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The skies, the fountains", every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
THE. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan
kind,

So flew'd', so sanded2; and their heads are hung

again in a still time, when there shall be no chiding. Not in these noises." See edit. 1753, p. 118. STEEvens.

7 The skies, the FOUNTAINS,] Instead of fountains, Mr. Heath would read-mountains. The change had been proposed to Mr. Theobald, who has well supported the old reading, by observing that Virgil and other poets have made rivers, lakes, &c. responsive to sound:

"Tum vero exoritur clamor, ripæque lacusque

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'Responsant circa, et cœlum tonat omne tumultu."

MALONE.

8 SEEM'D all one mutual cry:] The old copies concur in_reading-seem; but, as Hippolyta is speaking of time past, I have adopted Mr. Rowe's correction [from the second folio]. STEEVENS. 9 My hounds are bred, &c.] So, in Jonson's Entertainment at Althrope:

This

"The bow was Phoebus, and the horn

66

'By Orion often worn:

"The dog of Sparta breed, and good."

passage has been imitated by Lee, in his Theodosius:
"Then through the woods we chac'd the foaming boar,
"With hounds that opened like Thessalian bulls;
"Like tigers flew'd, and sanded as the shore,

"With ears and chests that dash'd the morning dew.”
MALONE.

1 SO FLEW'D,] Sir T. Hanmer justly remarks, that flews are the large chaps of a deep-mouth'd hound. Arthur Golding uses this word in his translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, finished 1567, a book with which Shakspeare appears to have been well acquainted. The poet is describing Acteon's hounds, b. iii. p. 34, b. 1575. Two of them, like our author's, were of Spartan kind; bred from a Spartan bitch and a Cretan dog:

66

with other twaine, that had a syre of Crete,

"And dam of Sparta: tone of them called Jollyboy, a great "And large-flew'd hound."

Shakspeare mentions Cretan hounds (with Spartan) afterwards in this speech of Theseus. And Ovid's translator, Golding, in the same description, has them both in one verse, ibid. p. 34, a:

"This latter was a hounde of Crete, the other was of Spart."

T. WARTON.

With ears that sweep away the morning dew ;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls ;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable

Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly :

Judge, when you hear.-But, soft; what nymphs are these?

EGE. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep; And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:

I wonder of their being here together.

THE. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe The rite of May; and, hearing our intent,

2 So sanded;] So marked with small spots. JOHNSON. Sanded means of a sandy colour, which is one of the true denotements of a blood-hound. STEEVENS.

3 With ears that SWEEP away the morning DEW;] So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613:

66 the fierce Thessalian hounds,

"With their flag ears, ready to sweep the dew

"From their moist breasts." STEEVENS.

4 I wonder OF-] The modern editors read-I wonder at, &c. But changes of this kind ought, I conceive, to be made with great caution; for the writings of our author's contemporaries furnish us with abundant proofs that many modes of speech, which now seem harsh to our ears, were justified by the phraseology of former times. In All's Well that Ends Well, we have:

66

66

thou dislik'st

Of virtue, for the name." MALONE. 5 they rose up early, to observe

The RITE of MAY;] The rite of this month was once so universally observed, that even authors thought their works would obtain a more favourable reception, if published on May-Day. The following is a title-page to a metrical performance by a once celebrated poet, Thomas Churchyard:

"Come bring in Maye with me,
"My Maye is fresh and greene;
"A subiectes harte, an humble mind,
"To serue a mayden Queene."

"A discourse of Rebellion, drawne forth for to warne the wanton wittes how to kepe their heads on their shoulders."

Came here in grace of our solemnity.—

But, speak, Egeus; is not this the day

That Hermia should give answer of her choice? EGE. It is, my lord.

THE. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.

Horns, and shout within. DEMEtrius, Lysander, HERMIA, and HELENA, wake and start up.

THE. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past;

Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
Lys. Pardon, my lord.

THE.

[He and the rest kneel to THESeus. I pray you all, stand up.

I know, you are two rival enemies;

How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,

To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?

Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
Half sleep, half waking: But as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly say how I came here:
But, as I think, (for truly would I speak,-
And now I do bethink me, so it is;)

I came with Hermia hither: our intent

Was, to be gone from Athens, where we might be Without the peril of the Athenian law.

EGE. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:

I beg the law, the law, upon his head.

They would have stol'n away, they would, Demetrius,

Thereby to have defeated you and me:

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Imprinted at London, in Fletestreat by William Griffith, Anno Domini 1570. The first of Maye." STEEVENS.

6- Saint VALENTINE is past;] Alluding to the old saying, that birds begin to couple on St. Valentine's day. STEEVENS.

You, of your wife; and me, of my consent;
Of my consent that she should be your wife.

DEM. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth, Of this their purpose hither, to this wood; And I in fury hither follow'd them;

Fair Helena in fancy following me'.

,

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
(But by some power it is,) my love to Hermia,
Melted as doth the snow seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gawd,
Which in my childhood I did dote upon :
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object, and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,

Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia1:

7 Fair Helena in FANCY following me.] Fancy is here taken for love or affection, and is opposed to fury, as before:

Sighs and tears, poor Fancy's followers."

Some now call that which a man takes particular delight in, his fancy. Flower-fancier, for a florist, and bird-fancier, for a lover and feeder of birds, are colloquial words. JOHNSON. So, in Barnaby Googe's Cupido Conquered, 1563; "The chyefe of them was Ismenis,

"Whom best Diana lov'd,

"And next in place sat Hyale

"Whom Fancye never mov'd."

Again, in Hymen's Triumph, a Masque, by Daniel, 1623:
"With all persuasions sought to win her mind
"To fancy him."

Again:

"Do not enforce me to accept a man

"I cannot fancy." STEEVENS.

So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece :

8

.

"A martial man to be soft fancy's slave?"

-as DOTH the snow,] The word doth, which seems to have been inadvertently omitted, was supplied by Mr. Capel. The emendation here made is confirmed by a passage in K. Henry V. : 66 as doth the melted snow

"Upon the vallies."

9 - an idle GAWD,] See note on this word, p. 178.

I

STEEVENS.

―ere I SAW Hermia:] The old copies read-ere I see.

STEEVENS.

But, like in sickness 2, did I loath this food:

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But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it,

And will for evermore be true to it.

THE. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.-
Egeus, I will overbear your will;

For in the temple, by and by with us,
These couples shall eternally be knit.
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.—
Away, with us, to Athens: Three and three,
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.-
Come, Hippolyta ".

[Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train. DEM. These things seem small, and undistintinguishable,

Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

HER. Methinks, I see these things with parted

eye,

When every thing seems double.

So methinks:

HEL.
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
Mine own, and not mine own *.

2

like IN sickness,] So, in the next line-" as in health-." The old copies erroneously read-" like a sickness." I owe the present correction to Dr. Farmer. STEEVENS.

3 Come, Hippolyta.] I suppose, for the sake of measure, we should read-" Come, my Hippolyta." STEEVENS.

4 And I have found Demetrius like a JEWEL,

Mine own, and not mine own.] Hermia had observed that things appeared double to her. Helena replies, so, methinks; and then subjoins, that Demetrius was like a jewel, her own and not her own. He is here, then, compared to something which had the property of appearing to be one thing when it was another. Not the property sure of a jewel; or, if you will, of none but a false one. We should read:

And I have found Demetrius like a gemell,

Mine own, and not mine own.

From Gemellus, a twin. For Demetrius had that night acted

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