We the globe can compass foon,
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 these mortals on the ground.

[Sleepers lie ftill. [Exeunt.

[Wind horns within.

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

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

Dispatch, 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,
The skies, the fountains, ev'ry region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So mufical a difcord, fuch fweet 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.

L 4

Judge,

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 observe
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 huntsmen wake them with their horps.

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

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

Thef. I pray you all, ftand 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 fpeak,)
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,

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 tafte,
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,
Thefe couples fhall eternally be knit;
And for the morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd hunting fhall 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 see these things with parted Eye; When every thing feems double.

Hel. So, methinks;

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.

As they go out, Bottom wakes.

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 own.] Hermia had observed 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 falfe one. We fhould 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 played 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 ange' es que les males, des quelles les deux qui efloient J UMELLES avoient quinze ans. Quatrieme Jour. Nov. 3.

man

man is but an afs, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was, there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had, But man is but a patch'd fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not feen; man's hand is not able to tafte, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart dream was. I will I will get Peter Quince to report what my dream was. to write a ballad of this dream; it fhall be call'd Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will fing it in the latter end of a play before the Duke; peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I fhall [Exit. fing it (a) after Death.

S CE

NE IV.

Changes to the Town.

Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.

Quin. HAVE you fent to Bottom's house? is he

come home yet?

Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, he is transported.

Flu. If he come not, then the play is marr'd. It goes not forward, doth it?

Quin. It is not poffible; you have not a man, in all Athens, able to difcharge Pyramus, but he.

Flu. No, he hath fimply the beft wit of any handycraft man in Athens.

Quin. Yea, and the best person too; and he is a very paramour for a fweet voice,

Flu. You muft fay, paragon; a paramour is (God bless us!) a thing of naught.

Enter Snug.

Snug. Mafters, the Duke is coming from the temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more

(a) after Death, Mr. Theobald, -Vulg. at ber Death.]

married;