1<html> 2<head> 3<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> 4<title>A Midsummer Night's Dream</title> 5</head> 6<body> 7<h1>A Midsummer Night's Dream</h1> 8<i> 9ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992. 10SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994. 11XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1999. 12The XML markup in this version is Copyright © 1999 Jon Bosak. 13This work may freely be distributed on condition that it not be 14modified or altered in any way. 15</i><h2>Parts - Dramatis Personae</h2> 16<p><b><i>THESEUS, Duke of Athens.</i></b></p> 17<p><b><i>EGEUS, father to Hermia.</i></b></p> 18<p><b><i>LYSANDER</i></b></p> 19<p><b><i>DEMETRIUS</i></b></p> 20<p><b><i>PHILOSTRATE, master of the revels to Theseus.</i></b></p> 21<p><b><i>QUINCE, a carpenter.</i></b></p> 22<p><b><i>SNUG, a joiner.</i></b></p> 23<p><b><i>BOTTOM, a weaver.</i></b></p> 24<p><b><i>FLUTE, a bellows-mender.</i></b></p> 25<p><b><i>SNOUT, a tinker.</i></b></p> 26<p><b><i>STARVELING, a tailor.</i></b></p> 27<p><b><i>HIPPOLYTA, queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus.</i></b></p> 28<p><b><i>HERMIA, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander.</i></b></p> 29<p><b><i>HELENA, in love with Demetrius.</i></b></p> 30<p><b><i>OBERON, king of the fairies.</i></b></p> 31<p><b><i>TITANIA, queen of the fairies.</i></b></p> 32<p><b><i>PUCK, or Robin Goodfellow.</i></b></p> 33<p><b><i>PEASEBLOSSOM</i></b></p> 34<p><b><i>COBWEB</i></b></p> 35<p><b><i>MOTH</i></b></p> 36<p><b><i>MUSTARDSEED</i></b></p> 37<p><b><i>Other fairies attending their King and Queen.</i></b></p> 38<p><b><i>Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta.</i></b></p> 39<h3>ACT I</h3> 40<h3>SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.</h3> 41<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 42Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour<br> 43Draws on apace; four happy days bring in<br> 44Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow<br> 45This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,<br> 46Like to a step-dame or a dowager<br> 47Long withering out a young man revenue.<br> 48 49<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 50Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;<br> 51Four nights will quickly dream away the time;<br> 52And then the moon, like to a silver bow<br> 53New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night<br> 54Of our solemnities.<br> 55 56<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 57Go, Philostrate,<br> 58Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;<br> 59Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;<br> 60Turn melancholy forth to funerals;<br> 61The pale companion is not for our pomp.<br> 62Exit PHILOSTRATE 63Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,<br> 64And won thy love, doing thee injuries;<br> 65But I will wed thee in another key,<br> 66With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.<br> 67 68<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 69Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!<br> 70 71<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 72Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?<br> 73 74<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 75Full of vexation come I, with complaint<br> 76Against my child, my daughter Hermia.<br> 77Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,<br> 78This man hath my consent to marry her.<br> 79Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,<br> 80This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;<br> 81Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,<br> 82And interchanged love-tokens with my child:<br> 83Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,<br> 84With feigning voice verses of feigning love,<br> 85And stolen the impression of her fantasy<br> 86With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,<br> 87Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers<br> 88Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:<br> 89With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,<br> 90Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,<br> 91To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,<br> 92Be it so she; will not here before your grace<br> 93Consent to marry with Demetrius,<br> 94I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,<br> 95As she is mine, I may dispose of her:<br> 96Which shall be either to this gentleman<br> 97Or to her death, according to our law<br> 98Immediately provided in that case.<br> 99 100<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 101What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:<br> 102To you your father should be as a god;<br> 103One that composed your beauties, yea, and one<br> 104To whom you are but as a form in wax<br> 105By him imprinted and within his power<br> 106To leave the figure or disfigure it.<br> 107Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.<br> 108 109<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 110So is Lysander.<br> 111 112<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 113In himself he is;<br> 114But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,<br> 115The other must be held the worthier.<br> 116 117<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 118I would my father look'd but with my eyes.<br> 119 120<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 121Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.<br> 122 123<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 124I do entreat your grace to pardon me.<br> 125I know not by what power I am made bold,<br> 126Nor how it may concern my modesty,<br> 127In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;<br> 128But I beseech your grace that I may know<br> 129The worst that may befall me in this case,<br> 130If I refuse to wed Demetrius.<br> 131 132<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 133Either to die the death or to abjure<br> 134For ever the society of men.<br> 135Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;<br> 136Know of your youth, examine well your blood,<br> 137Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,<br> 138You can endure the livery of a nun,<br> 139For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,<br> 140To live a barren sister all your life,<br> 141Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.<br> 142Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,<br> 143To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;<br> 144But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,<br> 145Than that which withering on the virgin thorn<br> 146Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.<br> 147 148<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 149So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,<br> 150Ere I will my virgin patent up<br> 151Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke<br> 152My soul consents not to give sovereignty.<br> 153 154<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 155Take time to pause; and, by the nest new moon--<br> 156The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,<br> 157For everlasting bond of fellowship--<br> 158Upon that day either prepare to die<br> 159For disobedience to your father's will,<br> 160Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;<br> 161Or on Diana's altar to protest<br> 162For aye austerity and single life.<br> 163 164<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 165Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield<br> 166Thy crazed title to my certain right.<br> 167 168<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 169You have her father's love, Demetrius;<br> 170Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.<br> 171 172<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 173Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,<br> 174And what is mine my love shall render him.<br> 175And she is mine, and all my right of her<br> 176I do estate unto Demetrius.<br> 177 178<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 179I am, my lord, as well derived as he,<br> 180As well possess'd; my love is more than his;<br> 181My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,<br> 182If not with vantage, as Demetrius';<br> 183And, which is more than all these boasts can be,<br> 184I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:<br> 185Why should not I then prosecute my right?<br> 186Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,<br> 187Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,<br> 188And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,<br> 189Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,<br> 190Upon this spotted and inconstant man.<br> 191 192<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 193I must confess that I have heard so much,<br> 194And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;<br> 195But, being over-full of self-affairs,<br> 196My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;<br> 197And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,<br> 198I have some private schooling for you both.<br> 199For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself<br> 200To fit your fancies to your father's will;<br> 201Or else the law of Athens yields you up--<br> 202Which by no means we may extenuate--<br> 203To death, or to a vow of single life.<br> 204Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?<br> 205Demetrius and Egeus, go along:<br> 206I must employ you in some business<br> 207Against our nuptial and confer with you<br> 208Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.<br> 209 210<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 211With duty and desire we follow you.<br> 212 213<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 214How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?<br> 215How chance the roses there do fade so fast?<br> 216 217<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 218Belike for want of rain, which I could well<br> 219Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.<br> 220 221<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 222Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,<br> 223Could ever hear by tale or history,<br> 224The course of true love never did run smooth;<br> 225But, either it was different in blood,--<br> 226 227<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 228O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.<br> 229 230<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 231Or else misgraffed in respect of years,--<br> 232 233<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 234O spite! too old to be engaged to young.<br> 235 236<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 237Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,--<br> 238 239<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 240O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.<br> 241 242<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 243Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,<br> 244War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,<br> 245Making it momentany as a sound,<br> 246Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;<br> 247Brief as the lightning in the collied night,<br> 248That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,<br> 249And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'<br> 250The jaws of darkness do devour it up:<br> 251So quick bright things come to confusion.<br> 252 253<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 254If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,<br> 255It stands as an edict in destiny:<br> 256Then let us teach our trial patience,<br> 257Because it is a customary cross,<br> 258As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,<br> 259Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.<br> 260 261<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 262A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.<br> 263I have a widow aunt, a dowager<br> 264Of great revenue, and she hath no child:<br> 265From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;<br> 266And she respects me as her only son.<br> 267There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;<br> 268And to that place the sharp Athenian law<br> 269Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,<br> 270Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;<br> 271And in the wood, a league without the town,<br> 272Where I did meet thee once with Helena,<br> 273To do observance to a morn of May,<br> 274There will I stay for thee.<br> 275 276<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 277My good Lysander!<br> 278I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,<br> 279By his best arrow with the golden head,<br> 280By the simplicity of Venus' doves,<br> 281By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,<br> 282And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,<br> 283When the false Troyan under sail was seen,<br> 284By all the vows that ever men have broke,<br> 285In number more than ever women spoke,<br> 286In that same place thou hast appointed me,<br> 287To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.<br> 288 289<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 290Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.<br> 291 292<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 293God speed fair Helena! whither away?<br> 294 295<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 296Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.<br> 297Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!<br> 298Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air<br> 299More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,<br> 300When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.<br> 301Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,<br> 302Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;<br> 303My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,<br> 304My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.<br> 305Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,<br> 306The rest I'd give to be to you translated.<br> 307O, teach me how you look, and with what art<br> 308You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.<br> 309 310<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 311I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.<br> 312 313<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 314O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!<br> 315 316<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 317I give him curses, yet he gives me love.<br> 318 319<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 320O that my prayers could such affection move!<br> 321 322<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 323The more I hate, the more he follows me.<br> 324 325<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 326The more I love, the more he hateth me.<br> 327 328<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 329His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.<br> 330 331<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 332None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!<br> 333 334<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 335Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;<br> 336Lysander and myself will fly this place.<br> 337Before the time I did Lysander see,<br> 338Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:<br> 339O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,<br> 340That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!<br> 341 342<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 343Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:<br> 344To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold<br> 345Her silver visage in the watery glass,<br> 346Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,<br> 347A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,<br> 348Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.<br> 349 350<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 351And in the wood, where often you and I<br> 352Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,<br> 353Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,<br> 354There my Lysander and myself shall meet;<br> 355And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,<br> 356To seek new friends and stranger companies.<br> 357Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;<br> 358And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!<br> 359Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight<br> 360From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight.<br> 361 362<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 363I will, my Hermia.<br> 364Exit HERMIA 365Helena, adieu:<br> 366As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!<br> 367 368<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 369How happy some o'er other some can be!<br> 370Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.