 entreat you, — not to fear, not to tremble : my life for yours. 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.
48 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act III.
Quin. Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard things, that is, to bring the moonlight into a cham- ber; for, you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by 50 moonlight.
Snug. Doth the moon shine that night we play our play ?
Bot. A calendar, a calendar ! look in the almanac ; find out moonshine, 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 bush 60 of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes to dis- figure, or to present, the person of Moonshine. Then there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby, says the story, did talk through the chink 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 loam or some
rough-cast about him, to signify wall ; and let him
70 hold his fingers thus, and through 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 parts. Pyramus, you begin : when you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake ; — and so every one according to his cue,
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 49 Enter Puck behind.
Puck. What hempen home-spuns have we swag- gering here, So near the cradle of the fairy queen? What, a play toward ! I'll be an auditor ; 80
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
Quin. Speak, Pyramus. — Thisby, stand forth. Pyr. Thisby, the flowers of odious savors sweet, —
Quin. Odors, odors.
Pyr. odors savors sweet :
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear. — But hark, a voice ! stay thou but here awhile.
And by and by I will to thee appear. [Exit. Puck. A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here !
[Aside, ci7id exit. This. Must I speak now ? 9°
Quin. Ay, marry, must you ; for you must under- stand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
This. Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue, Of color like the red rose on triumphant brier, Most briskly 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 100 speak all your part at once, cues and all. — Pyramus, enter; your cue is past ; it is, " never tire."
This. O, — As true as truest horse that yet would never
tire. Pyr. If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine ;— -
50 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act hi.
Re-enter Puck and BOTTOM with an ass's head.
Quz'n. O monstrous ! O strange ! we are haunted. Pray, masters ! fly, masters ! Help ! {Exeunt.
Puck. I'll follow you, I'll lead you 'bout a round, Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier ; no Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound, A hog, a headless bear, sometime a lire ; And neigh and bark and grunt and roar and burn, Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
[Exit. Bot. Why do they run away ? this is knavery of them to make me afeard.
Re-enter Snout.
Snout. O Bottom, thou art changed ! what do I see on thee ?
Bot. What do you see ? you see an ass-head of your own, do you ? [Exit Snout.
Re-enter Quince.
1 20 Quin. Bless thee, Bottom ! bless thee ! thou art translated. [Exit.
Bot. I see their knavery : this is to make an ass of me ; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid. [Sings.
The ousel-cock, so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, 130 The wren with little quill, —
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 51
Tita. [Awaking.] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed ?
Bot. [Sings.] 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 ; — for indeed who would set his wit to so foolish a bird ? who would give a bird the lie, though he crv, " Cuckoo," never so ?
Tita. I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again : 140
Mine ear is much enamor'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 nowadays; — the more the pity that some honest neighbors will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion. 150
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 ; 160
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
52 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act ill.
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go. Peaseblossom ! Cobweb ! Moth ! and Mustardseed !
Enter the four Fairies.
Peas. Ready.
Cob. And I.
Moth. And I.
Mus. And I.
All Four. Where shall we go ?
Pita. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman ; Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes ; Feed him with apricocks and dewberries, 170 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 glowworm's eyes To have my love to bed and to arise ; And pluck the wings from painted butterflies To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes : Nod to him elves, and do him courtesies.
Peas. Hail, mortal !
Cob. Hail! 180 Moth. Hail!
Mus. Hail!
Bot. I cry your worships mercy, heartily — I be- seech your worship's name.
Cob. Cobweb.
Bot. I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb : if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you. — Your name, honest gentle- man ?
Peas. Peaseblossom. 190 Bot. I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash,
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 53
your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance too. — Your name, I beseech you, sir?
Mus. Mustardseed.
Bot. Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well : that same cowardly, giant-like ox- beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you of more acquaint- 2°° ance, good Master Mustardseed.
Tita. Come, wait upon him ; lead him to my bower. 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. — Here comes my messenger.
Enter Puck.
How now, mad spirit ? What night-rule now about this haunted grove ?
Puek. My mistress with a monster is in love. Near to her close and consecrated bower,
54 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act hi.
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour, A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
10 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's nowl I fixed on his head. Anon his Thisbe must be answered, And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
20 As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, Or russet-patted choughs, many in sort, Rising and cawing at the gun's report, Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky ; So, at his sight, away his fellows fly; And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls ; He murder cries and help from Athens calls. Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus
strong, Made senseless things begin to do them wrong; For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch, —
30 Some sleeves,— some, hats ; — from yielders all things catch. I led them on in this distracted fear, And left sweet Pyramus translated there: When in that moment (so it came to pass), Titania wak'd and straightway lov'd an ass.
Obe. This falls out better than I could devise. But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
Puck. I took him sleeping — that is finish'd too —
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 55
And the Athenian woman by his side ;
That, when he wak'd, of force she must be ey'd. 40
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 so ? Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
Her. Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse, For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse. If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep, And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day 50
As he to me : would he have stol'n away From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon This whole earth may be bor'd ; and that the moon May through the center creep, and so displease Her brother's noontide with th' antipodes. It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him ; So should a murderer look, -so dread, so grim.
Dem. So should the murder'd look ; and so should I, Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty : Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear, 60
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
Her. What's this to my Lysander? where is he? Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
Dem. I'd rather give his carcass to my hounds.
Her. Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds
56 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM [act in.
Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him then ? Henceforth be never number'd among men ! O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake . Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake, 70 And hast thou kill'd him sleeping ? O brave touch ! Could not a worm, an adder, do so much ? An adder did it; for with donbler tongue Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
Dem. You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood : I am not guilty of Lysander's blood ; Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well. Don. An if I could, what should I get therefor? Her. A privilege never to see me more. 80 And from thy hated presence part I so :
See me no more, whether he be dead or no. [Exit. Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vein : Here therefore for a while I will remain. So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe ; Which now in some slight measure it will pay, If for his tender here I make some stay.
[Lies down and sleeps. Obe. What hast thou done ? thou hast mistaken quite, And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight: 90 Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true. Puck. Then fate o'errules ; that, one man holding troth, A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 57
Obe. About the wood go swifter than the wind, And Helena of Athens look thou find : All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear: By some illusion see thou bring her here : I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.
Puck. I go, I go; look, how I go, 100
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. [Exit. Obe. Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, [Squeezes the flower 071 Demetrius' eyelids. Sink in apple of his eye ! When his love he doth espy, Let her shine as gloriously As the Venus of the sky. When thou wak'st, if she be by, Beg of her for remedy.
Re-enter PUCK.
Puck. Captain of our fairy band, 1 10
Helena is here at hand ;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see ?
Lord, what fools these mortals be ! Obe. Stand aside : the noise they make
Will cause Demetrius to awake. Puck. Then will two at once woo one, —
That must needs be sport alone ;
And those things do best please me 120
That befall preposterously.
58 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT S DREAM, [act in.
Re-enter Lysander and Helena.
Lys. Why should you think that I should woo in scorn ? Scorn and derision never come in tears : Look, when I vow, I weep ; and vows so born,
In their nativity all truth appears. How can these things in me seem scorn to you. Bearing the badge of faith to prove them true ? Hel. You do advance your cunning more and more. When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray ! 130 These vows are Hermia's : will you give her o'er? Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh : Your vows to her and me put in two scales Will even weigh ; and both as light as tales. Lys. I had no judgment when to her I swore. Hel. Nor none, in my mind, now you give her
o'er. Lys. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you. Dem. {awaking.} O Helen, goddess, nymph, per- fect, divine ! To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne ? Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show 140 Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow ! That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow, Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow, When thou hold'st up thy hand : O let me kiss This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss ! Hel. O spite ! O hell ! I see you all are bent To set against me for your merriment : If you were civil and knew courtesy. You would not do me thus much injury.
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 59
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls to mock me too ? 150
If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so ;
To vow and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals and love Hermia ;
And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
With your derision ! none of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort 160
A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.
Lys. You are unkind, Demetrius ; be not so ; For you love Hermia ; this you know I know : And here, with all good-will, with all my heart, In Hermia's love I yield you up my part; And yours of Helena to me bequeath, Whom I do love and will do to my death.
Hel. Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
Dem. Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none : If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone. 170
My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd, And now to Helen is it home return'd, There to remain.
Lys. Helen, it is not so.
Devi. Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear. Look where thy love comes ; yonder is thy dear.
Enter Hermia. Her. Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
60 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act III.
The ear more quick of apprehension makes; Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, 1 80 It pays the hearing double recompense.
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found ; Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound. But why unkindly didst thou leave me so ? Lys. Why should he stay, whom love doth press
to go ? Her. What love could press Lysander from my
side ? Lys. Lysander's love, that would not let him bide, — Fair Helena ; who more engilds the night Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light. Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know 190 The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so?
Her. You speak not as you think : it cannot be. Hel. Lo, she is one of this confederacy ! Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three To fashion this false sport in spite of me. Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid! Have you conspir'd, have you with these contriv'd To bait me with this foul derision ? Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd, The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent, 200 When we have chid the hasty-footed time For parting us, — O, is it all forgot ? All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence ? We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, Both warbling of one song, both in one key;
sc. II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT: S DREAM. 61
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and mindb
Had been incorp'rate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted ;
But yetaunion in partition, 210
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem ;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart ;
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
And will you rent our ancient love asunder
To join with men in scorning your poor friend ?
It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for 't,
Though I alone do feel the injury.
Her. I am amazed at your passionate words. 220
I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.
Hel. Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn, To follow me and praise my eyes and face ? And made your other love, Demetrius, Who even but now did spurn me with his foot, To call me goddess, nvmph, divine, and rare, Precious, celestial ? Wherefore speaks he this To her he hates ? and wherefore doth Lysander Deny your love, so rich within his soul, And tender me, forsooth, affection, 230
But by your setting on, by your consent ? What though I be not so in grace as you, So hung upon with love, so fortunate ; But miserable most to love unlov'd ? This you should pity rather than despise.
Her. I understand not what you mean by this.
Hel. Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks, Make mouths upon me when I turn my back ; Wink at each other ; hold the sweet jest up :
62 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act hi.
240 This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled. If you have any pity, grace, or manners, You would not make me such an argument. But fare ye well : 't is partly mine own fault ; Which death or absence soon shall remedy.
Lys. Stay, gentle Helena ; hear my excuse : My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena! Hel. O excellent !
Her. Sweet, do not scorn her so.
Dem. If she cannot entreat, I can compel. Lys. Thou canst compel no more than she en- treat : 250 Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers. Helen, I love thee ; bv my life I do : I swear by that which I will lose for thee, To prove him false that says I love thee not. Dem. I say I love thee more than he can do. Lys. If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too. Dem. Quick, come !
Her. Lysander, whereto tends all this ?
Lys. Away, you Ethiop !
Dem. No, no, sir : — he will
Seem to break loose ; take on as you would follow, But yet come not : You are a tame man, go ! 260 Lys. Hang off, thou cat, thou burr ! vile thing, let loose ; Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent !
Her. Why are you grown so rude ? what change is this, Sweet love ?
Lys. Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!
Out, loathed medicine! O hated potion, hence!
SC. II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 63
Her. Do you not jest ?
Hel. Yes, sooth ; and so do you.
Lys. Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
Devi. I would I had your bond, for I perceive A weak bond holds you : I'll not trust your word.
