O fates! come, come; Cut thread and thrum; Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!" The. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad. Hip. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man. Pyr. "O, wherefore, nature, didst thou lions frame, Which is no, no-which was the fairest dame, Out, sword, and wound The pap of Pyramus : Where heart doth hop:- Now am I dead, Now am I fled; My soul is in the sky: Tongue, lose thy light! Moon, take thy flight! Now die, die, die, die, die." [Dies.-Exit MOONSHINE. Dem. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one. Lys. Less than an ace, man, for he is dead; he is nothing. The. With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover, and yet prove an ass. Hip. How chance moonshine is gone, before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover? The. She will find him by starlight. Here she comes, and her passion ends the play. Enter THISBE. Hip. Methinks, she should not use a long one for such a Pyramus: I hope she will be brief. Dem. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant us; she for a woman, God bless us 5. Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes. Dem. And thus she moans, videlicet.— This. "Asleep, my love? O Pyramus arise: Speak, speak! Quite dumb? Must cover thy sweet eyes. This cherry nose, These yellow cowslip cheeks, Are gone, are gone. His eyes were green as leeks. Come, come to me, Lay them in gore, Since you have shore With shears his thread of silk. Tongue, not a word: Come, trusty sword; Come, blade, my breast imbrue: And farewell, friends. Thus Thisby ends: Adieu, adieu, adieu." [Dies. 5 God bless us.] This passage, from "he for a man," is taken from the quartos. It was omitted in the folio, 1623, possibly on account of the statute against using the name of the Creator, &c., on the stage, 1 Jac. I. ch. 21, which had not passed when the original editions were printed. 6 And thus she MOANS,] All the old copies have means for "moans," a very easy misprint. Not so, lower down, where Thisbe exclaims,— "These lily LIPS, This cherry nose," &c. Theobald, for the sake of the rhyme, altered "lips" to brows, which could not easily have been mistaken by the compositor. The. Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and wall too. Bot. No, I assure you3; the wall is down that parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two of our company? The. No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse, for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy; and so it is, truly, and very notably discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your epilogue alone. [A dance*. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.Lovers, to bed: 'tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn, [Exeunt. SCENE II. Enter PUCK. Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, 3 Bot. No, I assure you ;] In the two 4to. editions this speech is given to "Lion." Perhaps such was the original distribution, but changed before the folio was printed in 1623. A dance.] There is no stage-direction in any of the old copies, and Malone inserted, "Here a dance of Clowns," which it probably was; but we have now no precise means of knowing what Bottom meant by his "Bergomask dance," excepting that it probably was a burlesque of dancing, as the tragedy had been a burlesque of writing and acting. And the wolf BEHOWLS the moon ;] All the old editions have beholds. Warburton detected the misprint. VOL. II. Hh Whilst the heavy ploughman snores, All with weary task fordone. Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, That the graves, all gaping wide, By the triple Hecate's team, To sweep the dust behind the door. Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with all their Train. Obe. Through the house give glimmering light, Every elf, and fairy sprite, Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty after me Sing, and dance it trippingly. Tita. First, rehearse your song by rote', To each word a warbling note: Hand in hand with fairy grace Will we sing, and bless this place. • To sweep the dust behind the door.] As has been remarked in the "Introduction," on the title-page of "Robin Goodfellow, his Mad Pranks and Merry Jests," 4to, 1628 (reprinted for the Percy Society), Puck is represented in a wood-cut with a broom over his shoulder. 7 First, rehearse YOUR song by rote,] The folio, adopting the reading of Roberts's 4to, has this for "your." Titania is, however, referring to the “ditty” assigned by Oberon. THE SONG 8. Obe. Now, until the break of day, So shall all the couples three And the blots of nature's hand Shall upon their children be. With this field-dew consecrate, Every fairy take his gait, And each several chamber bless, Ever shall in safety rest, And the owner of it blest. Trip away; make no stay; Meet me all by break of day. [Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train. Puck. If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here, No more yielding but a dream, The Song.] In the folio, but not in either of the 4to. editions, Oberon's speech is printed in italic, as if it were "the song;" but it seems in fact to be wanting: in old plays songs, though mentioned, were often omitted. In obedience to the injunction of Oberon, the Fairies must have "danced it trippingly," while the song was sung. The 4to. editions do not lead us to suppose that any song was given, excepting that it was spoken of by Oberon and Titania. The words, "the song," are from the folio, and are to be taken as a stage-direction. |