<br> 371But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;<br> 372He will not know what all but he do know:<br> 373And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,<br> 374So I, admiring of his qualities:<br> 375Things base and vile, folding no quantity,<br> 376Love can transpose to form and dignity:<br> 377Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;<br> 378And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:<br> 379Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;<br> 380Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:<br> 381And therefore is Love said to be a child,<br> 382Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.<br> 383As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,<br> 384So the boy Love is perjured every where:<br> 385For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,<br> 386He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;<br> 387And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,<br> 388So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.<br> 389I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:<br> 390Then to the wood will he to-morrow night<br> 391Pursue her; and for this intelligence<br> 392If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:<br> 393But herein mean I to enrich my pain,<br> 394To have his sight thither and back again.<br> 395<h3>SCENE II. Athens. QUINCE'S house.</h3> 396<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 397Is all our company here?<br> 398 399<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 400You were best to call them generally, man by man,<br> 401according to the scrip.<br> 402 403<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 404Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is<br> 405thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our<br> 406interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his<br> 407wedding-day at night.<br> 408 409<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 410First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats<br> 411on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow<br> 412to a point.<br> 413 414<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 415Marry, our play is, The most lamentable comedy, and<br> 416most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.<br> 417 418<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 419A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a<br> 420merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your<br> 421actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves.<br> 422 423<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 424Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver.<br> 425 426<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 427Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.<br> 428 429<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 430You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.<br> 431 432<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 433What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?<br> 434 435<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 436A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love.<br> 437 438<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 439That will ask some tears in the true performing of<br> 440it: if I do it, let the audience look to their<br> 441eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some<br> 442measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a<br> 443tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to<br> 444tear a cat in, to make all split.<br> 445The raging rocks<br> 446And shivering shocks<br> 447Shall break the locks<br> 448Of prison gates;<br> 449And Phibbus' car<br> 450Shall shine from far<br> 451And make and mar<br> 452The foolish Fates.<br> 453This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players.<br> 454This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is<br> 455more condoling.<br> 456 457<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 458Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.<br> 459 460<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 461Here, Peter Quince.<br> 462 463<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 464Flute, you must take Thisby on you.<br> 465 466<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 467What is Thisby? a wandering knight?<br> 468 469<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 470It is the lady that Pyramus must love.<br> 471 472<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 473Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.<br> 474 475<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 476That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and<br> 477you may speak as small as you will.<br> 478 479<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 480An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll<br> 481speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne,<br> 482Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear,<br> 483and lady dear!'<br> 484 485<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 486No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.<br> 487 488<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 489Well, proceed.<br> 490 491<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 492Robin Starveling, the tailor.<br> 493 494<p><b>STARVELING</b></p> 495Here, Peter Quince.<br> 496 497<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 498Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.<br> 499Tom Snout, the tinker.<br> 500 501<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 502Here, Peter Quince.<br> 503 504<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 505You, Pyramus' father: myself, Thisby's father:<br> 506Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I<br> 507hope, here is a play fitted.<br> 508 509<p><b>SNUG</b></p> 510Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it<br> 511be, give it me, for I am slow of study.<br> 512 513<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 514You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.<br> 515 516<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 517Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will<br> 518do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar,<br> 519that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again,<br> 520let him roar again.'<br> 521 522<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 523An you should do it too terribly, you would fright<br> 524the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek;<br> 525and that were enough to hang us all.<br> 526 527<p><b>ALL</b></p> 528That would hang us, every mother's son.<br> 529 530<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 531I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the<br> 532ladies out of their wits, they would have no more<br> 533discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my<br> 534voice so that I will roar you as gently as any<br> 535sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any<br> 536nightingale.<br> 537 538<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 539You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a<br> 540sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a<br> 541summer's day; a most lovely gentleman-like man:<br> 542therefore you must needs play Pyramus.<br> 543 544<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 545Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best<br> 546to play it in?<br> 547 548<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 549Why, what you will.<br> 550 551<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 552I will discharge it in either your straw-colour<br> 553beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain<br> 554beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your<br> 555perfect yellow.<br> 556 557<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 558Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and<br> 559then you will play bare-faced. But, masters, here<br> 560are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request<br> 561you and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night;<br> 562and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the<br> 563town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse, for if<br> 564we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with<br> 565company, and our devices known. In the meantime I<br> 566will draw a bill of properties, such as our play<br> 567wants. I pray you, fail me not.<br> 568 569<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 570We will meet; and there we may rehearse most<br> 571obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu.<br> 572 573<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 574At the duke's oak we meet.<br> 575 576<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 577Enough; hold or cut bow-strings.<br> 578<h3>ACT II</h3> 579<h3>SCENE I. A wood near Athens.</h3> 580<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 581How now, spirit! whither wander you?<br> 582 583<p><b>Fairy</b></p> 584Over hill, over dale,<br> 585Thorough bush, thorough brier,<br> 586Over park, over pale,<br> 587Thorough flood, thorough fire,<br> 588I do wander everywhere,<br> 589Swifter than the moon's sphere;<br> 590And I serve the fairy queen,<br> 591To dew her orbs upon the green.<br> 592The cowslips tall her pensioners be:<br> 593In their gold coats spots you see;<br> 594Those be rubies, fairy favours,<br> 595In those freckles live their savours:<br> 596I must go seek some dewdrops here<br> 597And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.<br> 598Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:<br> 599Our queen and all our elves come here anon.<br> 600 601<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 602The king doth keep his revels here to-night:<br> 603Take heed the queen come not within his sight;<br> 604For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,<br> 605Because that she as her attendant hath<br> 606A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king;<br> 607She never had so sweet a changeling;<br> 608And jealous Oberon would have the child<br> 609Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;<br> 610But she perforce withholds the loved boy,<br> 611Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy:<br> 612And now they never meet in grove or green,<br> 613By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,<br> 614But, they do square, that all their elves for fear<br> 615Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.<br> 616 617<p><b>Fairy</b></p> 618Either I mistake your shape and making quite,<br> 619Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite<br> 620Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he<br> 621That frights the maidens of the villagery;<br> 622Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern<br> 623And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;<br> 624And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;<br> 625Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?<br> 626Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,<br> 627You do their work, and they shall have good luck:<br> 628Are not you he?<br> 629 630<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 631Thou speak'st aright;<br> 632I am that merry wanderer of the night.<br> 633I jest to Oberon and make him smile<br> 634When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,<br> 635Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:<br> 636And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,<br> 637In very likeness of a roasted crab,<br> 638And when she drinks, against her lips I bob<br> 639And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.<br> 640The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,<br> 641Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;<br> 642Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,<br> 643And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;<br> 644And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,<br> 645And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear<br> 646A merrier hour was never wasted there.<br> 647But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon.<br> 648 649<p><b>Fairy</b></p> 650And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!<br> 651 652<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 653Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.<br> 654 655<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 656What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence:<br> 657I have forsworn his bed and company.<br> 658 659<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 660Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?<br> 661 662<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 663Then I must be thy lady: but I know<br> 664When thou hast stolen away from fairy land,<br> 665And in the shape of Corin sat all day,<br> 666Playing on pipes of corn and versing love<br> 667To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,<br> 668Come from the farthest Steppe of India?<br> 669But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,<br> 670Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,<br> 671To Theseus must be wedded, and you come<br> 672To give their bed joy and prosperity.<br> 673 674<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 675How canst thou thus for shame, Titania,<br> 676Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,<br> 677Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?<br> 678Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night<br> 679From Perigenia, whom he ravished?<br> 680And make him with fair AEgle break his faith,<br> 681With Ariadne and Antiopa?<br> 682 683<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 684These are the forgeries of jealousy:<br> 685And never, since the middle summer's spring,<br> 686Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,<br> 687By paved fountain or by rushy brook,<br> 688Or in the beached margent of the sea,<br> 689To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,<br> 690But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.<br> 691Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,<br> 692As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea<br> 693Contagious fogs; which falling in the land<br> 694Have every pelting river made so proud<br> 695That they have overborne their continents:<br> 696The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,<br> 697The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn<br> 698Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard;<br> 699The fold stands empty in the drowned field,<br> 700And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;<br> 701The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud,<br> 702And the quaint mazes in the wanton green<br> 703For lack of tread are undistinguishable:<br> 704The human mortals want their winter here;<br> 705No night is now with hymn or carol blest:<br> 706Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,<br> 707Pale in her anger, washes all the air,<br> 708That rheumatic diseases do abound:<br> 709And thorough this distemperature we see<br> 710The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts<br> 711Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,<br> 712And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown<br> 713An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds<br> 714Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,<br> 715The childing autumn, angry winter, change<br> 716Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,<br> 717By their increase, now knows not which is which:<br> 718And this same progeny of evils comes<br> 719From our debate, from our dissension;<br> 720We are their parents and original.<br> 721 722<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 723Do you amend it then; it lies in you:<br> 724Why should Titania cross her Oberon?<br> 725I do but beg a little changeling boy,<br> 726To be my henchman.<br> 727 728<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 729Set your heart at rest:<br> 730The fairy land buys not the child of me.<br> 731His mother was a votaress of my order:<br> 732And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,<br> 733Full often hath she gossip'd by my side,<br> 734And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,<br> 735Marking the embarked traders on the flood,<br> 736When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive<br> 737And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;<br> 738Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait<br> 739Following,--her womb then rich with my young squire,--<br> 740Would imitate, and sail upon the land,<br> 741To fetch me trifles, and return again,<br> 742As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.<br> 743But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;<br> 744And for her sake do I rear up her boy,<br> 745And for her sake I will not part with him.<br> 746 747<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 748How long within this wood intend you stay?