Lys. What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead ? Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so. 270
Her. What, can you do me greater harm than hate ? Hate me ! wherefore ? O me ! what news, my love ? Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander ? I am as fair now as I was erewhile. Since night you lov'd me ; yet since night you left
me : Why, then you left me, — O, the gods forbid ! — In earnest, shall I say?
Lys. Ay, by my life ;
And never did desire to see thee more. Therefore be out of hope, of question, doubt ; Be certain, nothing truer; 't is no jest 280
That I do hate thee and love Helena.
Her. O me! you juggler; you canker-blossom ! You thief of love ! what, have you come by night And stol'n my love's heart from him?
Hel. Fine, i' faith !
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear Impatient answers from my gentle tongue ? Fie, fie ! you counterfeit, you puppet, you !
Her. Puppet ! why so ? ay, that way goes the game. Now I perceive that she hath made compare 290
64 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act in.
Between our statures ; she hath urg'd her height ;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'dwith him. —
And are you grown so high in his esteem,
Because I am so dwarfish and so low ?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak ;
How low am I ? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
Hel. I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, 300 Let her not hurt me : I was never curst ; I have no gift at all in shrewishness ; I am a right maid for my cowardice : Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think, Because she's something lower than myself, That I can match her.
Her. Lower ! hark, again.
Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you. Hermia, Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you ; Save that, in love unto Demetrius, 310 I told him of your stealth unto this wood : He follow'd you ; for love I follow'd him ; But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too : And now, so you will let me quiet go, To Athens will I bear my folly back And follow you no further : let me go : You see how simple and how fond I am.
Her. Why, get you gone : who is't that hinders you ?
Hel. A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.
Her. What, with Lysander ? 320 Hel. With Demetrius.
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 65
Lys. Be not afraid ; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
Dem. No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
Hel. O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd ! She was a vixen when she went to school ; And, though she be but little, she is fierce.
Her. Little again ! nothing but low and little ! Why will you suffer her to flout me thus ? Let me come to her.
Lys. Get you gone, you dwarf;
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made ; You bead, you acorn !
Dem. You are too officious 330
In her behalf that scorns your services. Let her alone : speak not of Helena ; Take not her part ; for, if thou dost intend Never so little show of love to her, Thou shalt aby it.
Lys. Now she holds me not ;
Now follow, if thou dar'st, to try whose right, Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
Dem. Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jole. [Exeunt Lysander and Demetrius.
Her. You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you : Nay, go not back.
Hel. I will not trust you, I, 340
Nor longer stay in your curst company. Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray ; My legs are longer, though, to run away. [Exit.
Her. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say.
{Exit.
66 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, [act hi.
Obe. This is thy negligence : still thou mistak'st, Or else commit'st thy knaveries willfully.
Puck. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook. Did not you tell me I should know the man By the Athenian garments he had on ?
350 And so far blameless proves my enterprise, That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes; And so far am I glad it so did sort As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
Obe. Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; The starry welkin cover thou anon With drooping fog as black as Acheron ; And lead these testy rivals so astray As one come not within another's way.
360 Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong ; And sometime rail thou like Demetrius; And from each other look thou lead them thus, Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep : Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye ; Whose liquor hath this virtuous property, To take from thence all error with his might, And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
370 When they next wake, all this derision Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision , And back to Athens shall the lovers wend, With league whose date till death shall never end. Whiles I in this affair do thee employ, I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 67
And then I will her charmed eye release From monster's view, and all things shall be peace. Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ; 380
At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and
there, Troop home to churchyards : damned spirits all, That in crossways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone ; For fear lest day should look their shames upon, They willfully themselves exile from light And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
Obe. But we are spirits of another sort : I with the Morning's love have oft made sport; And, like a forester, the groves may tread, 390
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red, Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams. But, notwithstanding, haste ; make no delay : We may effect this business yet ere day.
{Exit Oberon. Puck. Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down : I am fear'd in field and town : Goblin, lead them up and down. Here comes one. 400
Re-enter Lysander.
Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius ? speak thou now.
68 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act hi.
Puck. Here, villain ; drawn and ready. Where
art thou ? Lys. I will be with thee straight. Puck. Follow me then
To plainer ground.
{Exit Lysander as following the voice.
Re-enter DEMETRIUS.
Dem. Lysander ! speak again :
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled ? Speak ! In some bush ? Where dost thou hide thy head ? Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars, Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars, And wilt not come ? Come, recreant ; come, thou child; 410 I'll whip thee with a rod : he is defil'd That draws a sword on thee.
Dem. Yea, art thou there ?
Puck. Follow my voice : we'll try no manhood here. [Exeunt.
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 iighter-heel'd than I : I follow'd 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, 420 I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite. [Sleeps.
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 69
Re-e?iter Puck and DEMETRIUS.
Puck. 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, A*nd dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. Where art thou now ? Puck. Come hither : I am here.
Dem. Nay, then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear, If ever I thy face by daylight 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. 430
[Lies doivn and sleeps.
Re-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 daylight, From these that my poor company detest : And, sleep, that sometimes shuts my sorrow's eye, Steal me a while from mine own company.
{Lies down and sleeps. Puck. Yet but three ? Come one more ; Two of both kinds make up four. Here she comes, curst and sad : Cupid is a knavish lad 440
Thus to make poor females mad.
Re-enter Hermia. Her. Never so weary, never so in woe ;
70 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act iv.
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. Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
[Lies down and sleeps. Puck. On the ground
Sleep sound : 45° I'll apply
To your eye, Gentle lover, remedy. [Squeezing the herb on LYSANDER's eyelids. 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, 460 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.
ACT IV.
SCENE I. The Wood. Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia tying asleep.
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,
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. Ji
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek, smooth head, And kiss thy fair, large ears, my gentle joy.
Bot. Where's Peaseblossom ?
Peas. Ready.
Bot. Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. — Where's Monsieur Cobweb?
Cob. Ready.
Bot. Monsieur Cobweb, good monsieur, get your 10 weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped bumble- bee on the top of a thistle ; and, good mon- sieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret your- self too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not ; I would be loth to have you overflown with a honey- bag, signior. — Where's Monsieur Mustardseed ?
Must. Ready.
Bot. Give me your neaf, Monsieur Mustardseed. Pray you leave your courtesy, good monsieur. 20
Must. What's your will ?
Bot. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, mon- sieur ; for methinks I am marvelous 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. 30
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
72 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT S DREAM, [act iv.
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 40 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.
{Exeunt Fairies. 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.
Oberon advances. Enter Puck.
Obe. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this sweet sight ? Her dotage now I do begin to pity :
50 For, meeting her of late behind the wood, Seeking sweet favors 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,
60 And she in mild terms begg'd my patience, I then did ask of her her changeling child ;
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 73
Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent 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 other do, May all to Athens back again repair, And think no more of this night's accidents 7°
But as the fierce vexation of a dream. But first I will release the fairy queen. Be 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 enamor'd of an ass. Obe. There lies your love.
Tita. How came these things to pass ? 80
O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now !
Obe. Silence a while. 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 90
74 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS DREAM, [act iv.
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. Ode. Then, my queen, in silence sad, Trip we after the night's shade : We the globe can compass soon, ioo Swifter than the wand'ring moon.
Tita. Come, my lord ; and in our flight Tell me how it came this night That I sleeping here was found With these mortals on the ground.
[Exeunt. Horns winded within.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and train.
The. Go, one of you, find out the forester ; For now our observation is perform'd ; And since we have the vaward of the day, My love shall hear the music of my hounds : Uncouple in the western valley ; let them go : no Despatch, I say, and find the forester. —
[Exit an Attendant. We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, And mark the musical confusion Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear Such gallant chiding ; for, besides the groves, The skies, the fountains, every region near
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 75
Seem'd all one mutual cry : I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. 120
The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, So flew'd, so sanded ; and their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning-dew; Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls: Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, Each under each. A cry more tunable Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn, In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly : Judge, when you hear. — But, soft ! what nymphs are these ?
Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep ; 130 And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is ; This Helena, old Nedar's Helena : I wonder of their being here together.
The. No doubt they rose up early to observe The rite of May ; and, hearing our intent, Came here in grace of our solemnity. — But speak, Egeus ; is not this the day That Hermia should give answer of her choice ?
Ege. It is, my lord.
The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their 140 horns. {Exit Attendant.
Horns and shout within. Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena awake a?id start up. The. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past : Begin these wood-birds but to couple now ? Lys. Pardon, my lord.
[He and the rest kneel to THESEUS.
76 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act iv.
The. I pray you all, stand up.
I know you two are rival enemies :
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity ? Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
Half 'sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear 150 I cannot truly say how I came here :
But, as I think, — for truly would I speak,
And now I do bethink me, so it is —
I came with Hermia hither : our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
Without the peril of the Athenian law,
Ege. Enough, enough, my lord ; you have enough :
I beg the law, the law upon his head.
They would have stol'n away ; they would, Deme- trius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me, 160 You of your wife, and me of my consent,
Of my consent that she should be your wife.
Dem. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither to this wood ;
And I in fury hither follow'd them,
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power —
But by some power it is — my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd 170 Which in my childhood I did dote upon ;
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia :
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 77
But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food : But, as in health, come to my natural taste, Now do I wish it, love it, long for it, And will for evermore be true to it.
The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met : Of this discourse we more will hear anon. 180
Egeus, I will overbear your will ; For in the temple, by and by, with us These couples shall eternally be knit : And, for the morning now is something worn, Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside. Away with us to Athens ! three and three, We'll hold a feast in great solemnity. — Come, Hippolyta.
[Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and train.
Dem. These things seem small and undistin- guishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. 190
Her. Methinks I see these things with parted eye, When everything seems double.
Hel. So methinks:
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, Mine own, and not mine own.
Dem. Are you sure
That we are yet awake ? It seems to me That yet we sleep, we dream. — Do not you think The duke was here, and bid us follow him ?
Her. Yea ; and my father.
Hel. And Hippolyta.
Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple.
7S A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act iv.
200 Bern. Why then we are awake ; let's follow him ; And by the way let us recount our dreams.
[Exeunt. Bot. {Awaking .] When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer : — my next is, " Most fair Pyra- mus." — Heigh-ho! — Peter Quince! Flute, the bel- lows-mender ! Snout, the tinker ! Starveling ! — God's my life ! stolen hence and left me asleep; I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, — past the wit of man to say what dream it was : man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this
210 dream. Methought I was — there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought 1 had, — but man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream : it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom ; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke : peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death. [Exit.
SCENE II. — Athens. A Room in Quince's House.
Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.
Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house ? is he come home yet?
Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is transported.
Flu. If he come not, then the play is marred ; it goes not forward, doth it ?
Quin. It is not possible : you have not a man in all Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.
sc. ii.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 79
Flu. No, he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft-man in Athens. 10
Quin. Yea, and the best person too ; and he is a very paramour for a sweet voice.
Flu. You must say paragon : a paramour is, God bless us, a thing of naught.
Enter Snug.
Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the tem- ple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more married : if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men.
Flu. O sweet bully Bottom ! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day during his life ; he could not have 20 'scaped sixpence a day : an the duke had not given him sixpence a day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged ; he would have deserved it : sixpence a day in Pyramus, or nothing.
Enter Bottom.
Bot. Where are these lads ? where are these hearts ?
Quin. Bottom ! O most courageous day ! O most happy hour !
Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders : but ask me not what ; for, if I tell you, I am no true Athe- 30 nian. I will tell you everything, right as it fell out.
Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
Bot. Not a word of me. All that 1 will tell you is, that the duke hath dined. Get your apparel to- gether, good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look o'er his part ; for, the short and the long
80 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act v.
is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen ; and let not him that plays the 40 Hon pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath ; and I do not doubt but to hear them say it is a sweet comedy. No more words : away ! go ; away !
[Exeunt.
ACT V.
SCENE I. Athens. An Apartment in the Palace of Theseus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, Lords, and Attendants.
Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers
speak of. The. More strange than true : I never may be- lieve These antique fables nor these fairy toys. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact : — One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, 10 That is, the madman : the lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt : The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven ;
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 81
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name. v '
Such tricks hath strong imagination
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy ; 20
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear !
Hip. But all the story of the night told over, And all their minds transfigur'd so together, More witnesseth than fancy's images, And grows to something of great constancy ; 3ut, howsoever, strange and admirable.
The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.
Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena.
Joy, gentle friends ! joy, and fresh days of love Accompany your hearts ! 30
Lys. More than to us
Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed !
The. Come now ; what masques, what dances shall we have To wear away this long age of three hours Between our after-supper and bedtime ? Where is our usual manager of mirth ? What revels are in hand ? Is there no play To ease the anguish of a torturing hour? Call Philostrate.
Pkzlost. Here, mighty Theseus. 40
The. Say, what abridgment have you for this evening ?
82 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, [act v.
What masque? what music? How shall we beguile The lazy time, if not with some delight ?
Philost. There is a brief how many sports are ripe : Make choice of which your highness will see first.
{Giving a paper. The. [Reads] " The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung By an Athenian eunuch to the harp." We'll none of that : that have I told my love, In glory of my kinsman Hercules. 5° " The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage."
That is an old device ; and it was play'd When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
" The thrice three Muses mourning for the death Of Learning, late deceas'd in beggary." That is some satire, keen and critical, Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
" A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, And his love Thisbe ; very tragical mirth." 60 Merry and tragical ! tedious and brief !
That is, hot ice and wonderous strange snow. How shall we find the concord of this discord ? Philost. A play there is, my lord, some ten words long, Which is as brief as I have known a play; But by ten words, my lord, it is too long, Which makes it tedious ; for in all the play There is not one word apt, one player fitted : And tragical, my noble lord, it is ; For Pyramus therein doth kill himself. 70 Which, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess, Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
sc.l.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 83
The passion of loud laughter never shed.
The. What are they that do play it ?
Philost. Hard-handed men that work in Athens here, Which never labor'd in their minds till now; And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories With this same play, against your nuptial.
The. And we will hear it.
Philost. No, my noble lord ;
It is not for you : I have heard it over, 80
And it is nothing, nothing in the world ; Unless you can find sport in their intents, Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain, To do you service.
The. I will hear that play ;
For never anything can be amiss, When simpleness and duty tender it. Go, bring them in : and take your places, ladies.
[Exit Philostrate.
Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharg'd, And duty in his service perishing. 90
The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
Hip. He says they can do nothing in this kind.
The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing. Our sport shall be to take what they mistake : And what poor duty cannot do, but would, Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. Where I have come, great clerks have purposed To greet me with premeditated welcomes; Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, Make periods in the midst of sentences. 100
84 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DRE AM. [act v.
Throttle their practic'd accent in their fears, And in conclusion dumbly have broke off, Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet, . Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome ; And in the modesty of fearful duty I read as much as from the rattling tongue Of saucy and audacious eloquence. Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity In least speak most, to my capacity.
Enter Philostrate.
no Philost. So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd.
The. Let him approach. {Flourish of Trumpets.
Enter Quince for the Prologue. Prol. If we offend , it is with our good-will.
That you should think, we come not to offend, But with good-will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end. Consider then we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to content you, Our true intent is. All for your delight
We are not here. That you should here re- pent you, 1 20 The actors are at hand, and by their show
You shall know all that you are like to know. The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt ; he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord : It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.
Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue like a child on a recorder ; a sound, but not in gov- ernment.
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 85
The. His speech was like a tangled chain ; noth- ing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next ? 130
Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine. and Lion, as in dumb show.
Prol. Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show ;
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. This man is Pyramus, if you would know ;
This beauteous lady Thisby is certain. This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder ; And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
To whisper ; at the which let no man wonder. This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth Moonshine ; for, if you will know, 14° By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name, The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, Did scare away, or rather did affright ; And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. Anon comes Pyramus sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain : Whereat with blade, with bloody, blameful blade, 150
He bravely broach'd his boiling, bloody breast; And, Thisby tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain At large discourse, while here they do remain.
{Exeunt Prologue, Thisbe, Lion, and Moon- shine. The. I wonder if the lion be to speak.
36 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. [act v.
Dem. No wonder, my lord : one lion may, when many asses do.
Wall. In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall ; 1 60 And such a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, Did whisper often very secretly. This lime, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth
show That I am that same wall ; the truth is so : And this the cranny is, right and sinister, Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better ? 170 Devi. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord.
The. Pyramus draws near the wall : silence !
Enter PYRAMUS. Pyr. O grim-look'd night ! O night with hue so black !
0 night, which ever art when day is not ! O night, O night ! alack, alack, alack,
1 fear my Thisby's promise is forgot ! — And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
That stand'st between her father's ground and
mine ! Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, 180 Show me thy chink, to blink through with
mine eyne ! [Wall holds up his fingers. Thanks, courteous wall ! Jove shield thee well
for this ! But what see I ? No Thisby do I see. O' wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss ! Curs'd be thy stones for thus deceiving me !
sc. i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 87
The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.
Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. " Deceiv- ing 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. 19°
Enter This BE.
This. O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, For parting my fair Pyramus and me ! My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones, Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee. Pyr. I see a voice : now will I to the chink
To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby ! This. My love ! thou art my love, I think.
Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lovers grace;
And like Limander am I trusty still. 200
This. And I like Helen, till the fates me kill. Pyr. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true. This. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. Pyr. O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall ! This. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all. Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway ? This. 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay. 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 210 neighbors.
Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so will- ful to hear without warning.
Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
83 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act v.
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.
The. If we imagine no worse of them than they
220 of themselves, they may pass for excellent men.
Here come two noble beasts in, a moon and a lion.
Enter Lion and Moonshine.
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 A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam ; For, if I should as lion come in strife Into this place, 't were pity of my life. 230 The. A very gentle beast, and of a good con- science.
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 240 well : leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.
Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present ; — Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head.
sc. I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 89
The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invis- ible within the circumference.
Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present ; Myself the man i' th' 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 ? 250
Dem. He dares not come there for the candle ; for, you see. it is already in snuff.
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 ; 260 this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush ; and this clog, 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. [Roars] Oh— ' [Thisbe runs off.
Dem. Well roared, Lion. The. Well run, Thisbe.
Hip. Well shone, Moon. — Truly, the moon shines 270 with a good grace.
[The Lion tears Thisbe's mantle, and exit. The. Well moused, Lion. Dem. And then came Py ramus.
90 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act v.
Lys. And so the lion vanished. Enter Pyramus.
Pyr. Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams ; I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright ; For, by ihy gracious, golden, glittering gleams, I trust to take of truest Thisby sight. But stay, — O spite ! — But mark, poor knight, 280 What dreadful dole is here !
Eyes, do you see ? H ovv can it be ? O dainty duck ! O dear ! Thy mantle good, What, stain'd with blood ? Approach, ye Furies fell ! O Fates ! come, come, Cut thread and thrum ; Quail, crush, conclude, and quell ! 290 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. Pyr. O, wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame? Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear : Which is — no, no — which was the fairest dame That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with cheer.
Come, tears, confound ; Out, sword, and wound The pap of Pyramus. — 300 Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop: \_Stabs himself . Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. Now am I dead, Now am I fled;
sc. I.J A MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS DREAM. 91
My soul is in the sky:
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon, take thy flight:
{Exit Moonshine. Now die, die, die, die, die. {Dies.
Dem. No die, but an ace, for him ; for he is but one. 310
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 Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover ?
The. She will find him by starlight. — 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. 320
Dem. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyra- mus, which Thisbe, is the better ; he for a man, God warrant us ; she for a woman, God bless us.
Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.
Dem. And thus she means, videlicet : —
This. Asleep, my love ?
What, dead, my dove ? O Pyramus, arise !
Speak, speak. Quite dumb? 330
Dead, dead ? A tomb Must cover thy sweet eyes.
These lily lips,
This cherry nose,
92 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act v.
These yellow cowslip cheeks
Are gone, are gone:
Lovers, make moan:
His eyes were green as leeks.
O Sisters three,
34° Come, come to me,
With hands as pale as milk ; Lay them in gore, Since you have shore With shears his thread of silk. Tongue, not a word : Come, trusty sword ; Come, blade, my breast imbrue ; [Slabs herself \ And farewell, friends, — Thus Thisby ends, — 35° Adieu, adieu, adieu ! [Dies.
The. Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and Wall too.
Bot. No, I assure you ; the wall is down that parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance, between two of our company ?
The. No epilogue, I pray you ; for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse ; for, when the 360 players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy : and so it is, truly ; and very notably discharged. But, come, your Bergomask : let your epilogue alone. \A dance.
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve : — Lovers, to bed ; 't is almost fairy-time. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn
sc.i.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 93
As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
This palpable-gross play hath well beguil'd 37°
The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
A fortnight hold we this solemnity
In nightly revels and new jollity. [Exeunt.
Enter PUCK.
Puck. Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon ; Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone. Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, Puts the wretch that lies in woe 380
In remembrance of a shroud. Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide, Everyone lets forth his sprite
In the church-way path to glide : And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team, From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream, Now are frolic : not a mouse 390
Shall disturb this hallow'd house: I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door.
Enter Oberon and Titania, with their train.
Ode. Through the house give glimmering light, By the dead and drowsy fire : Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from brier ;
94 A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, [act v.
And this ditty, after me,
Sing, and dance it trippnigly. 400 Tita. First, rehearse your song by rote,
To each word a warbling note :
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.
[Song- and dance. Obe. Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be ;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate. 410 So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be ;
And the blots of Nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand ;
Never mole, hair-lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate,
Every fairy take his gait ; 420 And each several chamber bless,
Through this palace with sweet peace :
And the owner of it blest,
Ever shall in safety rest.
Trip away ; make no stay;
Meet me all by break of day.
[Exeunt Oberon, TlTANlA, and train. Puck. If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
sc. I.] A- MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 95
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme, 430
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend :
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I'm an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long ;
Else the Puck a liar call :
So, good-night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends, 440
And Robin shall restore amends. [Exit.
NOTES
ACT. I.
Scene I.
i. The name of Theseus, and that of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, may have been borrowed by Shakespeare from Chaucer's Knight's Tale, although there is nothing else in the play for which he can have been indebted to the same source. But he was no doubt acquainted with the story of Theseus in North's translation of Plutarch's Lives.
4. She lingers my desires, delays the accomplishment of my desires.
5. A step-dame, or a dowager, who has a life interest in the property which falls to the heir at her death.
6. Withering out, causing the revenue to dwindle as she herself withers away.
13. Pert, lively ; used in a good sense, and not as now as equiv- alent to something a little less than impudent, saucy. It is prob- ably connected with the Fr. appert (whence malapert).
15. Companion, fellow. These two words have completely exchanged their meanings. " Companion " is not now used con- temptuously as it once was, and as " fellow" frequently is.
