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Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of dried pease. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an exposition of sleep

come upon me.

[arms. Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away'.

So doth the woodbine, the sweet honey-suckle,
Gently entwist,-the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.

O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
Oberon advances. Enter Puck.

Ob. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this
sweet sight?

Her dotage now I do begin to pity. For meeting her of late, behind the wood, Seeking sweet savours for this hateful fool, I did upbraid her, and fall out with her: For she his hairy temples then had rounded With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers; And that same dew, which sometime on the buds Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls, Stood now within the pretty flouret's eyes, Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail. When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her, And she, in mild terms, begg'd my patience, I then did ask of her her changeling child; Which strait she gave me, and her fairy sent 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 scalp From off the head of the 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 wast wont to be;

[Touching her eyes with an herb.

See, as thou was wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.

Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
Queen. My Oberon' what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamoured of an ass.

Ob. There lies your love.

Queen. How came these things to pass? Oh, how mine eye doth loath his visage now! Ob. Silence, a while.-Robin, take off this

head.

sleep.

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Titania, musick call; and strike more dead
Than common sleep, of all these five the sense.
Queen. Musick, ho! musick; such as charmeth
[eyes peep.
Puck. When thou awak'st, with thine own fool's 55
Ob. Sound, musick. [Still musick.] Come, my
queen, take hands with me,

And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;

JAnd will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly,
Dance in duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair posterity:
There shall these pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, ail in jollity.

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

Ob. Then, my queen, in silence sad',
Trip we after the night's shade:
We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord; and in our flight,
Tell me how it came this night,
That I sleeping here was found,
With these mortals on the ground. [Exeunt.
[Wind horns within.
Enter Theseus, Egeus, Hippolita, and train.
The. Go, one of you, find out the forester ;-
For now our observation is perform'd':
And since we have the vaward' of the day,
My love shall hear the musick of my hounds.-
Uncouple in the western valley; go:

Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.

We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the musical confusion

Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves, The skies, the fountains, every region near Seem'd all one mutual cry; I never heard So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. [kind, The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan So flewd, so sanded, and their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning dew; Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls; Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, Each under each. A cry more tuneable Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn, In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly: [are these? Judge, when you hear.-But, soft; what nymphs Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep; And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:

I wonder at their being here together.

[serve

The. No doubt, they rose up early, to obThe rite of May; and hearing our intent,

Came here in grace of our solemnity.

But, speak, Egeus; is not this the day

That Hermia should give answer of her choice? Ege. It is, my lord.

The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with

their horns.

Horns, and shout within; Demetrius, Lysander,
Hermia, and Helena, wake and start up.
The. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? [past;

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That is, disperse yourselves. i. e. grave or sober. Meaning, the honours due to the morn ing of May. 4 Vaward is an obsolete word signifying the fore-part. i.e. so mouthed. Flews are the large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound.

Chiding means sound.

Lys.

Lys. Pardon, my lord. [They all kneel to The-
The. I pray you all, stand up.
[seus.
I know, you two are rival enemies;
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,

To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly,

[bel

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Half 'sleep, half waking: But as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly say how I came here:
But, as I think, (for truly would I speak,---
And now I do bethink me, so it is;)
I came with Hermia hither: our intent
Was, to be gone from Athens, where we might
Without the peril of the Athenian law. [enough;
Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have 15
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.- [metrius,
They would have stol'n away, they would, De-
Thereby to have defeated
and me:
you
You, of your wife; and me, of my consent;
Of my consent that she should be your wife.'
Dem. My lord, fair Helen to'd me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither, to this wood;
And I in fury hither follow'd them;
Fair Helena in fancy following me.

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
(But by some power it is) my love to Hermia,
Melted as is the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd2,
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 betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
But, like a sickness, did I loath this food:
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it,
And will for evermore be true to it.

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The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we shall hear more anon.-
Egeus, I will over-bear your will;
For in this temple, by-and-by with us,
These couples shall eternally be knit.
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.--
Away, with us, to Athens: Three and three,
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.- [train
Come, Hippolita. [Ere. Theseus, Hippolita, and
Dem. These things seem small, and undistinguish-
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. [able,
Her. Methinks I see these things with parted 50
When every thing seems double.