<br> 749 750<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 751Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day.<br> 752If you will patiently dance in our round<br> 753And see our moonlight revels, go with us;<br> 754If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.<br> 755 756<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 757Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.<br> 758 759<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 760Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away!<br> 761We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.<br> 762 763<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 764Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove<br> 765Till I torment thee for this injury.<br> 766My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberest<br> 767Since once I sat upon a promontory,<br> 768And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back<br> 769Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath<br> 770That the rude sea grew civil at her song<br> 771And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,<br> 772To hear the sea-maid's music.<br> 773 774<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 775I remember.<br> 776 777<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 778That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,<br> 779Flying between the cold moon and the earth,<br> 780Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took<br> 781At a fair vestal throned by the west,<br> 782And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,<br> 783As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;<br> 784But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft<br> 785Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,<br> 786And the imperial votaress passed on,<br> 787In maiden meditation, fancy-free.<br> 788Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:<br> 789It fell upon a little western flower,<br> 790Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,<br> 791And maidens call it love-in-idleness.<br> 792Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:<br> 793The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid<br> 794Will make or man or woman madly dote<br> 795Upon the next live creature that it sees.<br> 796Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again<br> 797Ere the leviathan can swim a league.<br> 798 799<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 800I'll put a girdle round about the earth<br> 801In forty minutes.<br> 802 803<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 804Having once this juice,<br> 805I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,<br> 806And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.<br> 807The next thing then she waking looks upon,<br> 808Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,<br> 809On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,<br> 810She shall pursue it with the soul of love:<br> 811And ere I take this charm from off her sight,<br> 812As I can take it with another herb,<br> 813I'll make her render up her page to me.<br> 814But who comes here? I am invisible;<br> 815And I will overhear their conference.<br> 816 817<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 818I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.<br> 819Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?<br> 820The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.<br> 821Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;<br> 822And here am I, and wode within this wood,<br> 823Because I cannot meet my Hermia.<br> 824Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.<br> 825 826<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 827You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;<br> 828But yet you draw not iron, for my heart<br> 829Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,<br> 830And I shall have no power to follow you.<br> 831 832<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 833Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?<br> 834Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth<br> 835Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?<br> 836 837<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 838And even for that do I love you the more.<br> 839I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,<br> 840The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:<br> 841Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,<br> 842Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,<br> 843Unworthy as I am, to follow you.<br> 844What worser place can I beg in your love,--<br> 845And yet a place of high respect with me,--<br> 846Than to be used as you use your dog?<br> 847 848<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 849Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit;<br> 850For I am sick when I do look on thee.<br> 851 852<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 853And I am sick when I look not on you.<br> 854 855<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 856You do impeach your modesty too much,<br> 857To leave the city and commit yourself<br> 858Into the hands of one that loves you not;<br> 859To trust the opportunity of night<br> 860And the ill counsel of a desert place<br> 861With the rich worth of your virginity.<br> 862 863<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 864Your virtue is my privilege: for that<br> 865It is not night when I do see your face,<br> 866Therefore I think I am not in the night;<br> 867Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,<br> 868For you in my respect are all the world:<br> 869Then how can it be said I am alone,<br> 870When all the world is here to look on me?<br> 871 872<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 873I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,<br> 874And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.<br> 875 876<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 877The wildest hath not such a heart as you.<br> 878Run when you will, the story shall be changed:<br> 879Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;<br> 880The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind<br> 881Makes speed to catch the tiger; bootless speed,<br> 882When cowardice pursues and valour flies.<br> 883 884<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 885I will not stay thy questions; let me go:<br> 886Or, if thou follow me, do not believe<br> 887But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.<br> 888 889<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 890Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,<br> 891You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!<br> 892Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:<br> 893We cannot fight for love, as men may do;<br> 894We should be wood and were not made to woo.<br> 895Exit DEMETRIUS 896I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,<br> 897To die upon the hand I love so well.<br> 898 899<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 900Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,<br> 901Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love.<br> 902Re-enter PUCK 903Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.<br> 904 905<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 906Ay, there it is.<br> 907 908<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 909I pray thee, give it me.<br> 910I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,<br> 911Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,<br> 912Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,<br> 913With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:<br> 914There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,<br> 915Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;<br> 916And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,<br> 917Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:<br> 918And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,<br> 919And make her full of hateful fantasies.<br> 920Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:<br> 921A sweet Athenian lady is in love<br> 922With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;<br> 923But do it when the next thing he espies<br> 924May be the lady: thou shalt know the man<br> 925By the Athenian garments he hath on.<br> 926Effect it with some care, that he may prove<br> 927More fond on her than she upon her love:<br> 928And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.<br> 929 930<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 931Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.<br> 932<h3>SCENE II. Another part of the wood.</h3> 933<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 934Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;<br> 935Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;<br> 936Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,<br> 937Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,<br> 938To make my small elves coats, and some keep back<br> 939The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders<br> 940At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;<br> 941Then to your offices and let me rest.<br> 942The Fairies sing 943You spotted snakes with double tongue,<br> 944Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;<br> 945Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,<br> 946Come not near our fairy queen.<br> 947Philomel, with melody<br> 948Sing in our sweet lullaby;<br> 949Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:<br> 950Never harm,<br> 951Nor spell nor charm,<br> 952Come our lovely lady nigh;<br> 953So, good night, with lullaby.<br> 954Weaving spiders, come not here;<br> 955Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!<br> 956Beetles black, approach not near;<br> 957Worm nor snail, do no offence.<br> 958Philomel, with melody, &c.<br> 959 960<p><b>Fairy</b></p> 961Hence, away! now all is well:<br> 962One aloof stand sentinel.<br> 963 964<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 965What thou seest when thou dost wake,<br> 966Do it for thy true-love take,<br> 967Love and languish for his sake:<br> 968Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,<br> 969Pard, or boar with bristled hair,<br> 970In thy eye that shall appear<br> 971When thou wakest, it is thy dear:<br> 972Wake when some vile thing is near.<br> 973 974<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 975Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;<br> 976And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:<br> 977We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,<br> 978And tarry for the comfort of the day.<br> 979 980<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 981Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;<br> 982For I upon this bank will rest my head.<br> 983 984<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 985One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;<br> 986One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.<br> 987 988<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 989Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,<br> 990Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.<br> 991 992<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 993O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!<br> 994Love takes the meaning in love's conference.<br> 995I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit<br> 996So that but one heart we can make of it;<br> 997Two bosoms interchained with an oath;<br> 998So then two bosoms and a single troth.<br> 999Then by your side no bed-room me deny;<br> 1000For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.<br> 1001 1002<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1003Lysander riddles very prettily:<br> 1004Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,<br> 1005If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.<br> 1006But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy<br> 1007Lie further off; in human modesty,<br> 1008Such separation as may well be said<br> 1009Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,<br> 1010So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:<br> 1011Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!<br> 1012 1013<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1014Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;<br> 1015And then end life when I end loyalty!<br> 1016Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!<br> 1017 1018<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1019With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!<br> 1020 1021<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1022Through the forest have I gone.<br> 1023But Athenian found I none,<br> 1024On whose eyes I might approve<br> 1025This flower's force in stirring love.<br> 1026Night and silence.--Who is here?<br> 1027Weeds of Athens he doth wear:<br> 1028This is he, my master said,<br> 1029Despised the Athenian maid;<br> 1030And here the maiden, sleeping sound,<br> 1031On the dank and dirty ground.<br> 1032Pretty soul! she durst not lie<br> 1033Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.<br> 1034Churl, upon thy eyes I throw<br> 1035All the power this charm doth owe.<br> 1036When thou wakest, let love forbid<br> 1037Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:<br> 1038So awake when I am gone;<br> 1039For I must now to Oberon.<br> 1040 1041<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1042Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.<br> 1043 1044<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1045I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.<br> 1046 1047<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1048O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.<br> 1049 1050<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1051Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.<br> 1052 1053<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1054O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!<br> 1055The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.<br> 1056Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;<br> 1057For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.<br> 1058How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:<br> 1059If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.<br> 1060No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;<br> 1061For beasts that meet me run away for fear:<br> 1062Therefore no marvel though Demetrius<br> 1063Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.<br> 1064What wicked and dissembling glass of mine<br> 1065Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?<br> 1066But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!<br> 1067Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.<br> 1068Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.<br> 1069 1070<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1071Awaking And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.<br> 1072Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,<br> 1073That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.<br> 1074Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word<br> 1075Is that vile name to perish on my sword!<br> 1076 1077<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1078Do not say so, Lysander; say not so<br> 1079What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?<br> 1080Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.<br> 1081 1082<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1083Content with Hermia! No; I do repent<br> 1084The tedious minutes I with her have spent.<br> 1085Not Hermia but Helena I love:<br> 1086Who will not change a raven for a dove?<br> 1087The will of man is by his reason sway'd;<br> 1088And reason says you are the worthier maid.<br> 1089Things growing are not ripe until their season<br> 1090So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;<br> 1091And touching now the point of human skill,<br> 1092Reason becomes the marshal to my will<br> 1093And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook<br> 1094Love's stories written in love's richest book.<br> 1095 1096<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1097Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?<br> 1098When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?<br> 1099Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,<br> 1100That I did never, no, nor never can,<br> 1101Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,<br> 1102But you must flout my insufficiency?<br> 1103Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,<br> 1104In such disdainful manner me to woo.<br> 1105But fare you well: perforce I must confess<br> 1106I thought you lord of more true gentleness.<br> 1107O, that a lady, of one man refused.<br> 1108Should of another therefore be abused!<br> 1109 1110<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1111She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there:<br> 1112And never mayst thou come Lysander near!