Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him then?
Henceforth be never number'd among men!

0! once tell true, tell true, even for my sake;
Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake,
And hast thou kill'd him sleeping?5 O brave touch!"
Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?

An adder did it; for with doubler tongue

Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.

Dem. You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood;" I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;

Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.

Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.

Dem. An if I could, what should I get therefore ? Her. A privilege, never to see me more.And from thy hated presence part I so:9 See me no more, whether he be dead or no.

[Exit.

5 Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake, And hast thou kill'd him sleeping ?] She means, Hast thou kill'd him sleeping, whom, when awake, thou didst not dare to look upon ? Mulone.

6—

- O brave touch!] Touch, in Shakspeare's time, was the same with our exploit, or rather stroke. A brave touch, a noble stroke, un grand coup. "Mason was very merry, pleasantly playing both with the shrewd touches of many curst boys, and the small discretion of many lewd schoolmasters." Ascham. Johnson.

A touch anciently signified a trick. In the old black letter story of Howleglas, it is always used in that sense: - for at all times he did some mad touch." Steevens.

7

-mispris'd mood:] Mistaken; so, below, misprision is mistake. Jobison.

Mood is anger, or perhaps rather in this place, capricious fancy.

Malone.

I rather conceive that—" on a mispris'd mood” is put for--" in a mispris'd mood,” i. e. " in a mistaken manner." The preposition-on, is licentiously used by ancient authors. When Mark Antony says that Augustus Cæsar "dealt on lieutenantry," he does not mean that he“dealt his blows on lieutenants," but that he "dealt in them;" i. e. achieved his victories by their conduct. Steevens.

8 An if I could, &c.] This phraseology was common in Shakspeare's time. Thus, in Romeo and Juliet, Act V, sc. i:

"An if a man did need a poison now.” Again, in Lodge's Illustrations, Vol. I, p. 85: ". meanys was made unto me to see an yff I wold appoynt," &c. Reed.

9

-part I so:] So, which is not in the old copy, was inserted for the sake of both metre and rhyme, by Mr. Pope.

Malone.

f

Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vein: Here, therefore, for a while I will remain.

So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe;
Which now, in some slight measure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make some stay. [Lies down.

Obe. What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite,
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue

Some true-love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true.
Puck. Then fate o'er-rules; that, one man holding troth,

A million fail, confounding oath on oath.

Obe. About the wood go swifter than the wind,

And Helena of Athens look thou find:

All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer1

With sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear:2
By some illusion see thou bring her here;
I'll charm his eyes, against she do appear.
Puck. I go, I go; look, how I go;

Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.3

Obe. Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery, 4

Sink in apple of his eye!

When his love he doth espy,

[Exit.

1 -pale of cheer -] Cheer, from the Italian cara, is frequently used by the old English writers for countenance. Even Dryden

says

"Pale at the sudden sight, she chang'd her cheer."

Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. Steevens. 2 sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear:] So, in King Henry VI, we have "blood-consuming,"-"blood drinking," and "blood-sucking sighs." All alluding to the ancient supposition that every sigh was indulged at the expense of a drop of blood. Steevens.

3 Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.] So, in the 10th Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Golding, 1567:

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and though that she

"Did fly as swift as arrow from a Turkye bowe." Douce. "A Tartar's painted bow of lath," is mentioned in Romeo and Juliet. Steevens.

4 Hit with Cupid's archery,] This alludes to what was said before: the bolt of Cupid fell:

"It fell upon a little western flower,

"Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound."

Steevens.

Let her shine as gloriously

As the Venus of the sky.-
When thou wak'st, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.

Re-enter PUCK.

Puck. Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;

And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee;

Shall we their fond pageant see?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Obe. Stand aside: the noise they make,

Will cause Demetrius to awake.

Puck. Then will two at once, woo one;
That must needs be sport alone;

And those things do best please me,
That befal preposterously.

Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.

Lys. Why should you think, that I should woo in scorn?
Scorn and derision never come in tears:

Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,
In their nativity all truth appears.

