Bot. I had rather have a handful or two of dried peafe. But, I pray you, let none of your people ftir me, I have an expofition of fleep. come upon me.

Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms; Fairies, be gone, and be a while away: So doth the woodbine, the fweet hony-fuckle, Gently entwift, the female ivy fo Enring, the barky fingers of the elm.

O, how I love thee! how I doat on thee!

Enter Puck.

Ob. Welcome, good Robin; Seeft thou this fweet fight? Her dotage now I do begin to pity; For meeting her of late behind the wood, Seeking fweet favours for this hateful fool, I did upbraid her, and fall out with her; For the his hairy temples then had rounded With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers, And that fame dew which fometime on the buds Was wont to fwell like round and orient pearls, Stood now within the pretty flouriets eyes, Like tears that did their own difgrace bewail. When I had at my pleasure taunted her, And the in mild terms begg'd my patience, I then did ask of her her changeling child, Which ftrait she gave me, and her Fairy fent 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 fcalp From off the head of this Athenian swain ; That he awaking when the others do, May all to Athens back again repair, And think no more of this night's accidents, But as the fierce vexation of a dream. But first I will release the Fairy Queen.

Be as thou waft wont to be;
See as thou waft wont to fee:
Dian's bud, o'er Cupid's flower,
Hath fuch force and blessed power.
Now, my Titania, wake you, my fweet Queen.

Queen

Queen. My Oberon! what vifions have I feen!
Methought I was enamour'd of an afs.
Ob. There lyes your love.

Queen. How came these things to pass?
Oh, how mine eyes do loath this vifage now!
Ob. Silence, a while; Robin, take off his head,
Titania, mufick call, and strike more dead
Than common fleep of all these five the fenfe.

Queen. Mufick, ho! mufick; fuch as charmeth fleep.
Still mufick.

Puck. When thou awak'ft, with thine own fool's eyes
peep.
[me,

Ob. Sound, mufick; come, my Queen, take hand with
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will to-morrow midnight folemnly
Dance in Duke Thefeus' houfe triumphantly,
And blefs it to all far pofterity:
There fhall thefe pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded with Thefeus all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy King, attend and mark, I do hear the morning lark.

Ob. Then, my Queen, in filence fad
Trip we after the night's fhade;"
We the globe can compass foon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord, and in our flight
Tell me how it came this night,
That I fleeping here was found,
With thefe mortals on the ground.

[Sleepers lye fill. [Exeunt. [Wind borns.

SCENE II.

Enter Thefeus, Egeus, Hippolita, and all his train.
The. Go one of you, find out the forefter,
For now our obfervation is perform'd;
And fince we have the vaward of the day,
My love fhall hear the mufick of my hounds,
Uncouple in the western valley, go,

Dispatch, I fay, and find the forefter.

• Meaning the obfervance of the time preferibed for their nuptials.

We

We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the mufical confufion
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the boar
With hounds of Sparta ; never did I hear
Such gallant chiding. For befides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, ev'ry region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So mufical a difcord, fuch fweet thunder,

The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, fo fanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that fweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Theffalian bulls,
Slow in purfuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never hollow'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Theffaly:

Judge when you hear. But foft, what nymphs are thefe?
Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here afleep,
And this Lyfander, this Demetrius,
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena;
I wonder at their being here together.

The. No doubt, they rofe up early to obferve
The Rite of May, and, hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our folemnity,
But fpeak, Egeus, is not this the day
That Hermia fhould give anfwer of her choice?
Ege. It is, my lord.

The. Go, bid the huntfmen wake them with their horas. Horns, and they awake. Shout within, they all fart up. The. Good morrow, friends; Saint Valentine is paft: Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?

Lyf. Pardon, my lord.

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 fo far from jealoufie,
To fleep by hate, and fear no enmity?

Lyf. My lord, I fhall reply amazedly,

Half

*

Half fleep, half waking. But as yet I swear
I cannot truly fay how I came here:
But as I think, (for truly would I speak,)
And now I do methink me, fo it is:
I came with Hermia hither. Our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might
Be without peril of the Athenian law.

Ege. Enough, enough, my lord, you have enough;
beg the law, the law upon his head:

They would have ftol'n away, they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me,
You of your wife, and me of my confent
Of my confent that the fhould 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 follow'd me;
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
But by fome power it is, my love to Hermia
Is melted as the fnow, feems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaude
Which in my childhood I did doat 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 betrothed ere I Hermia faw;
But like a fickness did I loath this food
Yet as in health come to my natural tafte,
Now do I with it, love it, long for it,
And will for evermore be true to it.

The Fair lovers, you are fortunately met
Of this difcourfe we fhall hear more anon.
Egeus, I will over-bear your will,
For in the temple, by and by with us,
Thefe couples fhall eternally be knit;
And, for the morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.
Away with us to Athens, three and three,
We'll hold a feaft in great folemnity.
Come, my Hippolita.

[Exeunt Duke and lords.

Dem.

Dem. These things feem small and undistinguishable,
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.
Her. Methinks I fee these things with parted eye,
When every thing seems double.

Hel. So methinks;

And I have found Demetrius, a jewel,
Mine own, and not mine own.

Dem. It feems to me,

That yet we fleep, we dream. Do not you think
The Duke was here, and bid us follow him?
Her. Yea, and my father.
Hel. And Hippolita.

Lyf. And he bid us follow to the temple.
Dem. Why then we are awake; let's follow him,
And by the way let us recount our dreams. [Exeunt.
[Bottom wakes.

SCENE

III.

Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is, Moft fair Pyramus- -hey ho, Peter Quince! Flute the bellows-mender! Snowt the tinker! Starveling! god's my life! ftol'n hence, and left me afleep. I have had a moft rare vifion. I had a dream paft the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an afs if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was, there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had But man is but a patch'd fool, if he will offer to fay what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not feen; man's hand is not able to tafte, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream; it fhall be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will fing it in the latter end of the play before the Duke: peradventure to make it the more gracious, I fhall fing it after death.

SCENE. IV. ATHEN S.
Enter Quince, Flute, Snowt, and Starveling.
Quin. Have you fent to Bottom's houfe? is he come
home yet?

Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, he is tranfported.

Flute.

7