<br> 1113For as a surfeit of the sweetest things<br> 1114The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,<br> 1115Or as tie heresies that men do leave<br> 1116Are hated most of those they did deceive,<br> 1117So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,<br> 1118Of all be hated, but the most of me!<br> 1119And, all my powers, address your love and might<br> 1120To honour Helen and to be her knight!<br> 1121 1122<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1123Awaking Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best<br> 1124To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!<br> 1125Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!<br> 1126Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:<br> 1127Methought a serpent eat my heart away,<br> 1128And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.<br> 1129Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!<br> 1130What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?<br> 1131Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;<br> 1132Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.<br> 1133No? then I well perceive you all not nigh<br> 1134Either death or you I'll find immediately.<br> 1135<h3>ACT III</h3> 1136<h3>SCENE I. The wood. TITANIA lying asleep.</h3> 1137<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1138Are we all met?<br> 1139 1140<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1141Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place<br> 1142for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our<br> 1143stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house; and we<br> 1144will do it in action as we will do it before the duke.<br> 1145 1146<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1147Peter Quince,--<br> 1148 1149<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1150What sayest thou, bully Bottom?<br> 1151 1152<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1153There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and<br> 1154Thisby that will never please. First, Pyramus must<br> 1155draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies<br> 1156cannot abide. How answer you that?<br> 1157 1158<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 1159By'r lakin, a parlous fear.<br> 1160 1161<p><b>STARVELING</b></p> 1162I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.<br> 1163 1164<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1165Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.<br> 1166Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to<br> 1167say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that<br> 1168Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more<br> 1169better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not<br> 1170Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put them<br> 1171out of fear.<br> 1172 1173<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1174Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be<br> 1175written in eight and six.<br> 1176 1177<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1178No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.<br> 1179 1180<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 1181Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?<br> 1182 1183<p><b>STARVELING</b></p> 1184I fear it, I promise you.<br> 1185 1186<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1187Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to<br> 1188bring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies, is a<br> 1189most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful<br> 1190wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to<br> 1191look to 't.<br> 1192 1193<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 1194Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.<br> 1195 1196<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1197Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must<br> 1198be seen through the lion's neck: and he himself<br> 1199must speak through, saying thus, or to the same<br> 1200defect,--'Ladies,'--or 'Fair-ladies--I would wish<br> 1201You,'--or 'I would request you,'--or 'I would<br> 1202entreat you,--not to fear, not to tremble: my life<br> 1203for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it<br> 1204were pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am a<br> 1205man as other men are;' and there indeed let him name<br> 1206his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.<br> 1207 1208<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1209Well it shall be so. But there is two hard things;<br> 1210that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for,<br> 1211you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.<br> 1212 1213<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 1214Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?<br> 1215 1216<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1217A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanac; find<br> 1218out moonshine, find out moonshine.<br> 1219 1220<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1221Yes, it doth shine that night.<br> 1222 1223<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1224Why, then may you leave a casement of the great<br> 1225chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon<br> 1226may shine in at the casement.<br> 1227 1228<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1229Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns<br> 1230and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to<br> 1231present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is<br> 1232another thing: we must have a wall in the great<br> 1233chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, did<br> 1234talk through the chink of a wall.<br> 1235 1236<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 1237You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?<br> 1238 1239<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1240Some man or other must present Wall: and let him<br> 1241have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast<br> 1242about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his<br> 1243fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus<br> 1244and Thisby whisper.<br> 1245 1246<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1247If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down,<br> 1248every mother's son, and rehearse your parts.<br> 1249Pyramus, you begin: when you have spoken your<br> 1250speech, enter into that brake: and so every one<br> 1251according to his cue.<br> 1252 1253<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1254What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,<br> 1255So near the cradle of the fairy queen?<br> 1256What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;<br> 1257An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.<br> 1258 1259<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1260Speak, Pyramus. Thisby, stand forth.<br> 1261 1262<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1263Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,--<br> 1264 1265<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1266Odours, odours.<br> 1267 1268<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1269--odours savours sweet:<br> 1270So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.<br> 1271But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,<br> 1272And by and by I will to thee appear.<br> 1273 1274<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1275A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.<br> 1276 1277<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 1278Must I speak now?<br> 1279 1280<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1281Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand he goes<br> 1282but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.<br> 1283 1284<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 1285Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,<br> 1286Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,<br> 1287Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew,<br> 1288As true as truest horse that yet would never tire,<br> 1289I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.<br> 1290 1291<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1292'Ninus' tomb,' man: why, you must not speak that<br> 1293yet; that you answer to Pyramus: you speak all your<br> 1294part at once, cues and all Pyramus enter: your cue<br> 1295is past; it is, 'never tire.'<br> 1296 1297<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 1298O,--As true as truest horse, that yet would<br> 1299never tire.<br> 1300 1301<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1302If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine.<br> 1303 1304<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1305O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray,<br> 1306masters! fly, masters! Help!<br> 1307 1308<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1309I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,<br> 1310Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:<br> 1311Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,<br> 1312A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;<br> 1313And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,<br> 1314Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.<br> 1315 1316<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1317Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to<br> 1318make me afeard.<br> 1319 1320<p><b>SNOUT</b></p> 1321O Bottom, thou art changed! what do I see on thee?<br> 1322 1323<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1324What do you see? you see an asshead of your own, do<br> 1325you?<br> 1326 1327<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 1328Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art<br> 1329translated.<br> 1330 1331<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1332I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;<br> 1333to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir<br> 1334from this place, do what they can: I will walk up<br> 1335and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear<br> 1336I am not afraid.<br> 1337Sings 1338The ousel cock so black of hue,<br> 1339With orange-tawny bill,<br> 1340The throstle with his note so true,<br> 1341The wren with little quill,--<br> 1342 1343<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 1344Awaking What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?<br> 1345 1346<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1347Sings<br> 1348The finch, the sparrow and the lark,<br> 1349The plain-song cuckoo gray,<br> 1350Whose note full many a man doth mark,<br> 1351And dares not answer nay;--<br> 1352for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish<br> 1353a bird? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry<br> 1354'cuckoo' never so?<br> 1355 1356<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 1357I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:<br> 1358Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;<br> 1359So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;<br> 1360And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me<br> 1361On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.<br> 1362 1363<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1364Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason<br> 1365for that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and<br> 1366love keep little company together now-a-days; the<br> 1367more the pity that some honest neighbours will not<br> 1368make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.<br> 1369 1370<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 1371Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.<br> 1372 1373<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1374Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out<br> 1375of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.<br> 1376 1377<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 1378Out of this wood do not desire to go:<br> 1379Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.<br> 1380I am a spirit of no common rate;<br> 1381The summer still doth tend upon my state;<br> 1382And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;<br> 1383I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,<br> 1384And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,<br> 1385And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;<br> 1386And I will purge thy mortal grossness so<br> 1387That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.<br> 1388Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!<br> 1389 1390<p><b>PEASEBLOSSOM</b></p> 1391Ready.<br> 1392 1393<p><b>COBWEB</b></p> 1394And I.<br> 1395 1396<p><b>MOTH</b></p> 1397And I.<br> 1398 1399<p><b>MUSTARDSEED</b></p> 1400And I.<br> 1401 1402<p><b>ALL</b></p> 1403Where shall we go?<br> 1404 1405<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 1406Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;<br> 1407Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;<br> 1408Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,<br> 1409With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;<br> 1410The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,<br> 1411And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs<br> 1412And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,<br> 1413To have my love to bed and to arise;<br> 1414And pluck the wings from Painted butterflies<br> 1415To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:<br> 1416Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.<br> 1417 1418<p><b>PEASEBLOSSOM</b></p> 1419Hail, mortal!<br> 1420 1421<p><b>COBWEB</b></p> 1422Hail!<br> 1423 1424<p><b>MOTH</b></p> 1425Hail!<br> 1426 1427<p><b>MUSTARDSEED</b></p> 1428Hail!<br> 1429 1430<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1431I cry your worship's mercy, heartily: I beseech your<br> 1432worship's name.<br> 1433 1434<p><b>COBWEB</b></p> 1435Cobweb.<br> 1436 1437<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1438I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master<br> 1439Cobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with<br> 1440you. Your name, honest gentleman?<br> 1441 1442<p><b>PEASEBLOSSOM</b></p> 1443Peaseblossom.<br> 1444 1445<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1446I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your<br> 1447mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good<br> 1448Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more<br> 1449acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, sir?<br> 1450 1451<p><b>MUSTARDSEED</b></p> 1452Mustardseed.<br> 1453 1454<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 1455Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:<br> 1456that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath<br> 1457devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise<br> 1458you your kindred had made my eyes water ere now. I<br> 1459desire your more acquaintance, good Master<br> 1460Mustardseed.<br> 1461 1462<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 1463Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.<br> 1464The moon methinks looks with a watery eye;<br> 1465And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,<br> 1466Lamenting some enforced chastity.<br> 1467Tie up my love's tongue bring him silently.<br> 1468<h3>SCENE II. Another part of the wood.</h3> 1469<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1470I wonder if Titania be awaked;<br> 1471Then, what it was that next came in her eye,<br> 1472Which she must dote on in extremity.<br> 1473Enter PUCK 1474Here comes my messenger.<br> 1475How now, mad spirit!<br> 1476What night-rule now about this haunted grove?<br> 1477 1478<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1479My mistress with a monster is in love.<br> 1480Near to her close and consecrated bower,<br> 1481While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,<br> 1482A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,<br> 1483That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,<br> 1484Were met together to rehearse a play<br> 1485Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.<br> 1486The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,<br> 1487Who Pyramus presented, in their sport<br> 1488Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake<br> 1489When I did him at this advantage take,<br> 1490An ass's nole I fixed on his head:<br> 1491Anon his Thisbe must be answered,<br> 1492And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,<br> 1493As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,<br> 1494Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,<br> 1495Rising and cawing at the gun's report,<br> 1496Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,<br> 1497So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;<br> 1498And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls;<br> 1499He murder cries and help from Athens calls.