For ever the society of men. Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, For aye to be in shady cloister mew d, Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, The. Take time to pause; and, by the next new moon, (The sealing-day betwixt my love and me, For everlasting bond of fellowship,) Upon that day either prepare to die, For disobedience to your father's will; Or else, to wed Demetrius, as he would; Or on Diana's altar to protest, For aye, austerity and single life. It stands as an edict in destiny: Then let us teach our trial patience, Because it is a customary cross; As due to love, as thoughts, and dreams, and sigh Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers. Lys. A good persuasion; therefore, hear me Hermia. I have a widow aunt, a dowager Of great revenue, and she hath no child: Her. My good Lysander! By that which knitteth souls, and prospers loves; Den. Relent, sweet Hermia;-And, Lysander, By all the vows that ever men have broke, yield Thy crazed title to my certain right. Lys. You have her father's love, Demetrius: Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him. Ege. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love; Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he, And, which is more than all these boasts can be, Why should not I then prosecute my right? The. I must confess, that I have heard so much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof; But, being over-full of self-affairs, My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come; Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could well Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes. Lys. Ah me! for aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth: Her. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low! 1 Wicked. a Momentary. • Black. In number more than ever woman spoke;· Enter HELENA. Her. God speed fair Helena! Whither away? Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves you fair: O happy fair! Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, Her. I give him curses, yet he gives me love. Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me. Her. Take comfort; he no more shall see my face. then, what graces in my love do dwell, That he hath turn'd a heaven unto hell! Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unsold To-morrow night when Phoebe doth behold Her silver visage in the watry glass, Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass, (A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,) Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal. Her. And in the wood, where often you and I Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie, Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet; There my Lysander and myself shall meet: And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes. To seek new friends and stranger companies. Farewell, sweet play-fellow; pray thou for us, And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius! Keep word. Lysander: we must starve our sight From lovers food, till morrow deep midnight. Erit HERY. Lys. I will, my Hermia-Helena, adieu: As you on him. Demetrius dote on you! | Erit Lvs. Hel. How happy some. o'er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not now what all but he do know. And as ne en, doting on Hermia's eyes, So I, admiring of his qualities. Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste; As waggish boys in games themselves forswear, To have his sight thither, and back again. [Exit. Quin. Is all our company here? Bot. You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip. Quin. Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and duchess, on his wedding-day at night. B. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and so grow 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 assure you, and a merry.-Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll: Masters, spread yourselves. Quin. Answer, as I call you.-Nick Bottom, the weaver. Flu. Here, Peter Quince. Quin. You must take Thisby on you. Flu. What is Thisby? a wandering knight? Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love. F. Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming. Quin. That's all one; you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will. Bot. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice;-Thisne. Thisne, Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby dear: and lady dear! Quin No, no: you must play Pyramus, and, Flute you Thisby. Bot. Well, proceed. Quin Robin Starveling, the tailor. Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.-Tom Snout, the tinker. Snout. Here, Peter Quince. Quin. You, Pyramus's father; myself Thisby's father;-Snug, the joiner, you, the lion's part:and, I hope, here is a play fitted. Snug, Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow 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 say' Let him roar again, Let him roar again. Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek: and that were enough to hang us all. All. That would hang us every mother's son. Bot. I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale. Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day: a most lovely, gentleman-like man; therefore you must needs play Pyramus. Bot. Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in? Quin. Why, what you will. Bot. will discharge it in either your strawcolored beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-color beard, your perfect yellow. Quin. Same of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-faced.— But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request you, and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse: for if we meet in the city, we shall be dog'd with company, and our devices know. In the mean time, I will draw 9 bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. Bot. We will meet; and there we may rehearse more obscenely, and courageously. ake pains; be perfect; adieu. Quin. At the duke's oak we meet. [Exeunt Farewell, thou lobs of spirits, I'll be gone; Fui. Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite; Puck. And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe; The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, Obe. Do you amend it then; it lies in you: Tita. Would imitate; and sail upon the land, Fai. And here my mistress:-'Would that he And, for her sake, I do rear up her boy; were gone! SCENE II. Enter OBERON, at one door, with his train, and TITANIA, at another, with hers. Obe. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence; I have forsworn his bed and company. Ohe. Tarry, rash wanton: Am not I thy lord? Tita. Then I must be thy lady: But I know When thou hast stol'n away from fairy land, And in the shape of Corin sat all day, Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here, Come from the farthest steep of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, Your buskin'd mistress, and your warrior love, To Theseus must be wedded; and you come To give their bed joy and prosperity. Obe. How canst thou thus, for shame, Titania, Glance at my credit with Hippolyta, Knowing I know thy love to Theseus? Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night, From Perigenia, whom he ravished? And make him with fair Eglé break his faith, Tita. These are the forgeries of jealousy: 5 A term of contempt. Shining. • Quarrel. And, for her sake, I will not part with him. Obe. How long within this wood intend you stay! Tita. Perchance, till after Theseus' wedding-day If you I will patiently dance in our round, And see our moonlight revels, go with us; If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. Tita. Not for thy kingdom.- Fairies, away: We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. [Exeunt TITANIA, and her train. Obe. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove, Till I torment thee for this injury. My gentle Puck, come hither: Thou remember'st I remember. At a fair vestal, throned by the west; In maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: Holes made for a game played by boys. • Autumn producing flowers unseasonably. •Pyo Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth And ere I take this charm off from her sight, Eater DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him. Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Hei. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; But yet you draw not iron, for my heart Is true as steel: Leave you your power to draw, And I shall have no power to follow you. Dem. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? Or rather, do I not in plainest truth Tell you-I do not, nor I cannot love you? H. And even for that do I love you the more. Ian your spaniel : and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, What worser place can I beg in your love, And yet a place of high respect with me,) Than to be used as you use your doz? Dem Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick, when I do look on thee. He And I am sick when I look not on you. There sleeps Titania, some time of the night, With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; so. SCENE III-Another part of the Wood. Enter TITANIA with her train. Tila. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song; Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds; Some, war with rear-mices for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats; and, some, keep back The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders At our quaint spirits: Sing me now asleep; Then to your offices, and let me rest. Den. You do impeach your modesty too much, 2 Fai. Weaving spiders come not here; To leave the city, and commit yourself Into the hands of one that loves you not; He Your virtue is my privilege for that. Chorus. Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence Worm, nor snail, do no offence. 1 Fai. Hence, away: now all is well: [Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps. Enter OBERON. Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost wake, Den. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the Do it for thy true love take; brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. let me go: Hi. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Ren when you will, the story shall be chang'd; Apolo dies, and Daphne holds the chase; The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind Makes speed to catch the tiger: Bootless speed! When cowardice pursues, and valor flies. Dem. I will not stay thy questions: Drifthou follow me, do not believe But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. H. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, You do the mischief. Fye, Demetrius! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex! We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. low thee, and make a heaven of hell, Tode upon the hand I love so well. [Exeunt DEM. and HEL. De Fare the well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove, Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.Re-enter PUCK. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. Pick. Ay, there it is. I pray thee, give it me. know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Were ox-lips and the nodding violet grows; ate over-canopied with lush woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine: Bring in question. Raving mal 1The greater cowslip. Vigorous. . By. Love and languish for his sake: Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA. [Exit And to speak truth, I have forgot our way; Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth. Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dea Lie further off yet, do not lie so near. Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence So then, two bosoms, and a single troth.' Her. Lysander riddles very prettily:- Lie further off; in human modesty. Enter PUCK. Puck. Through the forest have I gone, And here the maiden, sleeping sound, All the power this charm doth owe: [Exit. Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running. Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius. Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus. Hel. O, wilt thou darkling1 leave me? do not so. Dem. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go. [Exit DEMETRIUS. How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears: For beasts that meet me, run away for fear: Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet Transparent Helena! Nature here shows art, Hel. Do not say so, Lysander: say not so: What though he love your Hermia! Lord, wha though? Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content. Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent Who will not change a raven for a dove? Hel. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born i Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth you do, \Erit. And never may'st thou come Lysander near! To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! ACT III Bot. Peter Quince, Quin. What say st thou, bully Bottom? Bot. There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisby, that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that? Snout. By'rlakin, a parlous fear. Star. I believe, we must leave the killing out, when all is done. am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: This will put them out of fear. Quin. Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be written in eight and six. Bot. No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight. Snout. Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion! Star. I fear it, I promise you. selves: to bring in, God shield us! a lion among Bot. Masters, you ought to consider with your ladies, is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion, living; and we ought to look to it. he is not a lion. Snout. Therefore, another prologue must tell, Bot. Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion's neck; and he same defect.-Ladies, or fair ladies, I would wish himself must speak through, saying thus, or to the Bot. Not a whit; I have a device to make all you, or I would request you, or, I would entreat well. Write me a prologue: and let the prologue you, not to fear, not to tremble: my life for your think I come hither as a lion, it were pity seem to say, we will do no harm with our swords; of my life: No, I am no such thing: I am a ma and that Pyramus is not killed indeed: and for the more better assurance, tell them, that I, Pyramus, as other men are:-and there, indeed let p • Possess. In the dark. By our lady kin If you By all that is e |