And, for her fake, I will not part with him.

Ob. How long within this wood intend you stay? Queen. Perchance, 'till after Thefeus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round, And fee 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 fhall chide down-right, if I longer stay.

[Exeunt Queen and her train, Ob. Well, go thy way; thou fhalt not from this

grove,

"Till I torment thee for this injury.

2

My gentle Puck, come hither; thou remember'ft Since once I fat upon a promontory,

2

Thou remember'ft

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 Jea grew civil at her fong;
And certain fars fhot madly from their spheres

And

To bear the fea maid's mufick—] The first thing obfer vable on these words is, that this action of the Mermaid is laid in the fame time and place with Cupid's attack upon the Veftal. By the Vefal every one knows is meant Queen Elizabeth. It is very natural and reasonable then to think that the Mermaid stands for fome eminent perfonage of her time. And if fo, the allegorical covering, in which there is a mixture of fatire and panegyric, will lead us to conclude that this perfon was one of whom it had been inconvenient for the author to speak openly, either in praise or difpraise. All this agrees with Mary Queen of Scots, and with no other. Queen Elizabeth could not bear to hear her commended; and her fucceffor would not forgive her fatirift. But the poet has fo well marked out every diftinguished circumstance of her life and character in this beautiful allegory, as will leave no room to doubt about his fecret meaning. She is called a Mermaid, 1. to dénote her reign over a kingdom fituate in the sea, and 2. her beauty and intemperate luft,

Ut turpiter atrum

Definat in pifcem mulier formofa fupernè.

for as Elizabeth for her chastity is called a Vetal, this unfortu nate lady on a contrary account is called a Mermaid. 3. An VOL. I.

I

antient

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 stars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's mufick.

Puck.

antient ftory may be fuppofed to be here alluded to. The emperor Julian tells us, Epiftle 41. that the Sirens (which, with all the modern poets, are Mermaids) contended for precedency with the Muses, who overcoming them, took away their wings. The quarrels between Mary and Elizabeth had the fame caufe, and the fame iffue.

-On a Dolphin's back.] This evidently marks out that diftinguishing circumftance of Mary's fortune, her marriage with the dauphin of France, fon of Henry II.

Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath.] This alludes to her great abilities of genius and learning, which rendered her the moft accomplished princefs of her age. The French writers tell us, that, while fhe was in that court, the pronounced a Latin oration in the great hall of the L'ouvre, with so much grace and eloquence, as filled the whole court with admiration.

That the rude fea grew civil at her fong,] By the rude fea is meant Scotland encircled with the ocean; which rose up in arms against the regent, while fhe was in France. But her return

home presently quieted thofe diforders: And had not her strange ill conduct afterwards more violently inflamed them, the might have paffed her whole life in peace. There is the greater justness and beauty in this image, as the vulgar opinion is, that the mermaid always fings in ftorms,

And certain fars foot madly from their spheres,

To bear the fea maid's mufick.] Thus concludes the defcription, with that remarkable circumftance of this unhappy lady's fate, the deftruction fhe brought upon feveral of the English nobility, whom the drew in to fupport her caufe. This, in the boldest expreffion of the fublime, the poet images by certain flars footing madly from their Spheres: By which he meant the earls of Northumberland and Weftmorland, who fell in her quarrel; and principally the great duke of Norfolk, whofe projected marriage with her was attended with fuch fatal confequences. Here again the reader may obferve a peculiar juftness in the imag'ry. The valgar opinion being that the mermaid allured men to deftruction by her fongs. To which opinion Shakespear alludes in his Comedy of Errors,

O train me not, fweet mermaid, with thy note,
To drown me in thy fifier's flood of tears.

On

Puck. I remember.

Ob. That very time I faw, but thou cou'dit not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 3 Cupid alarm'd a certain aim he took At a fair Veftal, throned by the weft, And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow, As it fhould pierce a hundred thousand hearts; But I might see young Cupid's fiery fhaft 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;' 5 And maidens call it Love in idleness.

On the whole, it is the nobleft and juftest allegory that was ever written. The laying it in fairy land, and out of nature, is in the character of the fpeaker. And on thefe occafions Shakespear always excels himself. He is born away by the magic of his enthufiafm, and hurries his reader along with him into these ancient regions of poetry, by that power of Verfe, which we may well fancy to be like what,

Olim Fauni Vatefque canebant.

3 Cupid ALL ARM'D: -] Surely this prefents us with a very unclaffical Image. In ancient books and monuments we never fee Cupid armed with more than his bow and arrows; and with these we find him furnished in all humours. Thefe too are the only arms he had occafion for in the prefent action; a more illuftrious one than any his friends, the claffic poets, ever employed him in. I would read therefore

Cupid ALARM'D.

The change, I make, is so small, and the beauty it gives the thought, fo great, that, I think, we are not to hefitate upon it. For how great an addition is it to the compliment on this virgin Queen's celibacy, that it alarmed the power of love. As if his empire was in danger, when the Imperial Votrefs had declared herself for a fingle life: So great an influence would her example have amongst her fex. Queen Elizabeth could not but be pleafed with the delicacy of this compliment.

4 A compliment to Queen Elizabeth.

Mr. Pope.

5 And maidens call it Love in idleness.] This is as fine a metamorphofis as any in Ovid: With a much better moral, inti mating that irregular love has only power when people are idle, or not well employed.

VOL. I.

I 2

Fetch

Fetch me that flow'r; the herb I fhew'd thee once;
The juice of it, on sleeping 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 fhe is afleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:

The next thing which fhe waking looks upon,
(Be it on lyon, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On medling monkey, or on bufie ape)
She fhall pursue it with the foul of love:
And ere I take this charm from off her fight,
(As I can take it with another herb)
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible;
And I will over-hear their conference.

S C CEN E III.

[Exit.

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

The one I'll flay; the other (a) flayeth me.
Thou told'st me, they were ftoll'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.

Mr. Pope..

6 Wood, or mad, wild, raving.
[(a) Slay, flayeth. Dr. Thirlby.Vulg. ftay, ftayeth.]

Dem.

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, lose 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 refpect 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.

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 counsel 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 purfues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tyger. Bootlefs fpeed!
When cowardife pursues, and valour flies.