(A time, that lovers' flights doth ftill conceal)
Through Athens' gate have we devis'd to fteal.
Her. And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bofoms of their counfels fweet;
There, my Lyfander and myself shall meet :
And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes,
To feek new friends, and stranger companies.
Farewel, fweet play-fellow: pray thou for us,
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius !
-Keep word, Lyfander: we muft ftarve our fight
From lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight. [Ex. HER.
Lyf. I will, my Hermia.-Helena, adieu :

As you on him, Demetrius dote on you! [Exit Lys,
Hel. How happy fome, o'er other fome, can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as the.
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,
So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things bafe 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 hafte :
And therefore is love faid to be a child,
Because in choice he is fo oft beguil'd.
As waggish boys themselves in game forfwear,
So the boy Love is perjur'd every where:
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths, that he was only mine;
And when this hail fome heat from Hermia felt,
So he diffolv'd, and fhowers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Purfue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense :
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his fight thither and back again.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

A Cottage. Enter QUINCE the Carpenter, SNUG the Joiner, BOTTOM the Weaver, FLUTE the Bellows-Mender, SNOUT the Tinker, and STARVELING the Tailor.[1]

Quin. Is all your company here?

Bot. You were beft to call them generally, man by man, according to the fcrip.

Quin. Here is the scrowl of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and duchefs, on his wedding-day at night.

Bot. Firft, good Peter Quince, fay what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and fo grow on 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 affure you, and a merry.-Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the fcrowl:-Mafters, fpread yourselves.

Quin. Anfwer, as I call you.-Nick Bottom,the weaver. Bot. Ready: Name what part I am for, and proceed. Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are fet down for Pyramus. Bot. What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?

Quin. A lover, that kills himself moft gallantly for love. Bot. That will ask fome tears in the true performing of it If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move ftorms; I will condole in fome measure. To the reft:-Yet, my chief humour 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 thivering fhocks, "Shall break the locks

"Of prison-gates ;

"And Phibbus' car

"Shall fhine from far,

"And make and mar

"The foolish fates."

[1] In this fcene Shakespeare takes advantage of his knowledge of the theatre, to ridicule the prejudices and competitions of the players. Bot tom, who is generally acknowledged the principal actor, declares his inclition to be for a tyrant, for a part of fury, tumult, and noife, fuch as every young man pants to perform when he firft fteps upon the ftage. The fame Bottom, who feems bred in a tiring-room, has another hiftrionical paffion. He is for engroffing every part, and would exclude his inferiors from all poffibility of diftinction. He is therefore defirous to play Pyramus, Thisbe JOHNS.

and the Lion at the fame time.

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.

Qu. You must take Thilby on you.

Flu. What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love.

Flu. Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.

Quin. That's all one; you fhall play it in a mask; and you may speak as fmall as you will.[2]

Bot. An' I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too; I'll speak in a monftrous little voice :-Thifne, Thifne,Ab, Pyramus, my lover dear: thy Thify dear! and lady dear!

Quin. No, no; you must play Pyramus ;-and, Flute, you Thifby.

Bot. Well, proceed.

Quin. Robin Starveling, the tailor.

Star. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother. Tom Snout, the tinker.

Snout. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You, Pyramus's father ;-myself, Thifby's father;-Snug, the joiner, you, the lion's part :—and, I hope, there is a play fitted.

Snug. Have you the lion's part written ? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am flow of study.

Quin. 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 fay, Let him roar again, let him roar again.

Quin. If you fhould do it too terribly, you would

[2] This paffage fhews how the want of women on the old ftage was fupplied. If they had not a young man who could perform the part with a face that might pafs for feminine, the character was acted in a mask, which was at that time a part of a lady's drefs fo much in ufe that it did not give any unusual appearance to the fcene: and he that could modulate his voice in a female tone might play the woman very fuccefsfully. It is obferved in Downe's Memoirs of the Playhouse, that one of these counterfeit heroines moved the paffions more ftrongly than the women that have fince been brought upon the stage. Some of the catastrophes of the old comedies, which make lovers marry the wrong women, are, by recollection of the common ufe of masks, brought nearer to probability. JOHN. VOL. II.

Q

fright the duchefs and the ladies, that they would shriek ; and that were enough to hang us all.

All. That would hang us every mother's fon.

Bot. I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more difcretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice fo, that I will roar you as gently as any fucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.

Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus: for Pyramus is a sweet-fac'd man; a proper man as one shall see in a fummer's day; a moft lovely gentleman-like man ; therefore you must needs play Pyramus.

Bot. Well, I will undertake it. beft to play it in?

Quin. Why, what you will.

What beard were I

Bot. I will discharge it in either your ftraw-coloured beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French crown-coloured beard, your perfect yellow.[3]

Quin. Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-fac'd.-But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request you, and defire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moon-light; there we will rehearse: for if we meet in the city, we fhall be dogg'd 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 obfcenely, and courageously. Take pains; be perfect : adieu.

Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.

Bot. Enough: Hold, or cut bow-ftrings.[5]

[Exe.

[3] Here Bottom again difcovers a true genius for the ftage by his folicitude for propriety of drefs, and his deliberation which beard to choose among many beards, all unnatural. JOHNS.

[4] This proverbial phrafe came originally from the camp. When a rendezvous was appointed, the militia foldiers would frequently make excufe for not keeping word, that their bow-ftrings were broke, i. e. their arms unferviceable. Hence when one would give another abfolute affurance of meeting him, he would fay proverbially, hold, or cut bowftrings'-i. e. whether the bow-ftring held or broke. For 'cut' is used as a neuter, like the verb 'frets. As when we fay, the string frets, the filk frets, for the paffive, it is cut or fretted. WARB.

ACT II. SCENE I.

A Wood. Enter a Fairy at one door, and PUCK (or ROBIN-GOOD-FELLOW) at another.

HOW now, fpirit! whither wander you?

Fai. Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bufh, thorough briar,

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,

I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I ferve the fairy queen,

To dew her orbs upon the green :[6]
The cowflips tall her penfioners be ;[7]
In their gold coats fpots you see ;[8]
Those be rubies, fairy favours :

In those freckles live their favours:

I must go feek fome dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowflip's ear.
Farewel, thou lob of fpirits, I'll be gone;
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

Puck. The king doth keep his revels here to-night;
Take heed, the queen come not within his fight.
For Oberon is paffing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, ftol'n from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling :[9]
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forefts wild :
But she, per-force, withholds the loved boy,

[6] For 'orbs' Dr. Gray is inclined to fubftitute 'herbs.' The orbs here mentioned are the circles fuppofed to be made by the fairies on the ground, whose verdure proceeds from the fairies' care to water them.

[7] The cowflip was a favourite among the fairies. There is a hint in Drayton of their attention to May morning. JOHNS.

[8] In their gold coats fpots you fee, &c.] Shakespeare in Cymbeline, refers to the fame red fpots:

"A mole cinque-fpotted like the crimson drops
I' th' bottom of a cowflip."

PERCY

[9] Changeling' is commonly used for the child fuppofed to be left by the fairies, but here for the child taken away. JOHNS.