We, Hermia, like two artificial' gods, Two lovely berries moulded on one stem: Due but to one, and crowned with one crest. Her. I am amazed at your passionate words: Her. I understand not what you mean by this. Hel. Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks, Make mouths upon me when I turn my back; Wink at each other; hold the sweet jest up: This sport, well carry'd, shall be chronicled. If you have any pity, grace, or manners, You would not make me such an argument3. But, fare ye well; 'tis partly mine own fault; Which death, or absence, soon shall remedy. Lys. Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse; My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena! Hel. O excellent! Her. Sweet, do not scorn her so. 1Or I will shake thee from me, like a serpent. Her. Why are you grown so rude? what change Sweet love? [is this, Lys. Thy love? out, tawny Tartar, out! 5 Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence! Her. Do you not jest? Hel. Yes, 'sooth; and so do you. Lys. Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee. Dem. I would I had your bond, for, I perceive, 10A weak bond holds you; I'll not trust your word. Lys. What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so. [dead?. Her. What, can you do me greater harm, than hate? 15 Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my 20 love? Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander? I am as fair now, as I was erewhile. [me: Since night, you lov'd me; yet, since night, you left 30 35 Her.Ome! youjuggler! oh, you canker-blossom"! You thief of love! what, have you come by night, And stol'n my love's heart from him? Hel. Fine, i'faith! Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear Impatient answers from my gentle tongue? Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you! Her.Puppet! why so? Ay, that way goes the game. Now I perceive that she hath made compare Between our statures; she hath urg'd her height; And with her personage, her tall personage, Her height,forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.40 And are you grown so high in his esteem, Because I am so dwarfish and so low? How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak; How low am I? I am not yet so low, But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. 45 Hel. I pray you, though you mock me,gentlemen, Let her not hurt me: I was never curst; Dem. If she cannot retreat, I can compel. Dem. I say, I love thee more than he can do. Her. Lysander, whereto tends all this? Seem to break loose; take on, as you would follow; 4 I have no gift at all in shrewishness; I am a right maid for my cowardice; That I can match her. Her. Lower! hark, again. Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you, Hermia; 55 Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you; Save that, in love unto Demetrius, I told him of your stealth unto this wood: He follow'd you; for love, I follow'd him. But he hath chid me hence; and threaten'd me 60 To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too: And now, so you will let me quiet go, To Athens will I bear my folly back, 'Meaning, ingenious, artful. 2 That is, needles. 'Meaning, such a subject of light merriment. Shakspeare here alludes to the worm that preys on the leaves or buds of flowers, always beginning in the middle; And her part. 5 To take from thence all error, with his might, Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision; I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy; Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with Hel. O,when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd; 10 From monster's view, and all things shall be peace. She was a vixen, when she went to school; And, though she be but little, she is fierce. haste; For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, [there, I with the morning's love have oft made sport; Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jowl. [Ex. Lysander and Demetrius. Her. You, mistress, all this coyl is 'long of you :|30| Nay, go not back. Hel. I will not trust you, I; 35 Nor longer stay in you curst company. [fight: Ob. Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to 1451 I will lead them up and down; Enter Lysander. Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now. Puck. Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou? Lys. I will be with thee straight. Puck. Follow me then To plainer ground. [Lys. goes out, as following Dem. Dem. Lysander! speak again. head? Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the I'll whip thee with a rod: He is defil'd, 55. Dem. Yea; art thou there? Puck. Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood Re-enter Lysander. Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on; 160 When I come where he calls, then he is gone. That is, foolish. 2 i. e. e. you diminutive of the creation, you reptile. Knot-grass was anciently supposed to prevent the growth of any animal or child. Toaby is to pay dear for, to suffer. to happen. i. e. salutiferous. i. e. The Enter Queen of the Fairies, Bottom, Fairies attending, and the King behind them. honey-bag, signior.-Where's monsieur Mustard40 seed? Queen. COME, sit thee down upon this flowery 45 bed, While I thy amiable cheeks do coy', And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. Bot. Where's Pease-blossom? Pease. Ready. Bot.Scratch my head, Pease-blossom.-Where's monsieur Cobweb? Cob. Ready. Must. Ready. Bot. Give me your neif, monsieur Mustard-seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur. Must. What's your will? Bot. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help cavalero Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy about the face: and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch. 50 Queen. What, wilt thou hear some musick, my sweet love? Bot. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get 55 your weapons in your hand, and kill me a redhip'd humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and good monsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur, have a care the honey-bag break 60 not; would be loth to have you overflown with al To coy is to sooth, to stroke. 2 i. e. fist. key. Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in musick: let us have the tongs and the bones'. Queen. Or, say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat. Bot. Truly, a peck of provender; I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow. Queen. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts. Meaning, the old rural musick of the tongs and Bot. Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee! Ob. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this 10 15 Her dotage now I do begin to pity. But first I will release the fairy queen; See, as thou was wont to see: Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen. Ob. There lies your love. Queen. How caine these things to pass? Titania, musick call; and strike more dead 25 30 35 140 45 50 sleep. And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be. And will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly, Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark; Ob. Then, my queen, in silence sad, Queen. Come, my lord; and in our flight, Dispatch, I say, and find the forester. We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, Of hounds and echo in conjunction. Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, I wonder at their being here together. [servé 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? The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns. Horns, and shout within; Demetrius, Lysander, 3 1 That is, disperse yourselves. i. e. grave or sober. Meaning, the honours due to the morn ing of May. i.e. so mouthed. Vaward is an obsolete word signifying the fore-part. Chiding means sound. Lys. Lys. Pardon, my lord. [They all kneel to The- [seus. I know, you two are rival enemies; To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity? [be Half 'sleep, half waking: But as yet, I swear, 1 Fair Helena in fancy following me. 15 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 Pyramus.Hey, ho!-Peter Quince! Flute the bellowsmender! Snout the tinker! Starveling! God's my life! stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had 10 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 man is but a patch'd fool', if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not 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 II. 20 25 30 35 40 The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: Hel. So methinks: And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, [eye, 45 55 Dem. Are you sure That we are awake?-It seems to me, That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think, Her. Yea; and my father. Hel And Hippolita. 60 Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple. Athens. Quince's House. Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and StarvelingQuin. 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` a very paramour for a sweet voice. Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God bless us! a thing of nought. Enter Snug. temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the more married: if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men". six-pence a-day during his life; he could not have 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. See the note in p. 175. i. 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. |