For you, in my respect, are all the world:
Then how can it be said, I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?
Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.
Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
Run when you will, the story shall be changed:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger: bootless speed!
When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.
Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go: Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex
We cannot fight for love as men may do;
We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the hand I love so well.
[Exeunt Dem. and Hel. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave
Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love.
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer Puck. Ay, there it is.
Obe. I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lips+ and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,
With sweet musk roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this l'il 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
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.
SCENE III-Another part of the Wood.
Enter TITANIA with her Train.
Tita. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song; Then, for the third part of a minute, hence: Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds; Some, war with rear micet 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.
1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen:
Philomel, with melody,
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lule, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never, harm, nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor snail, do no offence.
Philomel, with melody, &c.
1 Fai. Hence, away; now all is well: One aloof, stand centinel.
[Exeunt Fairies.-Titania sleeps.
Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost wake, [Squeezes the flower on Titania's eye-lids.
Do it for thy true love take;
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
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.
Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.
Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the
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 it so, Lysander: find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear, Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.
Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;
Love 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.
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny;
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
Hier, 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,
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid:
So far be distant: and good night, sweet friend:
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end!
Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say 1;
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.
Puck. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here!
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid.
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dark and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe:
When thou wak'st, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.
So awake, when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.
Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA running.
Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius. Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me
Hel. O, wilt thou darkling + leave me? Do not so. Dem. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go.
[Exit Demetrius. Hel. O, I am out of breath, in this fond chace! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies; For she hath blessed, and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears: If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than 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 11-
But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!
Dead or asleep? I see no blood, no wound :-
Lysander, if you live, good Sir, awake.
Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet [Waking. Transparent Helena! Nature here shews 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.
Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena I love:
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their 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
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,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
O, that a lady, of one man refused,
Should, of another, therefore be abused!
Lys. She sees not Hermia :-Hermia, sleep thou
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,
Of all be hated; but the most of me!
And all my powers, address your love and might,
To honour Helen, and to be her knight!
[Exit. Her. [Starting.] Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best,
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ah me, for pity!-What a dream was here?,
Lysander, look, how I do quake with fear:
Methought, a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey :-
Lysander! What, removed? Lysander! lord!
VOL. 1.
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