Hel. So methinks:

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

[eye,

That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think,

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Dem. Why then, we are awake: let's follow And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [him; [Exeunt.

As they go out, Bottom awakes.

Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer:-my next is, Most fair PyramusHey, ho!-Peter Quince! Flute the bellowsmender! Snout the tinker ! Starveling! God's my life! stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream,-past the wit of man to say what dream it was: Man is but an ass, 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 what methought I had. The eye of man hath not man is but a patch'd fool', if he will offer to say heard, the ear of man hath not seen; man's hand is not able to taste, 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 shall be call'd Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke: Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.[Ex. SCENE IL

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Athens. Quince's House.

Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling. Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet?

Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is transported.

Flu. If he come not, then the play is marr'd; it goes not forward, doth it?

Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man in all Athens, able to discharge Pyramus, but he. Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handy-craft man in Athens.

Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is ja very paramour for a sweet voice.

Dem. Are you sure

That we are awake?-It seems to me,

The duke was here, and bid us follow him?

Her. Yea; and my father.

Hel And Hippolita.

[60]

Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple.

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coat.

Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God bless us! a thing of nought.

Enter Snug.

Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more married: if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men'.

Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost six-pence a-day during his life; he could not have scaped six-pence a-day: an the duke had not given him Sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hang'd; he would have deserv'd it: sixpence a-day, in Pyramus, or nothing. Enter Bottom. Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts?

Quin. Bottom-O most courageous day! O most happy hour!

Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true

Fancy here means love or affection. 2 See the note in p. 175. 3i. e. a fool in a party-coloured This should have been after death, i. e. after having died as Pyramus he would come again

and sing the song. Meaning, we had all made our fortunes.

Athenian.

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Hip. "TIS strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.

[lieve

The. More strange than true. I never may be-
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatick, the lover, and the poet,
Are of imagination all compact':

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantick,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, [heaven;
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to
And, as inragination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination;
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or, in the night imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear?

Hip. But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigur'd so together,
More witnesseth than fancy's images,

And grows to something of great constancy2:
But, howsoever, strange, and admirable.

Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, & Helena.
The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and

mirth.

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V.

To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
Call Philostrate.

Philost. Here, mighty Theseus. [evening?
Th. Say, what abridgment' have you for this
What mask? what musick? How shall we beguile
The lazy time, if not with some delight?

Philost. There is a brief, how many sports are

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'By an Athenian eunuch to the harp." 30 We'll none of that: that I have told my love, In glory of my kinsman Hercules.

"The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,

"Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage." That is an old device; and it was play'd 35 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.

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"The thrice three Muses mourning for the "Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary."[death That is some satire, keen and critical', Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony

"A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
"And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth."
Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief?
That is, hot ice, and wonderous strange snow.
How shall we find the concord of this discord?
Philost. A play there is, my lord, some ten
words long;

Which is as brief as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long;
Which makes it tedious: for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
And tragical, my noble lord it is;

For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
Which, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess,
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The passion of loud laughter never shed.

The. What are they, that do play it? [here,
Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens
Which never labour'd in their minds 'till now;
And now have toil'd their unbreath'd' memories
60 With this same play, against your nuptial.
The. And we will hear it.

1i. e. made up. i. e. consistency. By abridgment Shakspeare here means a dramatick per formance. tie, a short account,

: Meaning, criticising, censuring. That is, unexercised

memories.

Philost.

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Go, bring them in ;-and take your places, la-10
[Exit Philost.
Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharg'd,
And duty in his service perishing.
The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such

thing.

Hip. He says, they can do nothing in this kind.
The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for
nothing.

Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake:
And what poor duty cannot do,

Noble respect takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver, and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome: Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence, yet, I pick'd a welcome;
And in the modesty of fearful duty

I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-ty'd simplicity,
In least, speak most, to my capacity.

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"pent you,

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Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show.