<br> 1500Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears<br> 1501thus strong,<br> 1502Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;<br> 1503For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;<br> 1504Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all<br> 1505things catch.<br> 1506I led them on in this distracted fear,<br> 1507And left sweet Pyramus translated there:<br> 1508When in that moment, so it came to pass,<br> 1509Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.<br> 1510 1511<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1512This falls out better than I could devise.<br> 1513But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes<br> 1514With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?<br> 1515 1516<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1517I took him sleeping,--that is finish'd too,--<br> 1518And the Athenian woman by his side:<br> 1519That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.<br> 1520 1521<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1522Stand close: this is the same Athenian.<br> 1523 1524<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1525This is the woman, but not this the man.<br> 1526 1527<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1528O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?<br> 1529Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.<br> 1530 1531<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1532Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse,<br> 1533For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse,<br> 1534If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,<br> 1535Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,<br> 1536And kill me too.<br> 1537The sun was not so true unto the day<br> 1538As he to me: would he have stolen away<br> 1539From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon<br> 1540This whole earth may be bored and that the moon<br> 1541May through the centre creep and so displease<br> 1542Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.<br> 1543It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;<br> 1544So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.<br> 1545 1546<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1547So should the murder'd look, and so should I,<br> 1548Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty:<br> 1549Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,<br> 1550As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.<br> 1551 1552<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1553What's this to my Lysander? where is he?<br> 1554Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?<br> 1555 1556<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1557I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.<br> 1558 1559<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1560Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds<br> 1561Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?<br> 1562Henceforth be never number'd among men!<br> 1563O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake!<br> 1564Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake,<br> 1565And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!<br> 1566Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?<br> 1567An adder did it; for with doubler tongue<br> 1568Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.<br> 1569 1570<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1571You spend your passion on a misprised mood:<br> 1572I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;<br> 1573Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.<br> 1574 1575<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1576I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.<br> 1577 1578<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1579An if I could, what should I get therefore?<br> 1580 1581<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1582A privilege never to see me more.<br> 1583And from thy hated presence part I so:<br> 1584See me no more, whether he be dead or no.<br> 1585 1586<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1587There is no following her in this fierce vein:<br> 1588Here therefore for a while I will remain.<br> 1589So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow<br> 1590For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe:<br> 1591Which now in some slight measure it will pay,<br> 1592If for his tender here I make some stay.<br> 1593 1594<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1595What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite<br> 1596And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:<br> 1597Of thy misprision must perforce ensue<br> 1598Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.<br> 1599 1600<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1601Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth,<br> 1602A million fail, confounding oath on oath.<br> 1603 1604<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1605About the wood go swifter than the wind,<br> 1606And Helena of Athens look thou find:<br> 1607All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,<br> 1608With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear:<br> 1609By some illusion see thou bring her here:<br> 1610I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.<br> 1611 1612<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1613I go, I go; look how I go,<br> 1614Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.<br> 1615 1616<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1617Flower of this purple dye,<br> 1618Hit with Cupid's archery,<br> 1619Sink in apple of his eye.<br> 1620When his love he doth espy,<br> 1621Let her shine as gloriously<br> 1622As the Venus of the sky.<br> 1623When thou wakest, if she be by,<br> 1624Beg of her for remedy.<br> 1625 1626<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1627Captain of our fairy band,<br> 1628Helena is here at hand;<br> 1629And the youth, mistook by me,<br> 1630Pleading for a lover's fee.<br> 1631Shall we their fond pageant see?<br> 1632Lord, what fools these mortals be!<br> 1633 1634<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 1635Stand aside: the noise they make<br> 1636Will cause Demetrius to awake.<br> 1637 1638<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 1639Then will two at once woo one;<br> 1640That must needs be sport alone;<br> 1641And those things do best please me<br> 1642That befal preposterously.<br> 1643 1644<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1645Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?<br> 1646Scorn and derision never come in tears:<br> 1647Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,<br> 1648In their nativity all truth appears.<br> 1649How can these things in me seem scorn to you,<br> 1650Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?<br> 1651 1652<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1653You do advance your cunning more and more.<br> 1654When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!<br> 1655These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?<br> 1656Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:<br> 1657Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,<br> 1658Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.<br> 1659 1660<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1661I had no judgment when to her I swore.<br> 1662 1663<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1664Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.<br> 1665 1666<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1667Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.<br> 1668 1669<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1670Awaking O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!<br> 1671To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?<br> 1672Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show<br> 1673Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!<br> 1674That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,<br> 1675Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow<br> 1676When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss<br> 1677This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!<br> 1678 1679<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1680O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent<br> 1681To set against me for your merriment:<br> 1682If you we re civil and knew courtesy,<br> 1683You would not do me thus much injury.<br> 1684Can you not hate me, as I know you do,<br> 1685But you must join in souls to mock me too?<br> 1686If you were men, as men you are in show,<br> 1687You would not use a gentle lady so;<br> 1688To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,<br> 1689When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.<br> 1690You both are rivals, and love Hermia;<br> 1691And now both rivals, to mock Helena:<br> 1692A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,<br> 1693To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes<br> 1694With your derision! none of noble sort<br> 1695Would so offend a virgin, and extort<br> 1696A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.<br> 1697 1698<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1699You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;<br> 1700For you love Hermia; this you know I know:<br> 1701And here, with all good will, with all my heart,<br> 1702In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;<br> 1703And yours of Helena to me bequeath,<br> 1704Whom I do love and will do till my death.<br> 1705 1706<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1707Never did mockers waste more idle breath.<br> 1708 1709<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1710Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:<br> 1711If e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.<br> 1712My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd,<br> 1713And now to Helen is it home return'd,<br> 1714There to remain.<br> 1715 1716<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1717Helen, it is not so.<br> 1718 1719<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1720Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,<br> 1721Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.<br> 1722Look, where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.<br> 1723 1724<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1725Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,<br> 1726The ear more quick of apprehension makes;<br> 1727Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,<br> 1728It pays the hearing double recompense.<br> 1729Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;<br> 1730Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound<br> 1731But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?<br> 1732 1733<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1734Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?<br> 1735 1736<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1737What love could press Lysander from my side?<br> 1738 1739<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1740Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,<br> 1741Fair Helena, who more engilds the night<br> 1742Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.<br> 1743Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,<br> 1744The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?<br> 1745 1746<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1747You speak not as you think: it cannot be.<br> 1748 1749<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1750Lo, she is one of this confederacy!<br> 1751Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three<br> 1752To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.<br> 1753Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!<br> 1754Have you conspired, have you with these contrived<br> 1755To bait me with this foul derision?<br> 1756Is all the counsel that we two have shared,<br> 1757The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,<br> 1758When we have chid the hasty-footed time<br> 1759For parting us,--O, is it all forgot?<br> 1760All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?<br> 1761We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,<br> 1762Have with our needles created both one flower,<br> 1763Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,<br> 1764Both warbling of one song, both in one key,<br> 1765As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds,<br> 1766Had been incorporate. So we grow together,<br> 1767Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,<br> 1768But yet an union in partition;<br> 1769Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;<br> 1770So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;<br> 1771Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,<br> 1772Due but to one and crowned with one crest.<br> 1773And will you rent our ancient love asunder,<br> 1774To join with men in scorning your poor friend?<br> 1775It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:<br> 1776Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,<br> 1777Though I alone do feel the injury.<br> 1778 1779<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1780I am amazed at your passionate words.<br> 1781I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.<br> 1782 1783<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1784Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,<br> 1785To follow me and praise my eyes and face?<br> 1786And made your other love, Demetrius,<br> 1787Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,<br> 1788To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,<br> 1789Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this<br> 1790To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander<br> 1791Deny your love, so rich within his soul,<br> 1792And tender me, forsooth, affection,<br> 1793But by your setting on, by your consent?<br> 1794What thought I be not so in grace as you,<br> 1795So hung upon with love, so fortunate,<br> 1796But miserable most, to love unloved?<br> 1797This you should pity rather than despise.<br> 1798 1799<p><b>HERNIA</b></p> 1800I understand not what you mean by this.<br> 1801 1802<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1803Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,<br> 1804Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;<br> 1805Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up:<br> 1806This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.<br> 1807If you have any pity, grace, or manners,<br> 1808You would not make me such an argument.<br> 1809But fare ye well: 'tis partly my own fault;<br> 1810Which death or absence soon shall remedy.<br> 1811 1812<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1813Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse:<br> 1814My love, my life my soul, fair Helena!<br> 1815 1816<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1817O excellent!<br> 1818 1819<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1820Sweet, do not scorn her so.<br> 1821 1822<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1823If she cannot entreat, I can compel.<br> 1824 1825<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1826Thou canst compel no more than she entreat:<br> 1827Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.<br> 1828Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do:<br> 1829I swear by that which I will lose for thee,<br> 1830To prove him false that says I love thee not.<br> 1831 1832<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1833I say I love thee more than he can do.<br> 1834 1835<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1836If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.<br> 1837 1838<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1839Quick, come!<br> 1840 1841<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1842Lysander, whereto tends all this?<br> 1843 1844<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1845Away, you Ethiope!<br> 1846 1847<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1848No, no; he'll<br> 1849Seem to break loose; take on as you would follow,<br> 1850But yet come not: you are a tame man, go!<br> 1851 1852<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1853Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! vile thing, let loose,<br> 1854Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent!<br> 1855 1856<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1857Why are you grown so rude? what change is this?<br> 1858Sweet love,--<br> 1859 1860<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1861Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!<br> 1862Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence!<br> 1863 1864<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1865Do you not jest?<br> 1866 1867<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1868Yes, sooth; and so do you.<br> 1869 1870<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1871Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.