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The. I will hear that play :

For never any thing can be amifs
When fimplenefs and duty tender it.

Go bring them in ;—and take your places, ladies.

[Exit PHIL. Hip. I love not to fee wretchedness o'ercharg'd, And duty in his fervice perifhing.

The. Why, gentle sweet, you fhall fee no fuch thing..
Our sport shall be to take what they mistake :.
And what poor duty cannot do,

Noble refpect takes it in might, not merit..
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed-
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have feen them fhiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of fentences,
Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome: Truft me, fweet,
Out of this filence yet I pick'd a welcome;
And in the modefty of fearful duty

I read as much as from the rattling tongue
Of faucy and audacious eloquence.

Love, therefore, and tongue-ty'd fimplicity,
In leaft, fpeak moft, to my capacity.

Re-enter PHILOSTRATE.

Phil. So please your grace, the prologue is addreft. The. Let him approach. [Flour. Trumpets.

Enter the Prologue.

Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will.—
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To fhew our fimple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Confider then we come but in despite-

We do not come, as minding to content you——-
Our true intent is. All for your delight,

We are not here, that you should here repent you,

The actors are at hand ;—and, by their show, You shall know all, that you are like to know. The. This fellow doth not ftand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt; he knows not the ftop. A good moral, my lord: It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologne, like ai

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child on a recorder ;[5] a found, but not in government. The. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all difordered. Who is next?

Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, WALL, MOONSHINE, and LION, as in dumb fhew.

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Prol. Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. 'This man is Pyramus, if you would know : 'This beauteous lady Thisbe is, certain.

This man, with lime and rough-caft, doth present

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• Wall, that vile wall which did thefe lovers funder: And through wall's chink, poor fouls, they are content To whisper; at the which let no man wonder. • This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn, Prefenteth moonfhine: for, if you will know, "By moonshine did thefe lovers think no fcorn To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. 'This grifly beaft, which by name lion hight, The trufty Thisbe, coming first by night, Did fcare away, or rather did affright: 'And as fhe fled, her mantle she did fall; 'Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. 'Anon comes Pyramus, fweet youth and tall, And finds his trufty Thifbe's mantle flain: 'Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,[6] He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breaft; And Thisbe, tarrying in mulberry fhade, 'His dagger drew, and died. For all the reft, 'Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain,

[s] A kind of flute. Shakespeare introduces it in Hamlet, and Milton fays,

"To the found of foft recorders."

STEEV.

[6] Mr. Upton rightly obferves, that Shakespeare in this line ridicules the affectation of beginning many words with the fame letter. He might have remarked the fame of "The raging rocks," &c. Gafcoigne, con temporary with our poet, remarks and blames the fame affectation. JOHN. This alliteration feems to have reached the height of its fashion in the reign of Hen. VIII. The following ftanza is quoted from a poem 'On the Fall and evil Success of Rebellion,' written in 1537, by Wilfride Holme :

"Loe, leprous lurdeins, lubricke in loquacitie,
"Vah, vaporous villeins, with venim vulnerate,
"Proh, prating parenticides, plexious to pinnofitie,
"Fie, frantike fabulators, furibund, and fatuate,
"Out, oblatrant, oblict, obftacle, and obcecate.
"Ah addict algoes, in acerbitie acclamant,
"Magnall in mifchief, malicious to mugilate,
"Repriving your Roy fo renowned and radiant.'

In Tuffer's Hufbandry, page 104, there is a poem, of which every word begins with a T. STEEV

"At large discourse, while here they do remain.'

[Exeunt all but WALL.

The. I wonder if the lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many affes do.

Wall. In this fame interlude, it doth befall, That I, one Snout by name, prefent a wall: And fuch a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink; "Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, 'Did whisper often very fecretly.

This lome, 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 finifter,

"Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.'

The. Would you defire lime and hair to speak better? Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard difcourse, my lord.

The. Pyramus draws near the wall; filence!

Enter PYRAMUS.

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

I fear my Thifbe's promife is forgot!-
And thou, O wall, O fweet, O lovely wall,

That ftand'ft 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 Thisbe do I fee.

'O wicked wall, through whom I fee no blifs;

Curft be thy ftones for thus deceiving me!' The. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, should curse again.

Pyr. No, in truth, fir, he should not. Deceiving me, is Thifbe's cue: fhe is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the wall. You fhall fee it will fall pat as I told you :-yonder fhe comes.

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Enter THISBE.

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

My cherry lips hath often kifs'd thy ftones;

Thy ftones 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 Thisbe's face.
Thifbe!"

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

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Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace ; ◄ And like Limander am I trusty still.'[7]

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

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Pyr. Not Shafalus to Procrus was fo true.'

Thif. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.'

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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 ftraight-
" way?

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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.'

[Exeunt WALL, PYRAMUS, and THISBE. The. Now is the mural down between the two neigh.bours.

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

Hip. This is the fillieft ftuff that ever I heard.

The. The beft in this kind are but shadows; and the worft are no worfe, if the imagination amend them.

Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. The. If we imagine no worfe of them, than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. come two noble beasts in, a moon and a lion.

Enter LION and MOONSHINE.

Here

Lion. You, ladies, you, whofe gentle hearts do fear The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, 'May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. Then know, that I, as Snug the joiner, am A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam:

For if I fhould as lion come in ftrife

Into this place, 'twere pity of my life.'

The. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience. Dem. The very beft at a beaft, my lord, that e'er I saw. Lyf. This lion is a very fox for his valour.

The. True; and a goofe for his discretion.

[7] Limander and Helen are fpoken, by the blundering player, for Leander and Hero. Shafalus and Procrus, for Cephalus and Procris. JOHNS.

Dem. Not fo, my lord, for his valour cannot carry his difcretion; and the fox carries the goofe.

The. 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 liften to the moon. Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present';Dem. He fhould have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invifible within the circumference.

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Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon prefent; < Myfelf the man i' th' moon doth feem to be.'

The. This is the greateft error of all the reft; the man fhould be put into the lantern: how is it elfe the man i' th' moon?

Dem. He dares not come there for the candle; for you fee it is already in fnuff.[8]

Hip. I am weary of this moon: would, he would change! The. It appears, by his fmall light of difcretion, that he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we muft ftay the time.

Lyf. Proceed, moon.

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

Dem. Why, all these fhould be in the lantern; for they are in the moon. But, filence; here comes Thibe. Enter THISBE.

Thif. This is old Ninny's tomb where is my love? Lion. Oh-' [The Lion roars. THISBE runs off. Dem. Well roar'd, lion.

The. Well run, Thisbe.

Hip. Well fhone, moon.-Truly, the moon fhines with a good grace.

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The. Well mous'd, lion.

Dem. And then came Pyramus.

Lyf. And fo the lion vanifh'd.

Enter PYRAMUS.

Pyr. Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy funny beams; I thank thee, moon, for fhining now fo bright:

For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering ftreams,

I truft to tafte of trueft Thifbe's fight.

But stay ;-O fpight!

But mark ;-Poor knight,

[8] An equivocation. Snuff' fignifies both the cinder of a candle, and hafty anger. JOHNS.

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