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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 Thisby is, certain. "This man,with lime and rough-cast,doth present "Wall, that vile wall which did those lovers "sunder:

"And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are " content

"To whisper; at which let no man wonder, "This man with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, "Presenteth moon-shine: for, if you will know, "By moon-shine did these lovers think no scorn

"To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. "This grisly beast, which by name lion hight, "The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, 20" Did scare away, or rather did affright: "And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall;

"Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain: "Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall, "And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain : 25 Whereat,with blade,with bloody blameful blade, "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; "And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,

"His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, "Let lion, moon-shine, wall, and lovers twain, 30 "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,

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when many asses do.

Wall. "In this same interlude, it doth befall, "That I, one Snout by name, present a wall: "And such a wall, as I would have you think,

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That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink,

Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, [shew 40 "Did whisper often very secretly.

"This lome, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth "That I am that same wall; the truth is so: "And this the cranny is, right and sinister, [per.” 66 Through which the fearful lovers are to whis45 The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak

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"The actors are at hand; and by their show,
"You shall know all, that you are like to know."
The. This fellow doth not stand upon points.
Lys. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt;
he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord:55
It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologue, like a child on a recorder: a sound, but not in government'.

The. His speech was like a tangled chain: no-60 thing impair'd, but all disordered." Who is next?

1Intents here means the object of their attention.

better?

Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever [ heard discourse, my lord.

The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence
Enter Pyramus.

Pyr.

"O grim-look'd night! O night with hu 66 SO black!

"O night, which ever art, when day is not! "O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,

"I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!"And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall, "That stand'st between her father's ground " and mine::

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"Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, Shew me thy chink to blink through with "mine eyne.

2 In might, is probably an elliptical expression for what might have been. i. e. ready. A kind of flute," Meaning, not regularly.

"Thanks,

"Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well] "for this!

"But what see I? No Thisby do I see. "O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss; "Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!" 5 The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiv ing me, is Thisby's cue; she is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told you: Yonder she comes. Enter Thisby.

This. "O wall, full often hast thou heard my "moans,

"For parting my fair Pyramus and me: "My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones; "Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee." Pyr. "I see a voice: now will I to the chink,] "To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. “Thisby ! This." My love! thou art my love, I think." Pyr. "Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's

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grace;

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"And like Limander am I trusty still." [kill." This. "And I like Helen, till the fates me Pur. "Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true." This. "As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you." Pyr. "O, kiss me through the hole of this "vile wall." [all." This. "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at 30 Pyr. "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?" This. "Tide life, tide death, I come without

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[so;

"delay." Wall. "Thus have I, wall, my part discharged "And, being done, thus wall away doth go." [Exeunt Wall, Pyramus, and Thisbe. The. 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 silliest stuff that ever I heard. The. The best in this kind are but shadows and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.

Hip. It must be your imagination then, and

not theirs.

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The. A very gentle beast,and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.

Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. The. True; and a goose for his discretion. Dem. Not so, my lord: for his valour cannot carry his discretion; and the fox carries the goose.

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The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well: leave it to his discretion, and let us listen

the moon.

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present;

Myself the man i' th' moon do seem to be."

The. This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man should be put into the lanthorn; How is it else the man i' the moon?

Dem. Hle dares not come there for the candle: for, you see, it is already in snuff'.

Hip. I am a-weary of this moon. Would, he would change!

The. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time.

Lys. Proceed, moon.

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

Dem. Why all these should be in the lanthorn; for they are in the moon. But, silence; here comes Thisbe.

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-Truly, the moon

Hip. Well shone, moon.-
shines with a good grace.
The. Well mous'd, lion.
Dem. And then came Pyramus.
Lys. And so the lion vanish'd.
Enter Pyramus.

"The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on 55" May now, perchance, both quake and tremble

66 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 should as lion come in strife "Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.”

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Pyr. "Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny

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"beams:

For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering streams, "Ithank thee, moon, for shining now so bright: I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight. "But stay;-O spight! "But mark;-Poor knight, "What dreadful dole is here?

Eyes, do you see?

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How can it be?

"O dainty duck! O dear!

Snuff signifies both the cinder of a candle, and hasty anger,

"Thy

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