No night is now with hymn or carol bleft;
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, wafhes all the air;
That rheumatick difeafes do abound.
And thorough this diftemperature, we fee
The seasons alter; hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose
And on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,
An od❜rous chaplet of fweet fummer-buds
Is, as in mockery, fet. The fpring, the fummer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and th' amazed world,
By their increafe, now knows not which is which;
And this fame progeny of evil comes

From our debate, from our diffenfion;
We are their parents and original.

Ob. Do you amend it then, it lyes in you.
Why fhould Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman,

Queen. Set your heart at reft,

The fairy-land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votress of my order,
And, in the fpiced Indian air by night,
Full often fhe hath goffipt by my fide;
And fat with me on Neptune's yellow fands,
Marking th' embarked traders on the flood,
When we have laught to see the fails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:

"the Author of our Faith, is particularly devoted to Feftivity: and to this Cuftom, be affur'd, Hymn or Carol bleft alludes.

66

I fhould undoubtedly have advanc'd this Conjecture into the Text, could I have ever trac'd the Word in any of Shakespeare's Writings; but I think, he rather feems fond of hallow'd. CHAUCER and SPENCER, I know, Both ufe herie, very frequently from the Latter I'll produce a Paffage, where in one Couplet it is join'd with Hymn and Carol, as here in our Author ;

Tho wouldeft thou learn to carol of Love,
And hery with hymns thy Laffes Glove.

Vid. Shepherd's Kalendar, for the Month of February.

Which the, with pretty and with swimming gate, (7)
Follying (her womb then rich with my young fquire)
Would imitate; and fail upon the land,

To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage rich with merchandize.
But fhe, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And, for her fake, I do rear up her boy;
And, for her fake, I will not part with him.
Ob. How long within this wood intend you ftay?
Queen. Perchance, 'till after Thefeus' wedding day.
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us;
If not, fhun me, and I will fpare your haunts.
Ob. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Elves, away:
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.

[Exeunt Queen and her Train. Ob. 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
Since once I fat upon a promontory,

And heard a Mermaid, on a Dolphin's back,
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong;
And certain ftars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's mufick.

Puck. I remember.

Ob. That very time I faw, but thou could'ft not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth,

(7) Which he with pretty and with fawimming gate,
Following (ber Womb then rich with my young Squire)

Would imitate; Following What? She did not follow the Ship whofe Motion fhe imitated; for That fail'd on the Water, She on the Land. And if by following, we are to underftand, copying; it is a mere Pleonafm, that Meaning being included in the Word imitate. From Circumstances in the Context, there is great Reason to think our Author wrote, follying. i. e. wantoning, in Sport and Gaiety; fo the old Writers ufed Follity for Foolishness; and Both Words are from, and in the Senfe of folatrer, to play the Wanton. And this admirably agrees with the Action, for which the is here commended, and with the Confull often has fhe goffip'd by my fide, and, When we have laugh'd to fee, &c. Mr. Warburton.

text;

...Cupid

Cupid alarm'd: a certain aim he took (8).
At a fair Veftal, throned by the west,
And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chafte beams of the wat'ry moon,
And the Imperial Votrefs paffed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell,
It fell upon a little western flower;

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound;
And maidens call it Love in idleness.

Fetch me that flow'r; (the herb I fhew'd thee once ;)
The juice of it on fleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man, or woman, madly doat
Upon the next live creature that it fees.
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again,
Ere the Leviathan can fwim a league.

Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.

Ob. Having once this juice,

I'll watch Titania when he is afleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:

The next thing which the waking looks upon,
(Be it on lyon, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On medling monkey, or on bufie ape)
She fhall purfue it with the foul of love:
And ere I take this charm from off her fight,

[Exit.

(8) Cupid all arm'd ;] Surely, this prefents us with a very unclaffical Image. Where do we read or fee, in ancient Books, or Monuments, Cupid arm'd more than with his Bows and Arrows? and with these we for ever fee him arm'd. And these are all the Arms he had Occafion for in this prefent Action; a more illuftrious One, than any, his Friends, the Clafficks, ever brought him upon. The Change I make is fo fmall, but the Beauty of the Thought fo great, which this Alteration carries with it, that, I think, we are not to hefitate upon it. For what an Addition is this to the Compliment made upon this Virgin Queen's Celibacy, that it alarm'd the Power of Love? as if his Empire was in Danger, when this Imperial Votrefs had declar'd herself for a fingle Life: fo powerful would her great Example be in the World. Queen Elizabeth could not but be pleafed with our Author's Address upon this Head. Mr. Warburton.

(As

(As I can take it with another herb)
I'll make her render up her page to me,
But who comes here? I am invifible, (9)
And I will over-hear their conference.

Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore purfue me not.
Where is Lyfander, and fair Hermia?

The one I'll flay; the other flayeth me. (10)
Thou told'st me, they were ftol'n into this wood;
And here am I, and wood within this wood;
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.

Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant,
But yet you draw not iron; for my heart
Is true as steel. Leave you your pow'r to draw,
And I fhall have no pow'r to follow you..

Dem. Do I entice you? do I fpeak you fair?
Or rather do I not in plainest truth

Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot, love you?

Hel. And ev'n for that do I love thee the more;
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,

The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Ufe me but as your spaniel, fpurn me, ftrike me,
Neglect me, lofe me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worfer place can I beg in your love,
(And yet a place of high respect with me)
Than to be used, as you ufe your dog?

Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am fick, when I do look on thee.

(9) I am invifible.] I thought proper here to obferve, that, as Oberon, and Puck his Attendant, may be frequently obferv'd to fpeak, when there is no mention of their Entering; they are defign'd by the Poet to be fuppos'd on the Stage during the greatelt Part of the Remainder of the Play; and to mix, as they please, as Spirits, with the other Actors; and embroil the Plot, by their Interpofition, without being feen, or heard, but when to their own Purpose.

(10) The one I'll stay, the other flayeth me.] Thus it has been in all the Editions hitherto: but Dr. Thirlby ingenioufly faw, it must be, as I have corrected in the Text.

VOL. 1

H

Hel.

Hel. And I am fick, when I look not on you.
Dem. You do impeach your modefty too much,
To leave the city, and commit your felf
Into the hands of one that loves you not;
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counfel of a defart place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.
Hel. Your virtue is my privilege; for that
It is not night when I do fee your face,
Therefore, I think, I am not in the night.
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company;
For you in my respect are all the world.
Then how can it be faid, I am alone
When all the world is here to look on me?

;

Dem. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Hel. The wildeft hath not fuch a heart as you;
Run when you will, the ftory fhall be chang'd:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chafe;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes fpeed to catch the tyger. Bootlefs fpeed!
When cowardife purfues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy queftions; let me go:
Or if thou follow me, do not believe,

But I fhall do thee mischief in the wood.

Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius,
Your wrongs do fet a fcandal on my fex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;

We fhou'd be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I follow thee, and make a heav'n of hell;

To die upon the hand, I love fo well.

[Exeunt.

Ob. Fare thee well, nymph; ere he doth leave this grove,

Thou shalt fly him, and he fhall feek thy love.
Haft thou the flow'r there? welcome, wanderer.

Enter Puck.

Puck. Ay, there it is.

Ob. I pray thee, give it me;