19. With pomp, with triumph. A triumph was a public exhibi- tion or show, such as was originally used to celebrate a victory. The title of Bacon's 37th Essay is " Of Masques and Triumphs," and the two words appear to have been synonymous, for the Es- say treats of masques alone.
20. Duke, leader, from the Lat. dux. A title which Shakespeare might have found attached to Theseus in Chaucer. See the Knight's Tale, 1. 860.
21. What's the news with thee ? What has happened to thee ?
32. Stol'n the impression of her fantasy, secretly stamped his image on her imagination.
33. Gawds, trifling ornaments, toys. lb. Conceits, fanciful devices.
34. Knacks, knick-knacks, trinkets.
41. Solon's laws gave a father the power of life and death over his child.
96
SC. I.]
NOTES. 97
45. Immediately provided, etc., as Steevens has remarked, smacks of an attorney's office. 50. And within his power it is. For this ellipsis see Abbott,
§ 4°3-
54. In this kind, in this respect.
61. To plead my thoughts, to utter my thoughts by way of plea or argument.
65. To die the death, to die ; generally but not uniformly ap- plied to death inflicted by law.
68. Know of your youth, ascertain from your youth. lb. Blood, passion as opposed to reason.
69. Whether, a monosyllable; as frequently in Shakespeare.
70. The livery of a nun. " Livery,11 which now denotes the dress of servants, formerly signified any distinciive dress, as in the
firesent passage. The virgins sacred to Diana were prohibited rom marriage. Shakespeare in speaking of them uses the Chris- tian word " nun.'1
71. For aye, for ever. A.S. d, or aa, ever, always. lb. Mew'd, penned up, cooped up.
75. Maiden pilgrimage, a course of life passed in virginity. This sense of " pilgrimage'1 is in accordance with the usage of Scripture.
76. Earthlier happy, more earthly happy, happier in an earthly sense.
80. My virgin patent, my privilege of virginity and the liberty that belongs to it.
81. Whose unwished yoke. The second folio, to mend the grammar, reads " to whose unwish'd yoke."
90. Austerity, severe self-mortification ; used technically of the religious discipline of a nun. 92. Crazed title, a title with a flaw in it.
99. Deriv'd, descended.
100. As well possess'd, with as good possessions or property. 102. If not with vantage, if I have not even an advantage over
him in this respect.
106. To his head, before his face, openly and unreservedly. 120. Extenuate, mitigate, weaken the force of. 126. Nearly that concerns, that nearly concerns.
130. Belike, probably, by likelihood.
131. Beteem them, allow them.
136. Cross, vexation, trial ; from the figurative usage of the word in Scripture.
137. MisgrafFed, ill grafted.
141. Sympathy, congruity, equality.
143. Momentany. The reading of the quartos, altered in the folios to " momentary." The former seems to have been the earlier form of the word.
98 NOTES. [act i.
145. Collied, black ; literally, begrimed as with soot or coal. In Herefordshire "colly11 signifies "dirty, smutty." 147. In a spleen, in a swift, sudden fit, as of passion or caprice.
155. Fancy's, love's.
156. Persuasion, opinion, conviction. It also signifies a persua- sive argument, and perhaps has that sense here.
160. Respects, regards, considers.
164. Forth, out of.
167. To do observance to a morn of May, to observe the rites of May-day. See iv. 1. 134, and Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1500:—
" And for to doon his observance to May." " It was anciently the custom for all ranks of people to go out a Maying early on the first of May. Bourne tells us that in his time, in the villages in the North of England, the juvenile part of both sexes were wont to rise a little after midnight on the morning of that day, and walk to some neighboring wood, accompanied with music and the blowing of horns, where they broke down branches from the trees and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers. This done, they returned homewards with their booty about the time of sunrise, and made their doors and windows tri- umph in the flowery spoil." (Brand's Popular Antiquities.)
Scarcely an English poet from Chaucer to Tennyson is without a reference to the simple customs by which our ancestors celebrated the advent of the flowers. May-dew was held of virtue as a cos- metic. Mrs. Pepys would go to Woolwich for air and to gather May-dew while her husband diverted himself at Vauxhall. For further information see Brand's Popular Antiquities already quoted, and Chambers's Book of Days, i. 570-582.
170. With the golden head. Cupid's arrows in the old mythol- ogy were tipped either with gold or lead ; the former causing, the latter repelling, love.
171. Venus' doves, which drew her chariot.
173. See Virgil, ^Eneid, iv. 584, etc. Steevens pointed out the anachronism of making Dido and yEneas earlier in point of time than Theseus. But Shakespeare's Hermia lived in the latter part of the sixteenth century and was contemporary with Nick Bottom the weaver. " Carthage" as an adjective occurs several times in Marlowe's Tragedy of Dido.
175. Broke, broken. Shakespeare uses both forms.
182. Your fair, your beauty.
183. Lode-stars, leading or guiding stars ; as the polar star is to sailors.
186. Favor, outward appearance, aspect ; with a play upon the other meaning of the word.
190. Bated, excepted.
191. Translated, transformed.
209. To-morrow night. There is a discrepancy here in point of
II.]
NOTES. 99
time. At the opening of the play there are four days before the new moon.
lb. Phoebe, one of the names of the moon, as sister to Phoebus, the sun.
212. Still, constantly.
215. Faint primrose-beds, on which those rest who are faint and weary. This proleptic use of the adjective is common in Shakes- peare.
219. Stranger companies. Another emendation of Theobald's for " strange companions," which is the reading of the quartos and the folios.
223. Morrow, to-morrow.
226. Other some, others.
231. Admiring of. In this construction "admiring11 is a verbal noun, originally governed by a preposition " in" or " on," which has disappeared, but which exists sometimes in the degraded form " a," in such words as " a hunting," "a building."
232. Holding no quantity, having no proportion to the estimate formed of them.
233. Transpose, transform.
242. Eyne, eyes ; the Old English plural, the Scotch een, which occurs again in ii. 2. 98 ; iii. 2. 138 ; v. 1. 180. It occurs in Chaucer in the forms eien, eyen, A. S. edgan.
249. It is a dear expense, it will cost me dear, because it will be in return for my procuring him a sight of my rival.
251. His sight, the sight of him.
Scene II.
2. You were best, it were best for you.
lb. Generally in Bottom's language means particularly, sever- ally.
3. The scrip, or written document.
io. Grow to a point, so the quartos. The first three folios have " grow on to a point," and the fourth " grow on to appoint.'1 It is not always quite safe to interpret Bottom, but he seems to mean " come to the point."
11. Marry, a common exclamation, from the name of the Virgin Mary.
25. Gallant. The reading of the quartos. The folios have " gal- lantly."
27. Ask, require.
29. Condole. Bottom of course blunders, but it is impossible to say what word he intended to employ.
30. To the rest ; yet my, etc., TheobaUTs reading. The early copies print " To the rest yet, my," etc., which may be the right
ioo NO TES. [act i.
punctuation : "yet " in this unemphatic position being used in the sense of " however.1'
31. Ercles. The part of Hercules in the old play to which refer- ence is made was like that of Herod in the mysteries, one in which the actor could indulge to the utmost his passion for ranting.
32. To tear a cat in, to lant violently.
lb. To make all split, used to denote violent action or uproar ; originally a sailor's phrase.
47. A wandering knight, or knight errant.
49. Let not me play a woman. Women's parts were commonly played by men or boys till after the Restoration.
51. All one, all the same, no matter.
52. You may speak as small, in as thin and clear a voice.
53. An, if. Printed " And " in the old copies.
55. Thisne, Thisne. These words are printed in italic in the old copies, as if they represented a proper name, and so " Thisne" has been regarded as a blunder of Bottom's for Thisbe. Bui as he has the name right in the very next line it seems more probable that " Thisne" signifies " in this way" ; and he then gives a speci- men of how he would aggravate his voice. Mr. Grant While reads, " Listen, listen."
82. Aggravate. Bottom of course means the very opposite.
84. An 'twere, as if it were.
lb. Sucking dove. Oddly enough Bottom's blunder of "suck- ing dove" for " sucking lamb " has crept into Mrs. Cowden Clarke's Concordance to Shakespeare.
94. Discharge, perform. It appears to have been a technical word belonging to the stage.
95. Orange-tawny, reddish yellow.
lb. Purple-in-grain, the dye obtained from the kermes (whence Fr. cramoisiy and English crimson), an insect which attached it- self to the leaves of the Kermes oak (Quercus cocci/era), a tree found in the south of Europe, especially in Spain, and also in India and Persia. An interesting discussion of the etymology of "grain" in the sense of dye will be found in Marsh's Lectures on the Eng- lish Language, 66-75.
96. French-crown-color, the color of the gold coin of that name.
106. Properties, a theatrical term for all the adjuncts of a play except the scenery and the dresses of the actors.
112. Hold or cut bowstrings. Capell seems to have hit upon the true explanation of this expression. " When a party was made at butts, assurance of meeting was given in the words of that phrase : the sense of the person using them being, that he would ' hold,' or keep promise, or they might 'cut his bowstrings,' de- molish him for an archer." Keep the appointment or give up shoot- ing.
sc. i.] NOTES.
ACT II.
Scene I.
3. Thorough. The spelling of the first quarto. 7. Moon's, here a dissyllable, as if moones. lb. Sphere, orbit.
9. Orbs, the circles in the grass called fairy rings, popularly be- lieved to be caused by the fairies dancing.
10. Her pensioners, her body-guard. Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth both had such a band of attendants. They were young gentlemen of rank and fortune who were selected for their hand- some faces and figures.
12. Favors, love-tokens.
15. A pearl in every cowslip's ear. There are numberless al- lusions to the wearing of jewels in the ear both by men and women, in Shakespeare and in contemporary writers.
16. Lob, equivalent to lubber, lout, and like them it is used con- temptuously.
17. Elves, fairies; A.S. celf.
20. Fell, fierce ; from Old French,/*/, Italian, fello, with which felon is connected.
lb. Wrath, wroth, angry. So written for the sake of the rhyme.
23. Changeling, usually a child left by the fairies: here, as a fairy is the speaker, it denotes the one taken by them.
25. To trace, to traverse, wander through.
30. Square, quarrel.
32. Either, used as a monosyllable.
33. Shrewd, mischievous.
35. That frights. The later folios read " fright." so as to agree with " skim,1' etc., that follow. Others rectify the irregularity by reading " skims,"" " labors," and so on. Hut it is not necessary to correct what Shakespeare may very well have written. The first verb " frights" is of course governed by " he,1' which immediately precedes. The others are in agreement with " you."
36. Quern, a hand-mill. A.S. cweorn or cwyrn.
38. Barm, yeast ; so called in many provincial dialects still : A.S. beortna.
40. Hobgoblin, made up of Hob — a popular corruption of Robin, which is a corruption of Robert — and goblin, from the old Fr. gobelin, a rogue.
47. A gossip's bowl, originally a christening cup ; for a gossip or godsib was properly a sponsor. Hence, from signifying those who were associated in the festivities of a christening, it came to denote generally those who were accustomed to make merry together.
102 NOTES. [act ii„
Archbishop Trench mentions that the word retains its original signification among the peasantry of Hampshire. He adds, " Gos- sips are, first, the sponsors, brought by the act of a common spon- sorship into affinity and near familiarity with one another ; second- ly, these sponsors, who being thus brought together, allow them- selves one with the other in familiar, and then in trivial and idle, talk; thirdly, any who allow themselves in this trivial and idle talk. 48. Crab, crab apple.