<br> 1872 1873<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1874I would I had your bond, for I perceive<br> 1875A weak bond holds you: I'll not trust your word.<br> 1876 1877<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1878What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?<br> 1879Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so.<br> 1880 1881<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1882What, can you do me greater harm than hate?<br> 1883Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love!<br> 1884Am not I Hermia? are not you Lysander?<br> 1885I am as fair now as I was erewhile.<br> 1886Since night you loved me; yet since night you left<br> 1887me:<br> 1888Why, then you left me--O, the gods forbid!--<br> 1889In earnest, shall I say?<br> 1890 1891<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1892Ay, by my life;<br> 1893And never did desire to see thee more.<br> 1894Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt;<br> 1895Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest<br> 1896That I do hate thee and love Helena.<br> 1897 1898<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1899O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!<br> 1900You thief of love! what, have you come by night<br> 1901And stolen my love's heart from him?<br> 1902 1903<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1904Fine, i'faith!<br> 1905Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,<br> 1906No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear<br> 1907Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?<br> 1908Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!<br> 1909 1910<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1911Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.<br> 1912Now I perceive that she hath made compare<br> 1913Between our statures; she hath urged her height;<br> 1914And with her personage, her tall personage,<br> 1915Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.<br> 1916And are you grown so high in his esteem;<br> 1917Because I am so dwarfish and so low?<br> 1918How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;<br> 1919How low am I? I am not yet so low<br> 1920But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.<br> 1921 1922<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1923I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,<br> 1924Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;<br> 1925I have no gift at all in shrewishness;<br> 1926I am a right maid for my cowardice:<br> 1927Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,<br> 1928Because she is something lower than myself,<br> 1929That I can match her.<br> 1930 1931<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1932Lower! hark, again.<br> 1933 1934<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1935Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.<br> 1936I evermore did love you, Hermia,<br> 1937Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you;<br> 1938Save that, in love unto Demetrius,<br> 1939I told him of your stealth unto this wood.<br> 1940He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him;<br> 1941But he hath chid me hence and threaten'd me<br> 1942To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:<br> 1943And now, so you will let me quiet go,<br> 1944To Athens will I bear my folly back<br> 1945And follow you no further: let me go:<br> 1946You see how simple and how fond I am.<br> 1947 1948<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1949Why, get you gone: who is't that hinders you?<br> 1950 1951<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1952A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.<br> 1953 1954<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1955What, with Lysander?<br> 1956 1957<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1958With Demetrius.<br> 1959 1960<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1961Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.<br> 1962 1963<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1964No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.<br> 1965 1966<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 1967O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!<br> 1968She was a vixen when she went to school;<br> 1969And though she be but little, she is fierce.<br> 1970 1971<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1972'Little' again! nothing but 'low' and 'little'!<br> 1973Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?<br> 1974Let me come to her.<br> 1975 1976<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1977Get you gone, you dwarf;<br> 1978You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;<br> 1979You bead, you acorn.<br> 1980 1981<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1982You are too officious<br> 1983In her behalf that scorns your services.<br> 1984Let her alone: speak not of Helena;<br> 1985Take not her part; for, if thou dost intend<br> 1986Never so little show of love to her,<br> 1987Thou shalt aby it.<br> 1988 1989<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 1990Now she holds me not;<br> 1991Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right,<br> 1992Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.<br> 1993 1994<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 1995Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jole.<br> 1996 1997<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 1998You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you:<br> 1999Nay, go not back.<br> 2000 2001<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 2002I will not trust you, I,<br> 2003Nor longer stay in your curst company.<br> 2004Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray,<br> 2005My legs are longer though, to run away.<br> 2006 2007<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 2008I am amazed, and know not what to say.<br> 2009 2010<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2011This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest,<br> 2012Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully.<br> 2013 2014<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2015Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.<br> 2016Did not you tell me I should know the man<br> 2017By the Athenian garment be had on?<br> 2018And so far blameless proves my enterprise,<br> 2019That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;<br> 2020And so far am I glad it so did sort<br> 2021As this their jangling I esteem a sport.<br> 2022 2023<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2024Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight:<br> 2025Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;<br> 2026The starry welkin cover thou anon<br> 2027With drooping fog as black as Acheron,<br> 2028And lead these testy rivals so astray<br> 2029As one come not within another's way.<br> 2030Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,<br> 2031Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;<br> 2032And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;<br> 2033And from each other look thou lead them thus,<br> 2034Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep<br> 2035With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:<br> 2036Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;<br> 2037Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,<br> 2038To take from thence all error with his might,<br> 2039And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.<br> 2040When they next wake, all this derision<br> 2041Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,<br> 2042And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,<br> 2043With league whose date till death shall never end.<br> 2044Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,<br> 2045I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;<br> 2046And then I will her charmed eye release<br> 2047From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.<br> 2048 2049<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2050My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,<br> 2051For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,<br> 2052And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;<br> 2053At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,<br> 2054Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,<br> 2055That in crossways and floods have burial,<br> 2056Already to their wormy beds are gone;<br> 2057For fear lest day should look their shames upon,<br> 2058They willfully themselves exile from light<br> 2059And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.<br> 2060 2061<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2062But we are spirits of another sort:<br> 2063I with the morning's love have oft made sport,<br> 2064And, like a forester, the groves may tread,<br> 2065Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,<br> 2066Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,<br> 2067Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.<br> 2068But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:<br> 2069We may effect this business yet ere day.<br> 2070 2071<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2072Up and down, up and down,<br> 2073I will lead them up and down:<br> 2074I am fear'd in field and town:<br> 2075Goblin, lead them up and down.<br> 2076Here comes one.<br> 2077 2078<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2079Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.<br> 2080 2081<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2082Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou?<br> 2083 2084<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2085I will be with thee straight.<br> 2086 2087<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2088Follow me, then,<br> 2089To plainer ground.<br> 2090 2091<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2092Lysander! speak again:<br> 2093Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?<br> 2094Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?<br> 2095 2096<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2097Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,<br> 2098Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,<br> 2099And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;<br> 2100I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled<br> 2101That draws a sword on thee.<br> 2102 2103<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2104Yea, art thou there?<br> 2105 2106<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2107Follow my voice: we'll try no manhood here.<br> 2108 2109<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2110He goes before me and still dares me on:<br> 2111When I come where he calls, then he is gone.<br> 2112The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I:<br> 2113I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;<br> 2114That fallen am I in dark uneven way,<br> 2115And here will rest me.<br> 2116Lies down 2117Come, thou gentle day!<br> 2118For if but once thou show me thy grey light,<br> 2119I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite.<br> 2120 2121<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2122Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why comest thou not?<br> 2123 2124<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2125Abide me, if thou darest; for well I wot<br> 2126Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place,<br> 2127And darest not stand, nor look me in the face.<br> 2128Where art thou now?<br> 2129 2130<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2131Come hither: I am here.<br> 2132 2133<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2134Nay, then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear,<br> 2135If ever I thy face by daylight see:<br> 2136Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me<br> 2137To measure out my length on this cold bed.<br> 2138By day's approach look to be visited.<br> 2139 2140<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 2141O weary night, O long and tedious night,<br> 2142Abate thy hour! Shine comforts from the east,<br> 2143That I may back to Athens by daylight,<br> 2144From these that my poor company detest:<br> 2145And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,<br> 2146Steal me awhile from mine own company.<br> 2147 2148<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2149Yet but three? Come one more;<br> 2150Two of both kinds make up four.<br> 2151Here she comes, curst and sad:<br> 2152Cupid is a knavish lad,<br> 2153Thus to make poor females mad.<br> 2154 2155<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 2156Never so weary, never so in woe,<br> 2157Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers,<br> 2158I can no further crawl, no further go;<br> 2159My legs can keep no pace with my desires.<br> 2160Here will I rest me till the break of day.<br> 2161Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!<br> 2162 2163<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2164On the ground<br> 2165Sleep sound:<br> 2166I'll apply<br> 2167To your eye,<br> 2168Gentle lover, remedy.<br> 2169Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eyes 2170When thou wakest,<br> 2171Thou takest<br> 2172True delight<br> 2173In the sight<br> 2174Of thy former lady's eye:<br> 2175And the country proverb known,<br> 2176That every man should take his own,<br> 2177In your waking shall be shown:<br> 2178Jack shall have Jill;<br> 2179Nought shall go ill;<br> 2180The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.<br> 2181<h3>ACT IV</h3> 2182<h3>SCENE I. The same. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and HERMIA lying asleep.</h3> 2183<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2184Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,<br> 2185While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,<br> 2186And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,<br> 2187And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.<br> 2188 2189<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2190Where's Peaseblossom?<br> 2191 2192<p><b>PEASEBLOSSOM</b></p> 2193Ready.<br> 2194 2195<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2196Scratch my head Peaseblossom. Where's Mounsieur Cobweb?<br> 2197 2198<p><b>COBWEB</b></p> 2199Ready.<br> 2200 2201<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2202Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you your<br> 2203weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped<br> 2204humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good<br> 2205mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret<br> 2206yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and,<br> 2207good mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not;<br> 2208I would be loath to have you overflown with a<br> 2209honey-bag, signior. Where's Mounsieur Mustardseed?<br> 2210 2211<p><b>MUSTARDSEED</b></p> 2212Ready.<br> 2213 2214<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2215Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed. Pray you,<br> 2216leave your courtesy, good mounsieur.<br> 2217 2218<p><b>MUSTARDSEED</b></p> 2219What's your Will?<br> 2220 2221<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2222Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb<br> 2223to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; for<br> 2224methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face; and I<br> 2225am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me,<br> 2226I must scratch.<br> 2227 2228<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2229What, wilt thou hear some music,<br> 2230my sweet love?<br> 2231 2232<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2233I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have<br> 2234the tongs and the bones.<br> 2235 2236<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2237Or say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat.<br> 2238 2239<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2240Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch your good<br> 2241dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle<br> 2242of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.<br> 2243 2244<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2245I have a venturous fairy that shall seek<br> 2246The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.<br> 2247 2248<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2249I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas.<br> 2250But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me: I<br> 2251have an exposition of sleep come upon me.<br> 2252 2253<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2254Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.<br> 2255Fairies, begone, and be all ways away.<br> 2256Exeunt fairies 2257So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle<br> 2258Gently entwist; the female ivy so<br> 2259Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.<br> 2260O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!<br> 2261 2262<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2263Advancing Welcome, good Robin.