Wall. In this fame Interlude, it doth befal,
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall: (37)
And fuch a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink;
Through which the lovers, Pyr'mus and This by,
Did whisper often very fecretly.

This loam, this rough-caft, and this ftone doth fhew,
That I am that fame wall; the truth is fo.

And this the cranny is, right and finister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
Thef. Would you defire lime and hair to speak better?
Dem. It is the wittieft partition, that ever I heard
difcourfe, my Lord.

Thef. Pyramus draws near the walf: filence!

Enter Pyramus.

Pyr. Ogrim-look'd night! O night with hue fo black!
O night which ever art, when day is not!
O night, O night, alack, alack, alack.

I fear, my Thibe's promife is forgot.
And thou, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall,

That ftands between her father's ground and mine; Thou wall, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall,

Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne. Thanks, courteous wall; Jove fhield thee well for this But what fee I? no Thisby do I see,

O wicked wall, through whom I fee no bliss;
Curft be thy ftones for thus deceiving me.

Thef. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, fhould curfe again.

Pyr. No, in truth, Sir, he fhould not. Deceiving me, is Thiby's cue; fhe is to enter, and I am to spy her through the wall. You fhall fee, it will fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes.

(37) That I, one Flute by name,] Thus Mr. Pope gives it us, either from the old quarto's, or by accident. But accident, or authority, happens to be wrong in it and we must reftore, Snout, with the od folio's for it appears in the first act, that Flute was to perform Thisbe,

Enter

Enter Thisby.

Thif. O wall, full often haft thou heard my means, For parting my fair Pyramus and me.

My cherry lips have often kifs'd thy ftones;

Thy tones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
Pyr. I fee a voice; now will I to the chink;
To fpy, an I can hear my Thisby's face.

Thifty!

Thif. My love! thou art, my love, I think.

Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace, And like Limander am I trufty ftill.

Thif. And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.

Pyr. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

Thif. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Pyr. O kifs me through the hole of this vile wall. Thif. I kifs the wall's hole, not your lips at all. Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me ftraightway? Thif. Tide life, tide death, I come without delay. Wall. Thus have I Wall my part discharged fo: And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

[Exit. Thef. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

Dem. No remedy, my Lord, when walls are so wilful to hear without warning.

Hip. This is the fillieft ftuff that e'er I heard.

Thef. The best in this kind are but fhadows, and the worst are no worse if imagination amend them.

Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. Thef. If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, they may pafs for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts in a moon and a lion. (38)

(38) Here come two noble beasts in a man and a lion.] I don't think the jeft here is either compleat, or right. It is differently pointed in feveral of the old copies, which, I fufpect, may lead us to the true reading, viz.

Here come two noble beafts,- -in a man and a lion. immediately upon Thefeus saying this, enter Lion and Moonshine. It feems very probable therefore, that our Author wrote

in a moon and a lion.

the one having a crefcent and a lanthorn before him, and reprefenting the man in the moon; the other in a lion's hide,

Enter

Enter Lion and Moonshine. 476

Lion. You, Ladies, you, whofe gentle hearts do fear The smallest monstrous moufe 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 No lion fell, nor elfe no lion's dam : For if I should as lion come in strife

Into this place, 'twere pity of my life.

Thef. A very gentle beaft, and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my Lord, that e'er Haw. Ly. This lion is a very fox for his valour Thef. True; and a goofe for his difcretion. Dem. Not fo, my Lord; for his valour cannot carry his difcretion, and the fox carries the goofe.

Thef. His difcretion, I am fure, cannot carry his valour; for the goofe carries not the fox. It is well: leave it to his difcretion, and let us hearken to the

moon.

Moon. This lanthorn doth the horned moon prefent: Dem. He fhould have worn the horns on his head. Thef. He is no crefcent, and his horns are invifible within the circumference..

Moon. This lanthorn doth the horned moon prefent: Myfelf the man i' th' moon doth feem to be. Thef. This is the greatest error of all the reft; the man fhould be put into the lanthorn: how is it elfe the man i' th' moon?

Dem. He dares not come there for the you fee, it is already in fnuff.

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candle for

Hip. I am weary of this moon; would he would en og bljov change. Thef. It appears by his fmall light of difcretion, that he is in the wane; but yet in courtefy, in all reafon we muft ftay the time,

Ly. Proceed, Moor.

Moon. All that I have to fay, is to tell you that the lanthorn is the moon; I the man in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bufh; and this dog, my dog.

Dem