50. Dewlap, spelt " dewlop"" in the quartos and folios, is proper- ly the loose skin which hangs from the throat of cattle.
51. Aunt, a familiar name for an old woman. Mr. Grant White remarks, " In New England villages good-natured old people are still called ' aunt1 and ' uncle' by the whole community.11
54. Tailor. Johnson says, " The custom of crying; tailor at a sud- den fall backwards, I think I remember to have observed. He that slips beside his chair, falls as a tailor squats upon his board.1' If this be not the true explanation, it is at least the only one which has been proposed.
56. Neeze, sneeze; A. S. niesan, Germ, niesen. Similarly we find the two forms of the same word " knap11 and " snap11; " top'1 and "stop;" "cratch" and "scratch11; " lightly11 and " slightly1'; " quinsy" and " squinancy."
58. Johnson, on account of the meter, would read " fairy" as a tri- syllable. Dr. Abbott, for the same reason, would prolong "room" (Shakesperian Grammar, § 484).
67. Pipes of corn, made of oat straw.
lb. Versing love, making love in verse.
69. Steppe. So the first quarto. To the reading " steppe'1 it is objected that the word as applied to the vast plains of Central Asia was not known in Shakespeare's day, but it is dangerous to assert a proposition which may be disproved by a single instance of the contrary. There is certainly no a priori reason why the present passage should not furnish that instance, inasmuch as a word of similar origin, " horde," was perfectly well known in Eng- land at the beginning of the 17th century.
75. Glance at, hint at, indirectly attack.
78. Perigenia. In North's Plutarch she is called Perigouna, the daughter of the famous robber Sinnis. By her Theseus had a son Menalippus.
80. Ariadne, who guided Theseus out of the labyrinth of Crete, was the daughter of Minos, King of Crete. Antiopa, according to some, the Amazon queen, and the mother of Hippolytus.
82. Middle summer's spring, the beginning of midsummer.
84. Paved fountain, a fountain with a pebbly bottom.
85. Margent, margin.
88. Piping to us in vain, because we could not dance to them.
SC. I.J
NOTES. 103
91. Pelting, paltry, insignificant. The folios have " petty.'1
92. That they, etc. The plural follows loosely as representing the collection ot individual rivers.
lb. Their continents, the banks that contain them, or hold them in.
95. His, is the old possession of it as well as of he. The form its first found in a book issued in 1598. Does not occur in the Bible of 1611, or in Spenser, but rarely in Shakespeare, only thrice in Milton, and is not common till Dryden.
98. Nine men's morris. A rustic game, which is still extant in some parts of England, so called from the counters (Fr. merelles) with which it is played. It is described by James in the Variorum Shakespeare as follows : " In that part of Warwickshire where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighboring parts of North- amptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It con- sists of a square, sometimes only a foot diameter, sometimes three or four yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel to the external square ; and these squares are joined by lines drawn from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move in such a manner as to taite up each other's men, as they are called, and the area of the inner square is called the pound, in which the men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country people called Nine Men's Morris, or Merrils; and are so called because each party has nine men. These figures are always cut upon the green turf or leys, as they are called, or upon the grass at the end of plowed lands, and in rainy seasons never tail to be choked up with mud.1'
101. Human mortals. Titania speaks as a fairy.
lb. Want, lack, are without.
103. Therefore, because of our quarrel.
106. This distemperature, this disturbance between Oberon and Titania.
109. Hiems'. So Love's Labor's Lost, v. 2. 901 : " This side is Hiems, Winter."
112. Childing autumn, autumn that brings forth the products of the year.
113. Mazed, bewildered, thrown into confusion.
121. Henchman, a page. The word is of uncertain origin. Skeat says it is almost certain that the right etymology is M.E. hengest, a horse, and E. man.
123. Votaress, one that had taken vows.
124. Spiced, laden with spices, balmy.
127. The embarked traders on the flood, the merchants em- barked upon the sea.
104 NOTES. [act ii.
135. Intend you stay. " To1' is frequently omitted in such con- structions.
145, etc. The reference in this passage is supposed to be to Mary Queen of Scots and to Elizabeth.
147. On a dolphin's back, like Arion, who charmed the fish with his song and was saved from drowning.
149. Civil, softened and as it were civilized by the refining in- fluence of music.
157. As, as if.
158. Might, could, was able.
165. Love-in-idleness is one of the names given to the pansy or heartsease.
171. The leviathan. The margins of the Bibles in Shakespeare's day explained leviathan as a whale, and so no doubt he thought it.
172. To " put a girdle round about the earth " was a common ex- pression for making a voyage round the world.
189. Wood, mad, raging ; A.S. wdd ; Sc. 7vod, or -wud.
211. Impeach, bring into question, expose to reproach.
217. Your virtue is my privilege : for that, etc. Your virtue is my protection, because it is not, etc. This is the reading of the early copies.
221. In my respect, in my regard or estimation.
224. In the brakes, in the thickets.
228. Apollo, in love with the unwilling Daphne, pursued her, and was on the point of overtaking her, when the nymph was turned into a laurel tree.
229. The griffin, a fabulous creature, half beast, half bird of prey ; now, like the unicorn, only known in the zoology of her- aldry.
230. Bootless, profitless, worthless: from A.S. bdt, profit, ad- vantage.
232. I will not stay thy questions, I will not wait to talk with thee.
241. Upon the hand, comes to be nearly equivalent to "by the hand," while with this is combined the idea of local nearness to the beloved object which is contained in the ordinary meaning of " upon.1'
247. Grows, attracted into the singular by the nearer subject " violet."
248. Woodbine. Old spelling -woodbynd — so called because it winds about and binds trees.
249. Eglantine, the sweet briar.
253. Weed, dress, garment ; A.S. weed. " Widow's weeds." 263. Fond, doting.
sc. ii.] NOTES. 105
Scene II.
1. A roundel, like "round,'1 and "roundelay,11 signifies both a circular dance, and a part song or catch.
4. Some war, etc. " War" is imperative, " let some war,'1 etc.
Id. Rere-mice, bats ; A.S. hrere-mtis, from hreran, to stir, agi- tate, and so equivalent to the old name " flittermouse.11
7. Quaint, fine, delicate.
9. Double, forked, cloven.
ir. Newts, lizards. " A newt 11 is an evet or eft (A.S. efete), the " n11 of the article having become attached to the following word as in " nonce,11 " noumpere1' = umpire, and others. In "adder1' the opposite process has taken place, and "a nadder1' (A. S. na>ddre) has become " an adder1' ; so " an auger" is really " a nauger" (A.S. nafegdr).
13. Philomel, or Philomela, the daughter of Pandion, was transformed into a nightingale and lamented her sad fate in the plaintive notes of the bird which bears her name.
29. Ounce ; Felis uncia an animal resembling the leopard, but much smaller.
30. Pard, panther or leopard.
4t. One troth, one faith or trust, pledged to each other in be- trothal.
44. Take the sense, sweet, of my innocence, understand my innocent meaning.
53. Beshrew is used in asseverations to give emphasis, or as here for a mild oath, a " mischief on,11 " evil befaii."
57-60. In human modesty . . . distant. The sense is clear though the syntax is imperfect ; " in human modesty (let there be) such separation," etc., and " So far be distant " is merely a repeti- tion of the same thing.
67. Approve, prove, test, try.
74. Dank, damp, wet.
77. Churl, a peasant, boor (A.S. ceorl) ; and hence one of rough and rude manners.
78. Owe, own, possess. 85. Darkling, in the dark.
96. As a monster, in apposition with " my presence." 98. Sphery, starlike. " Sphere" is used by Shakespeare to de- note first the orbit in which a star moves, and then the star itself.
117. Ripe not, grow not ripe, ripen not.
118. Touching now the point of human skill, having reached the height of discernment possible to man.
153. Of all loves ! bv everything that is loving I entreat you.
io6 NOTES. [act hi.
ACT III.
Scene I.
2. Pat, pat, just, exactly. 4. Hawthorn-brake, thicket of hawthorns.
8. Bully, a term of familiarity addressed Ky his companions to a jolly blustering fellow.
13. By'r lakin, by our ladykin, or little lady. lb. Parlous, perilous, dangerous.
15. When all is done, after al!.
16. Not a whit. This is a redundant expression, since ,: not " itself is a contraction of ndiviki, or naivhit.
20. More better. This double comparative was common in Shakespeare's time, and is suitable to Bottom as being rather ex- aggerated language, and not because it was thought ungrammat- ical.
24. In eight and six, that is, in alternate verses of eight and six syllables each ; the common ballad meter.
27. Afeard, afraid : though here a provincialism appropriate to rustics, the word was otherwise in good use.
39. Defect, for " effect.'1 Bottom's blunders are generally very intelligible.
43. It were pity of my life, it were a sad thing for my life, that is, for me.
47. There is two. Here the singular verb precedes the plural subject, the subject being as yet future, and as it were unsettled. Abbott, § 335.
61. Present, act the part of.
76. Cue, a player's word ; from Fr. queue, a tail. It technically denotes the last words of a speech which give the next speaker the hint when to begin. Hence it signifies generally the part an actor has to perform.
80. A play toward, or ready to be acted.
118. You see an ass-head of your own. BoUom indulges in what appears to have been a piece of familiar banter of the time, without knowing how much it affected himself.
i2i. Translated, transformed.
127. The ousel-cock, the male blackbird. In the quartos and folios it is spelt " woosell," or " woosel," and is probably the same as Fr. oiseau, of which the old form was oisel.
134. Plain-song cuckoo, so called from his monotonous note. The plain-song was the simple melody on which variations were made.
137. Would set his wit to so foolish a bird, would match his wit against a cuckoo's.
sc. ii.] NOTES. 107
149. Gleek, jest, scoff.
158. Still, ever, constantly.
169. Apricocks, the earlier and more correct spelling of "apri- cots." The word has a curious history. In Latin the fruit was called praecoqua, or praecocia, from being early ripe. Hence in Arabic it became barquq, or bz'rquq, and with the article al-barquq, or al-birquq, Spanish, albarcoque, French, abricot, and English, abricot, abrtcoct, apricock, or apricot.
lb. Dewberries, the fruit of the dewberry bush or blue bramble, of which the botanical name is Rubus caesius.
174. To have my love to bed and to arise, to conduct him to his bed and to attend him when he rises.
185. I shall desire you of more acquaintance. The same construction is found in the Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. 402 : —
" I humbly do desire your grace of pardon."
186. If I cut my finger, a cobweb being sometimes used to stanch blood.
190. Squash, an unripe peascod.
196. Your patience, your endurance, what you have endured.
Scene II.
3. In extremity, in the highest degree, to the utmost, exces- sively.
5. Night-rule, night-order, revelry, or diversion.
7. Close, secret, private, retired.
9. Patches, fools, foolish fellows ; used as a familiarly contempt- uous term.
lb. Mechanicals, mechanics, artisans.
14. Who Pyramus presented, played the part of Pyramus.
Nowl, a grotesque word for head, like pate, noddle. The hnoll, knoll, the top of anything, is the same word.
