Tita.

Set your heart at rest,
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a vot'ress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side;
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embarked traders on the flood;
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,
And grow big-bellied, with the wanton wind:
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait
(Following her womb, then rich with my young

'squire),
Would imitate ; and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And, for her sake, I do rear up her boy:
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 will patiently dance in our round, And see our moon-light 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 down-right, if I longer stay.

(Ereunt 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 bither: Thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song;
And certain stars slot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.
Puck.

I remember,
Obe. That very time I saw (but thou could'st not),
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,

Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west;
And loos'd bis Jove-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon;
And the imperial vot'ress passed 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 maideus call it, love in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd thee once ;
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb: and be thou here again,
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

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

[Exit Puck. : Obe.

Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
Anil drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
The next thing they she waking looks upon
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or ball,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape),
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
Aud ere I take this charm off from her sight
(As I can take it, with another berb),
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here! I am invisible;
And I will over-hear their conference.

Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.

Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me pot. Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

* Exempt from love.

F%

Thou told'st me, they were stol'n into this wood.
And here am I, and wood* within this wood, .
Because I cannot meet with 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 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?

Hel. Avd even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love (Aud yet a place of high respect with me), Than to be used as you use your dog?

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

Hel. And I am sick when I look not on you.'

Dem. You do impeacht your modesty too much, To leave the city, and commit yourself Into the hands of one that loves you not; To trust the opportunity of night, And the ill counsel of a desert place, With the rich worth of your virginity.

Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that. It is not night, when I do see your face, Therefore I think I am not in the pight: Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company; For you, in my respect, are all the world : Then how can it be said, I am alone, When all the world is here to look on me? Dem. l'll run from thee, and hide me in the

brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd; Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind Makes speed to catch the tiger: bootless spee When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go : Or, if thou follow me, do not believe But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, You do me miscbicf. Fy, 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. I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, To die upon the band I love so well.

(Ereunt Dem, and Hel. Obe. Fare thee well, nyinph : ere he do leave this

grove, Thou shalt fy him, and he shall seek thy love.

Re-enler Puck.

Hast thou the Aower there? Welcome, wauderer

Puck. Ay, there it is.
Obe.

I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where ox lipst and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with lush I woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in :
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.

* By

The greater cowslip.

Vigorous.

ove

Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athepian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it, when the next thing he espies
May be the lady: thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care; that he may prove
Diore fond on her, than she upon her love:
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do
so.

(Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Another part of the wood.

Enter Titania, with her train.

Tita. 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-micet 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 1: sing me now asleep; Then to your offices, and let me rest.

SONG.
1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,

Thorny hedge.hogs, be not seen;
Newts g, and blind-worms|l, do no wrong;

Come not near our fairy queen:

* A kind of dance. + Bats. Efts.

Slow-worms.

Sports.