Ob. There lies your love.

Queen. How came these things to pass?
Oh, how mine eyes do loath this vifage now!

Ob. Silence, a while; Robin, take off his head,
Titania, musick call; and ftrike more dead
Than common fleep of all these (a) five the fenfe.
Queen. Mufick, ho! mufick; fuch as charmeth
sleep.

Still Mufick.

Puck. When thou awak'ft, with thine own fool's eyes peep.

Ob. Sound, mufick; come, my Queen, take hand with me,

And rock the ground whereon these fleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;

And will to-morrow midnight folemnly

3 Dance in Duke Thefeus' houfe triumphantly,
And blefs it to all far pofterity:

There shall these pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Thefeus, all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy King, attend and mark;

I do hear the morning lark.

4

Ob. Then, my Queen, in filence fad;
Trip we after the night's fhade;

Dance in Duke Thefeus' boufe triumphantly,
And blefs it to all FAIR pofterity;] We should read,
to all FAR pofterity.

i.. to the remoteft pofterity.

4 Then, my Queen, in filence fad;

Trip we after the night's fhade.] Mr. Theobald fays, why fad? Fairies are pleafed to follow night. He will have it fade; and, fo, to mend the rhime, fpoils both the fenfe and grammar. But he mistakes the meaning of fad; it fignifies only grave, sober; and is oppofed to their dances and revels, which were now ended at the finging of the morning lark. So Winter's Tale, A&t 4 My father and the gentleman are in SAD talk. For grave or Jerious.

[(a) five, Dr. Thirlby,

We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord, and in our flight
Tell me how it came this night,
That I fleeping here was found,

With thefe mortals on the ground.

[Sleepers lie ftill. [Exeunt.

[Wind borns within.

Enter Thefeus, Egeus, Hippolita, and all his Train.

The. Go one of you, find out the forester,
For now our obfervation is perform'd,
And fince we have the vaward of the day,
My love fhall hear the musick of my hounds,
Uncouple in the western valley, go,
Difpatch, I fay, and find the forefter.

We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the mufical confufion
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Creet they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta; never did I hear
Such gallant chiding. For befides the groves,
5 The skies, the fountains, ev'ry region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So mufical a difcord, fuch sweet thunder.

Thef. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, fo fanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Theffalian bulls;
Slow in purfuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never hallo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Creet, in Sparta, nor in Theffaly :

5 The skies, the FOUNTAINS,-] I believe the true reading is mountains.

Judge, when you hear. But foft, what nymphs are these?

Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep,
And this Lyfander, this Demetrius is,
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena ;

I wonder at their being here together.

Thef. No doubt, they rofe up early to obferve
The Rite of May; and, hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our Solemnity.
But fpeak, Egeus, is not this the day,

That Hermia fhould give anfwer of her choice?
Ege. It is, my lord.

Thef. Go bid the huntfmen wake them with their
horns.

Horns, and Sbout within; Demetrius, Lyfander, Hermia, and Helena, wake and start up.

Thef. Good morrow, friends; Saint Valentine is paft: Begin thefe wood-birds but to couple now? Lyf. Pardon, my lord.

Thef. I pray you all, stand up:

I know, you two are rival enemies.
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is fo far from jealoufie,
To fleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lyf. My lord, I fhall reply amazedly,

Half fleep, half waking. But as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly fay how I came here:
But as I think, (for truly would I speak,)
And now I do bethink me, fo it is;

I came with Hermia hither. Our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be
Without the peril of th' Athenian law.

Ege. Enough, enough; my lord, you have enough; I beg the law, the law upon his head:

They would have ftoll'n away, they would, Demetrius, Thereby to have defeated you and me;

You,

You, of

your wife; and me, of my confent;

Of my confent, that the fhould 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,

6

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
But by fome power it is, my love to Hermia
Is melted as the fnow; feems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaude,
Which in my childhood I did doat 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 betrothed ere I Hermia faw;

But like a fickness did I loath this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it;
And will for ever more be true to it.

Thef. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this difcourfe we fhall hear more anon.
Egeus, I will over-bear your will;
For in the temple, by and by with us,
These couples fhall eternally be knit ;
And for the morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.
Away, with us to Athens; three and three,
We'll hold a feaft in great folemnity.

Come, Hippolita. [Exeunt Duke, Hippol. and Train.
Dem. These things feem fmall and undistinguishable,
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

Her. Methinks, I fee these things with parted Eye; When every thing feems double.

Hel. So, methinks;

6 Gaude or bawble.

Mr. Pope.

7 And I have found Demetrius like a Gemell,
Mine own, and not mine own.

Dem. It feems to me,

That yet we fleep, we dream. Do not you think,
The Duke was here, and bid us follow him?

Her. Yea, and my father.

Hel. And Hippolita.

Lyf. And he did bid us follow to the temple.
Dem. Why then, we are awake; let's follow him;
And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [Exeunt.

Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will anfwer. My next is, Moft fair Pyramus hey, ho,Peter Quince, Flute the bellows-mender! Snout the tinker! Starveling! god's my life! ftoll'n hence, and left me afleep? I have had a moft rare vifion. I had a dream, paft the wit of man to fay what dream it was:

7 And I have found Demetrius like a JEWEL,

Mine own, and not mine on ] Hermia had obferved that things appeared double to her. Helena replies, fo methinks; and then fubjoins, that Demetrius was like a jewel, her own and not her own. He is here, then, compared to fome thing which had the property of appearing to be one thing when it was another, Not the property fure of a Jewel: or, if you will, of none but a falle one. We should read,

And I have found Demetrius like a GEMELL,

Mine own, and not my own. →→→→ -From Gemellus a Twin. For Demetrius had that night acted two fuch different parts, that the could hardly think them both plaved by one and the fame Demetrius; but that there were twin Demetrius's like the two Socia's in the Farce. - From Gemellus comes the French, Gemeau or Jumeau, and in the feminine, Gemelle or Jumelle: So in Maçon's tranflation of the Decameron of Bocace Il avoit trois filles plus aage' es que les males, des quelles les deux qui eftoient JUMELLES avoient quinze ans. Quatrieme jour. Nov. 3.

man