19. Mimic, actor, player.
21. Russet-patted. I have not hesitated to adopt Mr. Bennett's suggestion (Zoological Journal, v. 496), communicated to me by Professor Newton, to substitute "russet-patted," or red-legged (Fr. a pattes rousses). for the old reading " russet-pated,11 which is untrue as a description of the chough (a bird closely allied to the jackdaw, but slighter, and more elegant in shape), for it has a russet-colored bill and feet but a perfectly black head.
25. At our stamp, at hearing the footsteps of the fairies, which were powerful enough to " rock the ground " : see iv. 1. 88.
41. Close, so as to be unobserved.
62. What's this to my Lysander ? what has this to do with him ?
68. Once, for once.
a!
108 NOTES. [act IIL
lb. Tell true, speak truth.
71. A worm, a serpent. Compare Antony and Cleopatra, v. 2.
243:—
" Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, That kills and pains not ?" 74. A mispris'd mood, a mistaken humor or caprice ; a temper of mind arising- from a mistake. 78. Therefor, for that, thereby.
87. Tender, offer; keeping up the figure of debt and payment in the previous lines. 93. Confounding oath on oath, breaking one oath after another.
96. Cheer, countenance; Fr. chere, Ital. ciera, or cera.
97. Sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear. " Costs11 is here attracted into the singular by the word " love," which comes between it and its subject.
101. The Tartar's bow. Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Bk. II. xiv. 11, reads, " Yet certain it is that words, as a Tartar's bow, do shoot back upon the understanding of the wisest.'1 The Tartars were famous for their skill in archery, like the ancient Parthians.
114. Their fond pageant, the foolish spectacle they present.
119. Sport alone, to which nothing can be compared.
129. When truth kills truth. If Lysander's present protesta- tions are true, they destroy the truth of his former vows to Hermia, and the contest between these two truths, which in themselves are holy, must in the issue be devilish and end in the destruction of both.
133. As light as tales, or idle words.
141. Taurus, a lofty range of mountains in Asia Minor.
150. Join in souls, combine heart and soul, join heartily.
169. I will none, will none of her, desire her not.
175. Aby it, pay for it, atone for it.
188. Oes, circles, orbs. Circular disks of metal which were used for ornaments were called " oes.1'
195. Injurious, insulting.
203. Two artificial gods, two gods exercising their creative skill in art ; in this case the art of embroidery.
213. Two of the first, like coats in heraldry. Shakespeare borrows the language of heraldry, in which, when a tincture has been once mentioned in the description of a coat of arms, it is al- ways afterwards referred to according to the order in which it occurs in the description ; and a charge is accordingly said to be " of the first,'1 " of the second," etc., if its tincture be the same as that of the field which is always mentioned first, or as that of the second or any other that has been specified. Hence Douce's ex- planation is the correct one : " Helen says, ' we had two seeming bodies but only one heart.' She then exemplifies her position by
sc. ii.] NOTES. 109
a simile — 'we had two of the first, i.e., bodies, like the double coats in heraldry that belong to man and wife as one person, but which, like our single heart, have but one crest.' "
215. Rent, the old form of " rend.'1
239. Hold the sweet jest up, keep it going, carry it on.
242. Such an argument, a subject for such merriment.
257. Ethio'p. Hermia was a brunette.
274. Erewhile, a short time since, just now.
282. Juggler, a trisyllable.
lb. Canker-blossom is generally taken to mean a blossom eaten by a canker, having a show of fairness but hollow within. But it is probably a compound formed like " kill-courtesy'" (ii. 2. 77), "kill-joy,'1 and is equivalent to " blossom-cankerer" ; Hermia comparing Helena to a canker that has stealthily eaten into, and destroyed, Lysander's love for her.
296. Thou painted maypole. Stow, in his Survey of London (ed. Thorns, p. 54), gives an account of the great maypole in Corn- hill, which when set up on the south side of the church of St. An- drew Undershaft, was higher than the church steeple.
300. Curst, spiteful, mischievous; used of a woman who is a scold.
302. A right maid, a true maid.
314. So, provided that.
323. Shrewd, mischievous, especially with the tongue. See ii. 1. 33, and Much Ado about Nothing, ii. 1. 20 : " Thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.1'
324. Vixen, properly a she-fox ; hence applied to an ill-tempered spiteful woman. The form of the word is especially interesting as being an instance in which the feminine termination -en has been preserved.
329. Minimus, smallest thing.
lb. Hindering knot-grass. The common knot-grass {polygo- num aviculare) was formerly believed to have the power of check- ing the growth of children.
330. You bead. As beads were generally black, there is a refer- ence here to Hermia's complexion as well as to her size.
333. Intend, pretend. Demetrius does not think Lysander in earnest.
33.3. Cheek by jole, side by side, close together, as the cheek to the jole or jaw. " Jole" is from A.S. ceafl.
339. Coil, disturbance, turmoil.
lb. 'Long of you, owing to you.
352. Sort, turn out, result.
353. As, inasmuch as.
356. Welkin, sky; A.S. auolcen, cloud.
no NOTES. [act iv.
357. Acheron, the river of hell in classical mythology, supposed by Shakespeare to be a pit or lake. 359. As, that. 367. Virtuous property, healthful, beneficial quality."
379. Night's swift dragons. The chariot of night was drawn by dragons. Compare Cymbeline, ii. 2, 48 : —
" Swilt, swift, you dragons of the night P1
380. Aurora's harbinger, the morning star. A harbinger orig- inally was one who provided lodgings for a man of rank — from H. G. hereberga, a camp, lodging.
383. The bodies of those who had committed suicide were buried in cross ways, with a stake driven through them.
lb. Floods, rivers; or perhaps any large bodies of water as op- posed to land.
389. The morning's love. Cephalus, with whom Oberon had hunted.
402. Drawn, that is, with sword drawn.
421. Ho, ho, ho ! A taunting cry, which, according to Ritson in his note on the passage, is uttered by Puck as his usual exclama- tion, having forgotten the part he was assuming.
422. Abide me, wait for me, that we may encounter.
432. Shine comforts, cause comforts to shine.
433. That I may back. For the omission of the verb of motion before " to" or an adverb of direction, see ii. 1. 143, and iv. 1. 23: " I must to the barber's, mounsieur."
441. Females. This word has in Shakespeare its natural sense, and never means a woman specially, as often vulgarly used now.
461. Jack and Jill, as generic names for a man and a woman, are of great antiquity.
ACT IV. Scene I.
1. Johnson remarks, " I see no reason why the fourth Act should begin here, when there seems no interruption of the action."
2. Coy, coax, caress.
19. Neaf, fist; spelt in the quartos and first folios " neafe" : corrupted in the later folios to " newfe," "newse," and finally " news."
20. Leave your courtesy ; that is, put on your hat, be covered. 23. Cobweb. Grey says, "Without doubt it should be Cavalero
Peaseblossom ; as for cavalero Cobweb, he had just been dis- patched upon a perilous adventure." 35. A bottle of hay, a bundle or truss of hay. The common
sc. i.] NOTES. in
proverb is well known of the search for anything hard to find, that it is like looking for a needle in a bottle of hay.
41. Exposition, for k> disposition."
43. Be all ways away, disperse yourselves in every direction.
45. The female ivy, so called because it is, as it were, married to the elm ; as Catullus says of the vine, lxii. 54 : — " Uhno conjuncta marito."
53. Rounded, encircled.
56. Orient pearls, bright, shining pearls. The epithet appears to be originally applied to the pearl and other gems as coming from the orient or east, and to have acquired the general sense of bright and shining from the objects which it most commonly ae- scribes.
69. May all, that is, they may all, etc.
75. Dian's bud, if it has a botanical existence at all, may be the bud of the Agnus castus, or Chaste Tree, of which it is said in Macer's Herball, " The vertue of this herbe is, that he wyll kepe man and woman chaste." But it is more probably a product of Shakespeare's imagination, which had already endued " Cupid's flower," the heart's ease, with qualities not recognized in botany.
84. The sense of all these five sleepers.
88. Rock the ground, like a cradle.
89. Are new in amity, are again friends. It is difficult to say whether " new" is here an adjective or adverb. Probably the lat- ter.
92. Posterity. The first quarto has prosperity, which reading is favored by ii. 1. 73, above.
106. Our observation. The "observance to a morn of May," spoken of in i. 1. 167.
107. The vaward, the vanguard (Fr. avantgarde), or advanced guard of an army, and hence, the early part of the day.
114. Hercules, the son of Zeus and Alcmena, celebrated for his strength ; Cadmus, the first to introduce alphabetic writing among the Greeks.
115. They bay'd the bear. According to Pliny (viii. 83), there were neither bears nor boars in the island. We may therefore leave the natural history to adjust itself, as well as the chronology which brings Cadmus with Hercules and Hippolyta into the hunt- ing field together. To " bay," which signifies to bark, or bark at, is used technically for " to bring to bay," that is, to drive the ani- mal pursued to turn upon his pursuers.
116. Hounds of Sparta. The Spartan hounds were celebrated for their swiftness, and their quickness of scent.
117. Chiding, used of noise simply.
122. So flew'd. The flews of a hound are the large overhang- ing chaps. lb. So sanded, of such a sandy color.
H2 NOTES. [act iv.
125. Mouth, used of the bark of a dog.
147. To sleep, etc. For the omission of "as"' after "so" see Abbott, § 281.
148. Amazedly, confusedly ; in a state of astonishment or con- fusion of mind.
155. Without, beyond the reach of.
156. You have enough, that is, you have enough evidence to convict him by his own confession.
166. I wot not, I know not. See iii. 2. 422. " Wot" is properly a preterite (A.S. wdty from ivitan, to know), and is used as a pres- ent.
T75. Like in sickness, like as one sick, Schmidt expla
184. For, because.
lb. "Worn, exhausted, consumed, wasted.
193. Like a jewel, as one finds a jewel which does not belong to him.
198. Yea here is the answer to a question framed in the nega- tive, contrary to the rule laid down by Sir Thomas More, accord- ing to which it should be " yes."
209. Go about, endeavor.
212. A patched fool, a motley fool, a pied ninny ; so called from the parti-colored dress worn by jesters.
218. At her death; that is, at Thisbe's death : for, though Thisbe is not mentioned, Bottom's head is full of the play.
Scene II.
4. Transported, transformed, transfigured ; in Starveling's lan- guage this is equivalent to " translated " in iii. i, 121.
5-?. It goes not forward, does not go on, take place.
14. A thing of naught, a naughty, wicked thing.
17. We had all been made men, our fortunes had all been made.
27. Courageous. It is not worth while to guess what Quince intended to say. He used the first long word that occurred to him without reference to its meaning, a practice not yet altogether extinct.
31. Right, exactly.
35. Good strings to your beards, to tie the false beards on with.
38. Preferred, offered for acceptance— if Bottom's words have a meaning, which is not always certain.
sc. i.] NOTES. 113
ACT V.
Scene I.
2. May, can.
3. Toys, trifles.
4. Such seething brains, such hot boiling brains, full of wild imaginations.
5. That apprehend, etc., that slightly catch at, as it were, or conceive the idea of more than reason can ever fully grasp or con- tain.
8. Compact, formed, composed ; literally, fastened or knit to- gether.
11. A brow of Egypt, a swarthy brow, like a gipsy's.
26. Constancy, consistency, reality.
27. Howsoever, nevertheless, in any case.
lb. Admirable, to be wondered at ; its etymological meaning.
35. Our after-supper, or rear-supper ; not the time after supper, as it is usually explained, but a banquet so called which was taken after the meal.