<br> 2264See'st thou this sweet sight?<br> 2265Her dotage now I do begin to pity:<br> 2266For, meeting her of late behind the wood,<br> 2267Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool,<br> 2268I did upbraid her and fall out with her;<br> 2269For she his hairy temples then had rounded<br> 2270With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;<br> 2271And that same dew, which sometime on the buds<br> 2272Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,<br> 2273Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes<br> 2274Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.<br> 2275When I had at my pleasure taunted her<br> 2276And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,<br> 2277I then did ask of her her changeling child;<br> 2278Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent<br> 2279To bear him to my bower in fairy land.<br> 2280And now I have the boy, I will undo<br> 2281This hateful imperfection of her eyes:<br> 2282And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp<br> 2283From off the head of this Athenian swain;<br> 2284That, he awaking when the other do,<br> 2285May all to Athens back again repair<br> 2286And think no more of this night's accidents<br> 2287But as the fierce vexation of a dream.<br> 2288But first I will release the fairy queen.<br> 2289Be as thou wast wont to be;<br> 2290See as thou wast wont to see:<br> 2291Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower<br> 2292Hath such force and blessed power.<br> 2293Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.<br> 2294 2295<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2296My Oberon! what visions have I seen!<br> 2297Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.<br> 2298 2299<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2300There lies your love.<br> 2301 2302<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2303How came these things to pass?<br> 2304O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!<br> 2305 2306<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2307Silence awhile. Robin, take off this head.<br> 2308Titania, music call; and strike more dead<br> 2309Than common sleep of all these five the sense.<br> 2310 2311<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2312Music, ho! music, such as charmeth sleep!<br> 2313 2314<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2315Now, when thou wakest, with thine<br> 2316own fool's eyes peep.<br> 2317 2318<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2319Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,<br> 2320And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.<br> 2321Now thou and I are new in amity,<br> 2322And will to-morrow midnight solemnly<br> 2323Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,<br> 2324And bless it to all fair prosperity:<br> 2325There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be<br> 2326Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.<br> 2327 2328<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 2329Fairy king, attend, and mark:<br> 2330I do hear the morning lark.<br> 2331 2332<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 2333Then, my queen, in silence sad,<br> 2334Trip we after the night's shade:<br> 2335We the globe can compass soon,<br> 2336Swifter than the wandering moon.<br> 2337 2338<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 2339Come, my lord, and in our flight<br> 2340Tell me how it came this night<br> 2341That I sleeping here was found<br> 2342With these mortals on the ground.<br> 2343Exeunt 2344 2345<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2346Go, one of you, find out the forester;<br> 2347For now our observation is perform'd;<br> 2348And since we have the vaward of the day,<br> 2349My love shall hear the music of my hounds.<br> 2350Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:<br> 2351Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.<br> 2352Exit an Attendant 2353We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,<br> 2354And mark the musical confusion<br> 2355Of hounds and echo in conjunction.<br> 2356 2357<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2358I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,<br> 2359When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear<br> 2360With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear<br> 2361Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,<br> 2362The skies, the fountains, every region near<br> 2363Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard<br> 2364So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.<br> 2365 2366<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2367My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,<br> 2368So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung<br> 2369With ears that sweep away the morning dew;<br> 2370Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;<br> 2371Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,<br> 2372Each under each. A cry more tuneable<br> 2373Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,<br> 2374In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:<br> 2375Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?<br> 2376 2377<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 2378My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;<br> 2379And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;<br> 2380This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:<br> 2381I wonder of their being here together.<br> 2382 2383<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2384No doubt they rose up early to observe<br> 2385The rite of May, and hearing our intent,<br> 2386Came here in grace our solemnity.<br> 2387But speak, Egeus; is not this the day<br> 2388That Hermia should give answer of her choice?<br> 2389 2390<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 2391It is, my lord.<br> 2392 2393<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2394Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.<br> 2395Horns and shout within. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, 2396HELENA, and HERMIA wake and start up 2397Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:<br> 2398Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?<br> 2399 2400<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2401Pardon, my lord.<br> 2402 2403<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2404I pray you all, stand up.<br> 2405I know you two are rival enemies:<br> 2406How comes this gentle concord in the world,<br> 2407That hatred is so far from jealousy,<br> 2408To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?<br> 2409 2410<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2411My lord, I shall reply amazedly,<br> 2412Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,<br> 2413I cannot truly say how I came here;<br> 2414But, as I think,--for truly would I speak,<br> 2415And now do I bethink me, so it is,--<br> 2416I came with Hermia hither: our intent<br> 2417Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,<br> 2418Without the peril of the Athenian law.<br> 2419 2420<p><b>EGEUS</b></p> 2421Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:<br> 2422I beg the law, the law, upon his head.<br> 2423They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,<br> 2424Thereby to have defeated you and me,<br> 2425You of your wife and me of my consent,<br> 2426Of my consent that she should be your wife.<br> 2427 2428<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2429My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,<br> 2430Of this their purpose hither to this wood;<br> 2431And I in fury hither follow'd them,<br> 2432Fair Helena in fancy following me.<br> 2433But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,--<br> 2434But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia,<br> 2435Melted as the snow, seems to me now<br> 2436As the remembrance of an idle gaud<br> 2437Which in my childhood I did dote upon;<br> 2438And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,<br> 2439The object and the pleasure of mine eye,<br> 2440Is only Helena. To her, my lord,<br> 2441Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:<br> 2442But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;<br> 2443But, as in health, come to my natural taste,<br> 2444Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,<br> 2445And will for evermore be true to it.<br> 2446 2447<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2448Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:<br> 2449Of this discourse we more will hear anon.<br> 2450Egeus, I will overbear your will;<br> 2451For in the temple by and by with us<br> 2452These couples shall eternally be knit:<br> 2453And, for the morning now is something worn,<br> 2454Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.<br> 2455Away with us to Athens; three and three,<br> 2456We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.<br> 2457Come, Hippolyta.<br> 2458 2459<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2460These things seem small and undistinguishable,<br> 2461 2462<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 2463Methinks I see these things with parted eye,<br> 2464When every thing seems double.<br> 2465 2466<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 2467So methinks:<br> 2468And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,<br> 2469Mine own, and not mine own.<br> 2470 2471<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2472Are you sure<br> 2473That we are awake? It seems to me<br> 2474That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think<br> 2475The duke was here, and bid us follow him?<br> 2476 2477<p><b>HERMIA</b></p> 2478Yea; and my father.<br> 2479 2480<p><b>HELENA</b></p> 2481And Hippolyta.<br> 2482 2483<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2484And he did bid us follow to the temple.<br> 2485 2486<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2487Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him<br> 2488And by the way let us recount our dreams.<br> 2489 2490<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2491Awaking When my cue comes, call me, and I will<br> 2492answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyramus.' Heigh-ho!<br> 2493Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout,<br> 2494the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stolen<br> 2495hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare<br> 2496vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to<br> 2497say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go<br> 2498about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there<br> 2499is no man can tell what. Methought I was,--and<br> 2500methought I had,--but man is but a patched fool, if<br> 2501he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye<br> 2502of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not<br> 2503seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue<br> 2504to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream<br> 2505was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of<br> 2506this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream,<br> 2507because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the<br> 2508latter end of a play, before the duke:<br> 2509peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall<br> 2510sing it at her death.<br> 2511<h3>SCENE II. Athens. QUINCE'S house.</h3> 2512<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 2513Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet?<br> 2514 2515<p><b>STARVELING</b></p> 2516He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is<br> 2517transported.<br> 2518 2519<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 2520If he come not, then the play is marred: it goes<br> 2521not forward, doth it?<br> 2522 2523<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 2524It is not possible: you have not a man in all<br> 2525Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.<br> 2526 2527<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 2528No, he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft<br> 2529man in Athens.<br> 2530 2531<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 2532Yea and the best person too; and he is a very<br> 2533paramour for a sweet voice.<br> 2534 2535<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 2536You must say 'paragon:' a paramour is, God bless us,<br> 2537a thing of naught.<br> 2538 2539<p><b>SNUG</b></p> 2540Masters, the duke is coming from the temple, and<br> 2541there is two or three lords and ladies more married:<br> 2542if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made<br> 2543men.<br> 2544 2545<p><b>FLUTE</b></p> 2546O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a<br> 2547day during his life; he could not have 'scaped<br> 2548sixpence a day: an the duke had not given him<br> 2549sixpence a day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged;<br> 2550he would have deserved it: sixpence a day in<br> 2551Pyramus, or nothing.<br> 2552 2553<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2554Where are these lads? where are these hearts?<br> 2555 2556<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 2557Bottom! O most courageous day! O most happy hour!<br> 2558 2559<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2560Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not<br> 2561what; for if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I<br> 2562will tell you every thing, right as it fell out.<br> 2563 2564<p><b>QUINCE</b></p> 2565Let us hear, sweet Bottom.<br> 2566 2567<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 2568Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is, that<br> 2569the duke hath dined. Get your apparel together,<br> 2570good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your<br> 2571pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look<br> 2572o'er his part; for the short and the long is, our<br> 2573play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have<br> 2574clean linen; and let not him that plays the lion<br> 2575pair his nails, for they shall hang out for the<br> 2576lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions<br> 2577nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I<br> 2578do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet<br> 2579comedy. No more words: away! go, away!<br> 2580<h3>ACT V</h3> 2581<h3>SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.</h3> 2582<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2583'Tis strange my Theseus, that these<br> 2584lovers speak of.<br> 2585 2586<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2587More strange than true: I never may believe<br> 2588These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.<br> 2589Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,<br> 2590Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend<br> 2591More than cool reason ever comprehends.<br> 2592The lunatic, the lover and the poet<br> 2593Are of imagination all compact:<br> 2594One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,<br> 2595That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,<br> 2596Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:<br> 2597The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,<br> 2598Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;<br> 2599And as imagination bodies forth<br> 2600The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen<br> 2601Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing<br> 2602A local habitation and a name.<br> 2603Such tricks hath strong imagination,<br> 2604That if it would but apprehend some joy,<br> 2605It comprehends some bringer of that joy;<br> 2606Or in the night, imagining some fear,<br> 2607How easy is a bush supposed a bear!<br> 2608 2609<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2610But all the story of the night told over,<br> 2611And all their minds transfigured so together,<br> 2612More witnesseth than fancy's images<br> 2613And grows to something of great constancy;<br> 2614But, howsoever, strange and admirable.<br> 2615 2616<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2617Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.<br> 2618Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA 2619Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love<br> 2620Accompany your hearts!<br> 2621 2622<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2623More than to us<br> 2624Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!<br> 2625 2626<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2627Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have,<br> 2628To wear away this long age of three hours<br> 2629Between our after-supper and bed-time?<br> 2630Where is our usual manager of mirth?<br> 2631What revels are in hand? Is there no play,<br> 2632To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?<br> 2633Call Philostrate.<br> 2634 2635<p><b>PHILOSTRATE</b></p> 2636Here, mighty Theseus.<br> 2637 2638<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2639Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?