The. And we will hear it. Philoft. No, my noble lord, 2 It is not for you. I have heard it over, The. I will hear that play: For never any thing can be amifs, When fimpleneís and duty tender it. Go, bring them in, and take your places, ladies. [Exit Phil. Hip. I love not to fee wretchednefs o'ercharg'd, And duty in his fervice perifhing. The. Why, gentle fweet, you fall fee no fuch Hip. He fays, they can do nothing in this kind. thing. Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake; Noble refpect takes it in might, not merit. Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears, I read as much, as from the rattling tongue Enter Philoftrate. Philoft. So pleafe your Grace, the prologue is ad dreit. The. Let him approach. SCENE II. [Flour. Trum. Enter Quince, for the prologue. Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will. We do not come, as minding to content you- We are not here.-that you fhould here repent you, The actors are at hand; and by their fhow, You fhall know all, that you are like to know. The. This fellow doth not ftand upon points. Lyf. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt he knows not the ftop. A good moral, my lord. It. is not enough to fpeak, but to fpeak true. Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on his prologue, like a child on the recorder; a found, but not in government. The. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all diforder'd. Who is the next? Enter Enter Pyramus and Thibe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb fhere. Prol. Gentles, perchance you wonder at this fhow, But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. This man is Pyramus, if you would know; This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. This man, with lime and rough-caft, doth prefent Wall, the vile wall, which did thefe lovers funder: And through wall's chink, poor fouls, they are con tent To whisper, at which let no man wonder. To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. which Lion hight by name As all the other Parts of this Speech are in alternate Rhyme, excepting that it closes with a Couplet; and as no Rhyme is left to, name; we must conclude, either a Verfe is flipt out, which cannot now be retriev'd: or, by a Tranfpofition of the Words, as I have placed them, the Poet intended a Triplet. THEOBALD. 5 Mr. Upton rightly obferves that Shakespear in this line ridicules the affectation of beginning many words with the fame letter, He might have remarked the fame of The raging Rocks. And fhivering Shocks. Gafcoigne, contemporary with our poet, remarks and blames the fame affectation. M 3 Let Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain, [Exeunt all but Wall. The. I wonder, if the Lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord; one Lion may, when many ailes do. Wall. In this fame Interlude, it doth befall, That I, one Snout by name, present a Wall: And fuch a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a crannied hole or chink; Through which the lovers, Pyr'mus and Thisby, Did whisper often very fecretly. This loam, this rough-caft, and this ftone do:h fhew, And this the cranny is, right and finifter, The. Pyramus draws near the wall: filence! Enter Pyramus. Pyr. O grim look'd night! O night with hue fo O night which ever art, when day is not! That ftands between her father's ground and mine; Thou wall, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall, Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne. Thanks, courteous wall; Jove fhield thee well for this! O wicked wall, through whom I fee no bliss The. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, fhould curfe again. Pyr. No, in truth, Sir, he fhould not. Deceiving me, is Thisby's cue; fhe is to enter, and I am to spy her through the wall. You fhall fee, it will fall pat as I told you. Yonder fhe comes. Enter Thifbe. Thif. O wall, full often haft thou heard my moans, My cherry lips have often kifs'd thy stones; Thisby! Thif. My love! thou art, my love, I think, Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace, And like Limander am I trufty ftill." Thif. And I like Helen, till the fates me kill. Pyr. O kifs me through the hole of this vile wall. Thif. Tide life, tide death, I come without delay. Wall. Thus have I Wall my part discharged fo: And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. [Exit. The. Now is the Mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wilful, to hear without warning.? 6 Limander and Helen, are fpoker by the blundering player, for Leander and Hero. Shafalus and Procrus, for Cephalus and Procris. Hip. 7 Thef. Now is the Mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wilful to HEAR without warning.] Shakespear M 4 could |