39. Philostrate, the master of the revels.
41. Abridgment, an entertainment to make the time pass quickly. Used in Hamlet, ii. 2, 439, in a double sense, the entry of the players cutting short Hamlet's talk : " For look, where my abridgment comes."
43. The lazy time, which moves so slowly, and in which we are idle.
44. A brief, a short statement, containing the programme of the performance.
46. The Centaurs (bull-killers), an ancient race of fierce men inhabiting Mt. Pelion in Thessaly; in later accounts, pictured as half-horses and half-men.
54. The thrice three Muses, etc. Warton suggested "that Shakespeare here perhaps alluded to Spenser's poem, entited The Tears of the Muses, on the neglect and contempt of learning." It was supposed by Knight that the death of Greene may be here referred to, which took place in 1592.
56. Critical, censorious ; as Iago says of himself in Othello, ii. 1, 120: " For I am nothing, if not critical."
57. Not sorting with, or agreeing with, not befitting.
71. Made mine eyes water. We must supply "it" as the nominative ; that is, the seeing of the play rehearsed.
86. Simpleness, simplicity, innocence.
97. Clerks, scholars, learned men ; learning having been at one time almost confined to the clergy.
109. To my capacity, so far as I am able to understand.
ii4 NOTES. [act v.
in. Address'd, ready, prepared.
122. Doth not stand upon points, is not very particular, with a reference to his not minding his stops.
127. A recorder, a kind of flageolet, or flute with a mouthpiece.
134. Certain. A most convenient word for filling up a line and at the same time conveying no meaning.
141. Think no scorn, not disdain.
143. Hight, was called ; here used as an intentional archaism. It was in common use in old writers, and is equivalent to the Germ. heissen ; A.S. hdtan ; Goth, hattan.
146. Fall, let fall.
150, 151. Shakespeare ridicules the alliteration which the poetas- ters of his day affected. It was an exaggeration of the principle upon which Anglo-Saxon verse was constructed.
166. Sinister, left; used by Snout for two reasons; first, be- cause it is a long word, and then because it gives a sort of rhyme to " whisper."
200. Limander. Johnson has pointed out that Limander and Helen are blunders for Leander and Hero, as Shafalus and Procrus are for Cephalus and Procris.
207. 'Tide life, 'tide death, whether life or death betide.
210. Now is the mural down. If there were any evidence for the existence of such a word as " mural " used as a substantive, it would be but pedantic and affected and so unsuited to Theseus. Having regard therefore to the double occurrence of the word "wall" in the previous speech and its repetition by Demetrius, Theseus may have said, " Now is the wall down between the two neighbors," just as Bottom says later on, " The wall is down that parted their fathers."
248. The greatest error of all the rest. Compare the often- quoted lines of Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 323, 4 : —
" Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."
252. It is already in snuff. Demetrius as a professed joker quibbles upon the word "snuff." " To take in snuff" is to take offense ; and " to be in snuff" is to be offended.
272. Moused, torn in pieces ; as a cat tears a mouse.
288. Thrum is the loose end of a weaver's warp, and is used of any coarse yarn.
289. Quell, destroy; A.S. cwellan. In Macbeth, i. 7, 72.it is used as a substantive for " murder."
297. Confound, destroy, ruin.
309. Die, but an ace, an allusion to the spots on dice.
339. Sisters three, the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atro- pos, who overrule the lives of men.
343. Shore, for "shorn." The rhyme is too much for Thisbe's grammar.
sc. i.] NOTES. 115
347. Imbrue, make bloody, stain with blood.
356. A Bergomask dance. Hanmer explains this "as a dance after the manner of the peasants of Bergomasco, a country of Italy, belonging to the Venetians. All the buffoons in Italy affect to imitate the ridiculous jargon of that people, and from thence it be- came a custom to mimic also their manner of dancing." If we substitute Bergamo for Bergomasco his explanation is correct.
364. Discharged, performed.
370. Palpable-gross, the grossness or roughness of which is palpable.
371. The heavy gait, or slow progress. " Gait " is now used of the manner of walking.
377. Fordone, exhausted.
387. The triple Hecate's team. Hecate was Selene, or Luna, in heaven ; Artemis, or Diana, on earth ; Persephone, or Proser- pine, in the lower world. She is therefore represented with three bodies and three heads.
390. Frolic, merry.
393. To sweep the dust behind the door, where it would be likely to escape notice. Robin Goodfellow was believed to help good housemaids in their work, and to punish those who were sluttish.
399. Dance it. For "it "used indefinitely as the object of a verb, without any antecedent, see Abbott, § 226.
403, 407. The blessing of the bridal bed was one of the ancient ceremonies of marriage.
412. The blots of Nature's hand, like the " vicious mole of nature" (Hamlet, i. 4, 24), were attributed to malignant fairies.
415. Prodigious, monstrous, portentous.
418. Consecrate, consecrated, sacred. This form of participle in words derived from the Latin is of frequent occurrence.
419. Take his gait, take his way or course.
436. If we 'scape the serpent's tongue, that is, without being hissed.
440. Give me your hands, that is, applaud by clapping. Com- pare All's Well that Ends Well, v. 3, 340 : —
" Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts."
EXAMINATION PAPERS.
A.
i. Whence did Shakespeare derive the materials for his Mid- summer-Nighfs Dream ?
2. Give an account of the supernatural machinery and action in the play.
3. Give some account of the early editions of this play, discuss their comparative values, and show how much each has contrib- uted to the received text.
4. Illustrate from this play that some words were accented in Shakespeare's time nearer the beginning, and others nearer the end, than in modern usage.
5. Give an etymological account of the following words : Pert, gossip, mew^d, aby, apricocks, hobgoblin, and dotvager.
6. Illustrate Shakespeare's knowledge of field-flowers from the present play.
7 Explain the following words and phrases: Abridgment, coil, bottle, canker-blossom, Bergomask, gleek, ousel, nine men's morris, lode-star, plain-song, thrum, and knot-grass.
8. Explain the allusions in the following passages : —
(a) For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ;
At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards. — Act III. ii. 379-382.
(b) So we grew together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted ; But yet a union in partition.
Two lovely berries molded on one stem ; So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart ; Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
— Act III. ii. 209-214. (r) The cowslips tall her pensioners be :
In their gold coats spots you see. — Act II. i. 10-11.
(d) Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase. — Act II. i. 228.
(e) We'.l, we will have such a prologue : and it shall be writ-
ten in eight and six. — Act III. i. 23-24.
Il6
EXAMINATION PAPERS. 117
(f) I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear With hounds of Sparta.— Act IV. i. 114-116. 9. Scan the following lines : —
(a) How now, spirit ! whither wander you ? — Act II. i. 1.
(b) I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere. — Act II. i. 6-7.
(c) 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, this kill-courtesy.— Act II. ii. 71-76.
B.
1. Discuss the question of the date of the play, and give any historical evidence you can for your conclusion.
2. How has Shakespeare modified our ideas of the fairy world ?
3. What use is made of rhyme in this play ? Give a general ac- count of Shakespeare's use of rhyme in his development as a dramatic poet.
4. Explain the following words and phrases : Welkin, murrain, margent, buskined, by''?- lakin, darkling, dtike, cue, fancy, pro- digious, present, ounce, orbs, newts, night-rule, knacks, fordone, quern, thing of naught, gawds, gait, owe, pat.
5. Give some examples from our play of grammatical licenses in Elizabethan usage not now allowable.
6. Give the etymology of Puck, quern, brazul, livery, hight, neeze, newt, rere-mice, henchman, orange-tawny.
7. Explain any grammatical point worth noticing in the follow- ing passages : —
(a) Ere I will yield my virgin patent up Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.— Act I. i. 80-82.
(b) I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia. — Act I. i. 104. (V) By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke. — Act I. i. 175-176.
(d) And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities. — Act I. i. 230-231.
(e) You were best to call them generally. — Act I. ii. 2. if) An I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too.
—Act I. ii. 53-54. (g) How long within this wood intend you stay ? — Act II. i. 135. (/?) Thou shalt not from this grove. — Act II. i. 143.
n8 EXAMINATION PAPERS.
(i) ril follow thee, and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the hand I love so well.— Act II. i. 240-241. (J) But there is two hard things. — Act III. i. 47-48. (£) This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name.— Act. V. i. 143. 8. Add notes to the following passages : —
(a) Thus hath he lost sixpence a day during his life ; he could
not have 'scaped sixpence a day. — Act IV. ii. 19-20.
(b) The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. — Act V. i. 50-51. (<:) Whereat with blade, with bloody, blameful blade, He bravely broacrTd his boiling, bloody breast.
— Act V. i. 150-151. (d) He for a man, God warrant us ; she for a woman, God bless us. — Act V. i. 322-323.
1. At what period of Shakespeare's dramatic life was the present play written ? Discuss the question fully, arguing from metrical considerations alone.
2. Contrast A Midsummer-Night' 's Dream with the Tempest as regards motive and meaning. Compare the human figures in either play.
3. Explain the following words and phrases: Needs, pageant, patches, pelting, marry, make all split, holding no quantity, im- peach, pensioners, momentany, pard, minimus, man-in-the-moon, lob, griffin, harbinger, how chanre, grisly, flewe 'd, sanded, self- affairs, sinister, squash, mermaid, russet-patted choughs, hench- man, tailor, square, in snuff.
4. Give a historical account of the plural inflections in English nouns.
5. Give examples from the present play of double negatives, double comparatives, adjectives used substantively.
6. Give instances from the play of Shakespeare's play on words.
7. Paraphrase the following passages : —
(a) To you your father should be as a god ;
One that composM 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. — Act I. i. 47 51.
(b) Our sport shall be to take what they mistake : And what poor duty cannot do, but would,
Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. — Act V i. 94-96.
8. Discuss the criticism of the plot offered in Hippolyta's words, V. i. 23-27.
EXAMINATION PAPERS. 119
D.
1. What metrical tests would you apply to Shakespeare's dra- matic work to determine its period ?
2. Give Mr. Daniel's " time-analysis11 of the play, and point out any inaccuracies of time or inconsistencies in the action you may have observed.
3. Explain the following words and phrases : Latched, throstle, tide, toward, vaward, votaress, trace, sphery, beshrew, spotted, scrip, ringlets, rheumatic, recorder, properties, periods, noivl, mew, mural, jangling, grimloo/Sd, earthlier happy, eight and six, brow of Egypt, eke, dewberries, continents, curst, collied, cheer, bully, barm, Acheron, weeds.
4. Give a historical account of the words vixen, eyne, its, and spinster.
5. Add notes to the following passages : —
(a) 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. — Act I. i. 41-45. (3) Marry, our play is — The most lamentable Comedy, and most cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby. — Act I. ii. n-13.
(c) Nay, faith, let not me play a woman ; I have a beard com-
ing.— Act I. ii. 49-50.
(d) What beard were I best to play it in ?— Act I. ii. 91-92.
(e) Bottom. I have a reasonable good ear in music. — Act IV.
i. 29.
6. How are the following words and phrases used : Withering, companion, between, spleen, scrip, properties, Cupid'1 s strongest bow, the false Trojan, Cupid painted blind, to tear a cat in, hold or cut bowstrings, Centaurs, triple Hecate.
7. Discuss the question of the representation of the Midsummer- Night's Dream on the stage.
8. Some of the most commonly quoted passages of Shakespeare occur in this play. Give as many of these as you remember.
French Course.