How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?5
Hel. You do advance your cunning more and more.
When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
These vows are Hermia's: Will you give her o'er?
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
Your vows, to her and me, put in two scales,
Will even weigh; and both as light as tales.

Lys. I had no judgment, when to her I swore.
Hel. Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.
Lys. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
Dem. [awaking] O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect,"
divine!

To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?

5 Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?] This is said in allusion to the badges (i. e. family crests) anciently worn on the sleeves of servants and retainers. So, in The Tempest:

"Mark the badges of these men, and then say if they be true." Steevens.

E e

Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show

Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow,"
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow,
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O let me kiss
This princess of pure white," this seal of bliss!"
Hel. O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
To set against me, for your merriment.
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join, in souls, to mock me too?

6

Taurus' snow, v,] Taurus is the name of a range of mountains in Asia. Johnson.

7 This princess of pure white,] Thus all the editions, as low as Sir Thomas Hanmer's. He reads:

This pureness of pure white;

and Dr. Warburton follows him. The old reading may be justified from a passage in Sir Walter Raleigh's Discovery of Guiana, where the pine-apple is called The princess of fruits. Again, in Wyat's Poems: "Of beauty princesse chief." Steevens.

8 · seal of bliss!] He has in Measure for Measure, the same image:

"But my kisses bring again,

"Seals of love, but seal'd in vain." Johnson.

More appositely, in Antony and Cleopatra:

9

"My play-fellow, your hand, this kingly seal,
"And plighter of high hearts."

Steevens.

join, in souls,] i. e. join heartily, unite in the same mind. Shakspeare, in K. Henry V, uses an expression not unlike

this:

"For we will hear, note, and believe in heart;" i.e. heartily believe: and in Measure for Measure, he talks of electing with special soul. In Troilus and Cressida, Ulysses, relating the character of Hector, as given him by Æneas, says: with private soul

"Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me."

And, in All Fools, by Chapman, 1605, is the same expression as that for which I contend:

"Happy, in soul, only by winning her."

Again, in a masque called Luminalia, or The Festival of Light,

1637:

"You that are chief in souls, as in your blood." Again, in Pierce Penniless, his Supplication to the Devil, 1595; whose subversion in soul they have vow'd,"

If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so;

To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When, I am sure, you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,1
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes,
With your derision! none, of noble sort,2
Would so offend a virgin; and extort

A poor soul's patience,3 all to make you sport.

Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. XII, ch. lxxv: "Could all, in soul, of very God say as an Ethnick said "To one that preached Hercules?"

Again, in our author's Twelfth Night:

"And all those swearings keep as true in soul."

Sir T. Hanmer would read-in flouts; Dr. Warburton, insolents. Steevens.

I rather believe the line should be read thus:

"But you must join, ill souls, to mock me too?"

Ill is often used for bad, wicked. So, in The Sea Voyage of Beaumont and Fletcher, Act IV, sc. i:

"They did begin to quarrel like ill men;"

which I cite the rather, because ill had there also been changed into in, by an error of the press, which Mr. Sympson has corrected from the edition, 1647. Tyrwhitt.

This is a very reasonable conjecture, though I think it hardly right. Johnson.

We meet with this phrase in an old poem by Robert Dabourne : Men shift their fashions

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"They are in souls the same." Farmer.

A similar phraseology is found in Measure for Measure:
"Is 't not enough thou hast suborn'd these women
"To accuse this worthy man, but in foul mouth
"To call him villain!" Malone.

1 A trim exploit, a manly enterprise, &c.] This is written much in the manner and spirit of Juno's reproach to Venus in the fourth Book of the Eneid:

2

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Egregiam vero laudem et spolia ampla refertis,

"Tuque puerque tuus; magnum et memorabile nomen, "Una dolo divûm si fœmina victa duorum est." Steevens.

none, of noble sort,] Sort is here used for degree or quality. So, in the old ballad of Jane Shore:

3

،، Long time I lived in the court,

"With lords and ladies of great sort." Malone.

extort

A poor soul's patience,] Harass, torment. Johnson.