125. Mouth, used of the bark of a dog. 147. To sleep, etc. For the omission of "as" after "" Abbott, § 281. so" see 148. Amazedly, confusedly; in a state of astonishment or confusion 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. wát, from witan, to know), and is used as a pres ent. 175. Like in sickness, like as one sick, Schmidt expla 184. For, because. Ib. 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 negative, contrary to the rule laid down by Sir Thomas More, according 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 language this is equivalent to "translated in iii. i, 121. 5-6. 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. 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 contain. 8. Compact, formed, composed; literally, fastened or knit together. II. A brow of Egypt, a swarthy brow, like a gipsy's. 26. Constancy, consistency, reality. 27. Howsoever, nevertheless, in any case. Ib. 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. 66 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. III. 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. hátan; Goth. haitan. 146. Fall, let fall. 150, 151. Shakespeare ridicules the alliteration which the poetasters 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, because 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 oftenquoted 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 Atropos, who overrule the lives of men. 343. Shore, for "shorn." The rhyme is too much for Thisbe's grammar. 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 became 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. the manner of walking. 377. Fordone, exhausted. 387. The triple Hecate's team. "Gait" is now used of Hecate was Selene, or Luna, in heaven; Artemis, or Diana, on earth; Persephone, or Proserpine, 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. Compare All's Well that Ends Well, v. 3, 340 Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts." EXAMINATION PAPERS. A. 1. Whence did Shakespeare derive the materials for his Midsummer-Night's 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 contributed 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 dowager. 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:- (6) At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, 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 crownèd with one crest. (c) The cowslips tall her pensioners be: -Act III. ii. 209-214. 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) Well, we will have such a prologue: and it shall be written in eight and six.-Act III. i. 23-24. |