By Professor Jean Gustave Retctet,»
A. Child's Illustrated First Book in FretifcJtto
168 pages. 12mo.
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and Practical French Grammar. 12mo. (For Teachers oniy.*
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Grammaire Francaise Moderne, Theoriq *es
Analytique et Pratique. Grammaire particulierement ues- tinee a l'usage des Ecoles Americaines. Preparee et arrangee d'apres les meilleurs ouvrages modernes, par Victor Al- vergnat. Prof esseur de Langue Francaise. 1 vol., 3U6 paces. \2mo, cloth.
KeeteW French Course, in whole or in part, are in use in the Uhaea States Military Academy, West Point; United States Naval School, Annapolis ; Yale College, Amherst College, Bowdoin College, and %n nearly all the Colleges East, Wed, and South. In the Boston. Chicago, Baltimore High Schools and nearly all the High Schools of the „juntry where French is taught. Also in most of the principal Female Colleges ami Ladies'1 Schools of the country.
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A Text-Book on English Literature,
Vith copious extracts from the leading authors, English and American. With full Instructions as to the Method in which these are to be studied. Adapted for use in Colleges, High Schools, Academies, etc. By Brainerd Kellogg, A.M., Professor of the English Language and Literature in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, Author of a " Text-Book or Rhetoric," and one of the Authors of Reed & Kellogg'* *' Graded Lessons in English," and " Higher Lessons in English." Handsomely printed. 12mo. ^8 pp. •JMe Book is divided into the following Periods:
Period I.— Before the Norman Conquest, 670-_.l66. Period ii —From the Conquest to Chaucer's death, 1066-1400. Period III -From Chaucer's death to Elizabeth, 1400-1558. Period IV- j&nzabeth's reign, 1558-1603. Period V.— From Elizabeth's deatii to the Restoration, 1603-1600. Period VI.— From the Restoration to Swift's death, 1660-1745. Period VII.— From Swift's death to tha French Revolution, 1745-1789. ^eriod VIII.— From the French Revolution, 1789, onwards.
Each Period is preceded by a Lesson containing a brief re* tune of the great historical events that hp^e haa somewhat ta 1c in shaping or in coloring the literature or that period.
Extracts, as many and as ample as the limits of a text-bool would allow, have been made from the principal writers of eacl Period. Such are selected as contain the characteristic traits of their authors, both in thought and expression, and but tew o/ these extracts have ever seen the light in books of selections- none of them have been worn threadbare by use, or have lost their freshness by the pupil's familiarity with them in the schoo' readers.
It teaches the pupil how the selections are to be studied, soliciting and exacting his judgment at every step of the way which leads from the author's diction up through his style and thought to the author himself, and in many other ways it places the pupil on the best possible footing with the authors whose acquaintance it is his business, as well as his pleasure, to make.
Short estimates of the leading authors, made by the bes* English and American critics, have been inserted, most of them contemporary with us.
The author has endeavored to make a prectical, common- sense text-book: one that would so educate the student that dc would know and enjoy good literature.
Effingham Maynabd & Co., Publishers,
A Text-Book on Rhetoric:
Supplementing the development of the Science with Ex haustive Practice in Composition. A Course of Prac- tical Lessons adapted for use in High Schools and Academies and in the Lower Classes of Colleges. By Brainerd Kellogg, A.M., Professor of the English language and Literature in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, and one of the authors of Reed & Kellogg's "Graded Lessons in English," and "Higher Lessons in English." etc. 276 pages, 12mo| attractively bound in cloth.
In preparing this work upon Rhetoric, the author's ai^ has been to write a practical text-book for High Schools, Academies, and the lower classes of Colleges, based upon the science rather than an exhaustive treatise upon the science itself.
Phis work has grown up out of the belief that the rhetoric which the pupil needs is not that which lodges finally in the memory, but that which has worked its way down into his tongue and fingers, enabling him to speak and write the better for having studied it. The author be- lieves that the aim of the study should be to put the pupil in possession of an art, and that this can be done not by forcing the science into him through eye and ear, but by drawing it out of him, in products, through tongue and pen. Hence, all explanations of principles are followed by exhau^'vs practice in Composition— to this everything is made trit»" tary.
Wj«d, therefore, under the head of Invention, the author is leading toe pupil up through the construction of sentences and paragraohs, through the analyses of subjects and the preparing of frameworks, to the finding of the thought for themes ; when, under the head of Style, he is familiarizing the pupil with its grand, cardinal qualities; and when, under the head of Productions, he divides discourse into oral prose, written prose, and poetry, and these into their subdivisions, giv- ing the requisites and functions of each— he is aiming in it all to keep 'sight of the fact that the pupil is to acquire an art, and that to attain this he must put into almost endless practice with his pen what he has learned from the study of the theory.
"Kellogg's Rhetoric is evidently the fruit of scholarship and large experience. Nothing is sacrificed to show; the book is intended fot use, and the abundance of examples, together with the explicit and well-ordered directions for practice upon them, will constitute one of lis chief merits in the eyes of the thorough teacher."— Prof. Albert *>. Cook, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md»
Effingham Maynard & Co., Publishers,
A Treatise on Physiology and Hygiene.
For educational Institutions and the General Reader. By Joseph C. Hutchison, M.D., President of the New York Pathological So- ciety; Vice-President of the New York Academy of Medicine ; Surgeon to the Brooklyn City Hospital ; and late President of the Medical Society of the State of New York. Fully Illustrated with numerous elegant Engravings. 12mo. 300 pages.
1. The Plan of the Work is to present the leading facts and prin- ciples of human Physiology and Hygiene in language so clear and cons cise as to be readily comprehended by pupils in schools and colleges, as well a^ by general readers not familiar with the subject. 2. The Style is terse and concise, yet intelligible and clear ; and all useless technical- ities have been avoided. 3. The Range of Subjects Treated includes those on which it is believed all persons should be informed, and that are proper in a work of this class. 4. The Subject-matter is brought up to date, and includes the results of the most valuable of recent re- searches. Neither subject — Physiology or Hygiene — has been elabor- ated at the expense of the other, but each rather has been accorded its due weight, consideration, and space. 5. The Engravings are numer- ous, of great artistic merit, and are far superior to those in any other work of the kind, among them being two elegant colored plates, one showing the Viscera in Position, the other, the Circulation of the Blood. 6. The Size of the work will commend itself to teachers. It contains about 300 pages, and can therefore be easily completed in one or two school terms.
"This book is one of the very few school-books on these subjects which can be unconditionally recommended. It is accurate, free from needless technicalities, and judicious in the practical advice it gives on Hygienic topics. The illustrations are excellent." — Boston Jour- nal of Chemistry.
"Its matter is judiciously selected, lucidly presented, attractively treated, and pointedly illustrated by memorable facts; and, as to the piates and diagrams, they are not only clear and intelligible to begin- ners, but beautiful specimens of engraving. I do not see that any better presentation of the subject of physiology could be given within the same compass."— Prof. "John Ordronaux, Professor of Physiology in the University of Vermont, and also in the National Medical College, Washington, D. C.
The above work is the most popular work and most widely used text-booi, on these subjects yet published.
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-A Text-Book on Commercial Law.
A Manual of the Fundamental Principles Governing busi- ness Transactions. For the Use of Commercial Col- leges, High Schools and Academies. By Salter S. Clark, Counsellor-at-Law. Reviser of Young's Govern- ment Class-Book. Handsomely printed. 12mo. 300 pp.
The design of the author in this volume has been to pre- sent simply, and compactly, the principles of law affecting the ordinary transactions of commercial life, in the form of a Class- book tor Schools and Commercial Colleges.
The chief aim has been throughout to make it a book practically useful, and one easily taught, understood and re- membered. As subserving those purposes attention may be called to the following features among others:— the use of schemes in graded type, which summarizing a subject impresses it upon the mind through the eye; the summaries of leading rules at different points ; a table of definitions ; the forms of business papers most frequently met with; and the frequent use of examples and cross-references.
The work, is used in nearly all of the leading Commercial Col- leges of the country.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
FromB. F. Moore, A.M., Pres. Southern Business University, Atlanta, Ga. I find the work fully adapted for use in business schools as a text book, on account of its conciseness; also to thd accountant as a book of reference on points of commercial law and business forms. It is the most complete and concise work on the subject that I have seen.
Souder's Chicago Business College, Chicago, 111., Aug. 14, 1883. Send to my address, by freight, 200 Clark's Commercial Law.
J. J. SOUDER, Prop'r. Spencerian Business College, Milwaukee, Wis., Aug. 1, 1882. Please forward me, by express, 100 copies Clark's Commercial Law.
R. C. SPENCER, Principal. The B. and S. Davenport Business College, Davenport, Iowa.
Nov. 25, 1882. You may ship us, by freight. 120 Clark's Commercial Law.
LILLIBRIDGE & VALENTINE, Principals. Metropolitan Business College, Chicago, 111., Aug. 8, 1882. Please ship us 150 Clark's Commercial Law.
HOWE & POWERS, Pron'rs. Lawp.ence Business College, Lawrence, Kan., Aug. 25, 1882. Please etna us 100 copies Clark's Commercial Law.
BOOR & McILRAVY, Prop'rs. New Jersey Business College, Newark, N. J., Sept. 22, 1882. Please send us, by express, 60 Clark's Commercial Law.
MILLER & DRAKE, Principals.
CLARK & IVUYNARD, Publishers, New York,
Two-Book Series of Arithmetics.
By James B. Thomson, LL.D., author of a Mathematical Course.
1. FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC, Oral and
Written. Fully and handsomely illustrated. For Primary Schools. 144 pp. 16mo, cloth.
2. A COMPLETE GRADED ARITHMETIC, Oral
and Written, upon the Inductive Method of Instruc- tion. For Schools and Academies. 400 pp. 12mo, cloth.
This entirely new series of Arithmetics by Dr. Thomson has been prepared to meet the demand for a complete course in two books. The following- embrace some of the characteris- tic features of the books:
First Lessons.— This volume is intended for Primary Classes. It is divided into Six Sections, and each Section into Twenty Lessons. These Sections covei' the ground generally required in large cities for promotion from grade to grade.
The book is handsomely illustrated. Oral and slate exercises are combined throughout. Addition and Subtraction are taught in connection, and also Multiplication and Division. This is be- lieved to be in accordance with the best methods of teaching these subjects.
Complete Graded.— This book unites in one volume Oral and Written Arithmetic upon the inductive method cf in- struction. Its aim is twofold : to develop the intellect of the pupil, and to prepare him for the actual business of life. In securing these objects, it takes the most direct road to a practi- cal knowledge of Arithmetic.
The pupil is led by a few simple, appropriate examples to infer for himself the general principles upon which the opera- tions and rules depend, instead of taking them upon the author- ity of the author without explanation. He is thus taught to put the steps of particular solutions into a concise statement, or general formula. This method of developing principles is an important feature.
It has been a cardinal point to make the explanations simple, the steps in the reasoning short and logical, and the definitions and rules brief, clear and comprehensive.
Examples for Practice. Problems for Review, and Test Ques- tions are abundant in number and variety, and all are different from those in the author's Practical Arithmetic.
Teachers and School Officers, who are dissatisfied with the Arithmetics they have in use, are invited to confer with the publishers.
Clark & Maynard, Publishers, New York.
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