<br> 2640What masque? what music? How shall we beguile<br> 2641The lazy time, if not with some delight?<br> 2642 2643<p><b>PHILOSTRATE</b></p> 2644There is a brief how many sports are ripe:<br> 2645Make choice of which your highness will see first.<br> 2646 2647<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2648Reads 'The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung<br> 2649By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.'<br> 2650We'll none of that: that have I told my love,<br> 2651In glory of my kinsman Hercules.<br> 2652Reads 2653'The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,<br> 2654Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.'<br> 2655That is an old device; and it was play'd<br> 2656When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.<br> 2657Reads 2658'The thrice three Muses mourning for the death<br> 2659Of Learning, late deceased in beggary.'<br> 2660That is some satire, keen and critical,<br> 2661Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.<br> 2662Reads 2663'A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus<br> 2664And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.'<br> 2665Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!<br> 2666That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.<br> 2667How shall we find the concord of this discord?<br> 2668 2669<p><b>PHILOSTRATE</b></p> 2670A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,<br> 2671Which is as brief as I have known a play;<br> 2672But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,<br> 2673Which makes it tedious; for in all the play<br> 2674There is not one word apt, one player fitted:<br> 2675And tragical, my noble lord, it is;<br> 2676For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.<br> 2677Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess,<br> 2678Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears<br> 2679The passion of loud laughter never shed.<br> 2680 2681<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2682What are they that do play it?<br> 2683 2684<p><b>PHILOSTRATE</b></p> 2685Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,<br> 2686Which never labour'd in their minds till now,<br> 2687And now have toil'd their unbreathed memories<br> 2688With this same play, against your nuptial.<br> 2689 2690<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2691And we will hear it.<br> 2692 2693<p><b>PHILOSTRATE</b></p> 2694No, my noble lord;<br> 2695It is not for you: I have heard it over,<br> 2696And it is nothing, nothing in the world;<br> 2697Unless you can find sport in their intents,<br> 2698Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,<br> 2699To do you service.<br> 2700 2701<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2702I will hear that play;<br> 2703For never anything can be amiss,<br> 2704When simpleness and duty tender it.<br> 2705Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.<br> 2706 2707<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2708I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged<br> 2709And duty in his service perishing.<br> 2710 2711<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2712Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.<br> 2713 2714<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2715He says they can do nothing in this kind.<br> 2716 2717<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2718The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.<br> 2719Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:<br> 2720And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect<br> 2721Takes it in might, not merit.<br> 2722Where I have come, great clerks have purposed<br> 2723To greet me with premeditated welcomes;<br> 2724Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,<br> 2725Make periods in the midst of sentences,<br> 2726Throttle their practised accent in their fears<br> 2727And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,<br> 2728Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,<br> 2729Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome;<br> 2730And in the modesty of fearful duty<br> 2731I read as much as from the rattling tongue<br> 2732Of saucy and audacious eloquence.<br> 2733Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity<br> 2734In least speak most, to my capacity.<br> 2735 2736<p><b>PHILOSTRATE</b></p> 2737So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd.<br> 2738 2739<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2740Let him approach.<br> 2741 2742<p><b>Prologue</b></p> 2743If we offend, it is with our good will.<br> 2744That you should think, we come not to offend,<br> 2745But with good will. To show our simple skill,<br> 2746That is the true beginning of our end.<br> 2747Consider then we come but in despite.<br> 2748We do not come as minding to contest you,<br> 2749Our true intent is. All for your delight<br> 2750We are not here. That you should here repent you,<br> 2751The actors are at hand and by their show<br> 2752You shall know all that you are like to know.<br> 2753 2754<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2755This fellow doth not stand upon points.<br> 2756 2757<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2758He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows<br> 2759not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not<br> 2760enough to speak, but to speak true.<br> 2761 2762<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2763Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child<br> 2764on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.<br> 2765 2766<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2767His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing<br> 2768impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?<br> 2769 2770<p><b>Prologue</b></p> 2771Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;<br> 2772But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.<br> 2773This man is Pyramus, if you would know;<br> 2774This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.<br> 2775This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present<br> 2776Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;<br> 2777And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content<br> 2778To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.<br> 2779This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,<br> 2780Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,<br> 2781By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn<br> 2782To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.<br> 2783This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,<br> 2784The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,<br> 2785Did scare away, or rather did affright;<br> 2786And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,<br> 2787Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.<br> 2788Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,<br> 2789And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:<br> 2790Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,<br> 2791He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;<br> 2792And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,<br> 2793His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,<br> 2794Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain<br> 2795At large discourse, while here they do remain.<br> 2796 2797<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2798I wonder if the lion be to speak.<br> 2799 2800<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2801No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.<br> 2802 2803<p><b>Wall</b></p> 2804In this same interlude it doth befall<br> 2805That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;<br> 2806And such a wall, as I would have you think,<br> 2807That had in it a crannied hole or chink,<br> 2808Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,<br> 2809Did whisper often very secretly.<br> 2810This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show<br> 2811That I am that same wall; the truth is so:<br> 2812And this the cranny is, right and sinister,<br> 2813Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.<br> 2814 2815<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2816Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?<br> 2817 2818<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2819It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard<br> 2820discourse, my lord.<br> 2821 2822<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2823Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!<br> 2824 2825<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2826O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!<br> 2827O night, which ever art when day is not!<br> 2828O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,<br> 2829I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!<br> 2830And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,<br> 2831That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!<br> 2832Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,<br> 2833Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!<br> 2834Wall holds up his fingers 2835Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!<br> 2836But what see I? No Thisby do I see.<br> 2837O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!<br> 2838Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!<br> 2839 2840<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2841The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.<br> 2842 2843<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2844No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'<br> 2845is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to<br> 2846spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will<br> 2847fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes.<br> 2848 2849<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2850O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,<br> 2851For parting my fair Pyramus and me!<br> 2852My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones,<br> 2853Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.<br> 2854 2855<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2856I see a voice: now will I to the chink,<br> 2857To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby!<br> 2858 2859<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2860My love thou art, my love I think.<br> 2861 2862<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2863Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;<br> 2864And, like Limander, am I trusty still.<br> 2865 2866<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2867And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.<br> 2868 2869<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2870Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.<br> 2871 2872<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2873As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.<br> 2874 2875<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2876O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!<br> 2877 2878<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2879I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.<br> 2880 2881<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 2882Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?<br> 2883 2884<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2885'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.<br> 2886 2887<p><b>Wall</b></p> 2888Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;<br> 2889And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.<br> 2890 2891<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2892Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.<br> 2893 2894<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2895No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear<br> 2896without warning.<br> 2897 2898<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2899This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.<br> 2900 2901<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2902The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst<br> 2903are no worse, if imagination amend them.<br> 2904 2905<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2906It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.<br> 2907 2908<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2909If we imagine no worse of them than they of<br> 2910themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here<br> 2911come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.<br> 2912 2913<p><b>Lion</b></p> 2914You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear<br> 2915The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,<br> 2916May now perchance both quake and tremble here,<br> 2917When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.<br> 2918Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am<br> 2919A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;<br> 2920For, if I should as lion come in strife<br> 2921Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.<br> 2922 2923<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2924A very gentle beast, of a good conscience.<br> 2925 2926<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2927The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.<br> 2928 2929<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2930This lion is a very fox for his valour.<br> 2931 2932<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2933True; and a goose for his discretion.<br> 2934 2935<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2936Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his<br> 2937discretion; and the fox carries the goose.<br> 2938 2939<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2940His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour;<br> 2941for the goose carries not the fox. It is well:<br> 2942leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.<br> 2943 2944<p><b>Moonshine</b></p> 2945This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;--<br> 2946 2947<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2948He should have worn the horns on his head.<br> 2949 2950<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2951He is no crescent, and his horns are<br> 2952invisible within the circumference.<br> 2953 2954<p><b>Moonshine</b></p> 2955This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;<br> 2956Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.<br> 2957 2958<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2959This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man<br> 2960should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else the<br> 2961man i' the moon?<br> 2962 2963<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2964He dares not come there for the candle; for, you<br> 2965see, it is already in snuff.<br> 2966 2967<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 2968I am aweary of this moon: would he would change!<br> 2969 2970<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2971It appears, by his small light of discretion, that<br> 2972he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all<br> 2973reason, we must stay the time.<br> 2974 2975<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 2976Proceed, Moon.<br> 2977 2978<p><b>Moonshine</b></p> 2979All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the<br> 2980lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this<br> 2981thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.<br> 2982 2983<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2984Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for all<br> 2985these are in the moon. But, silence! here comes Thisbe.<br> 2986 2987<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 2988This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?<br> 2989 2990<p><b>Lion</b></p> 2991Roaring Oh--<br> 2992 2993<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 2994Well roared, Lion.<br> 2995 2996<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 2997Well run, Thisbe.<br> 2998 2999<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 3000Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a<br> 3001good grace.<br> 3002 3003<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 3004Well moused, Lion.<br> 3005 3006<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 3007And so the lion vanished.<br> 3008 3009<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 3010And then came Pyramus.<br> 3011 3012<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 3013Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;<br> 3014I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;<br> 3015For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,<br> 3016I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.<br> 3017But stay, O spite!<br> 3018But mark, poor knight,<br> 3019What dreadful dole is here!<br> 3020Eyes, do you see?<br> 3021How can it be?<br> 3022O dainty duck! O dear!<br> 3023Thy mantle good,<br> 3024What, stain'd with blood!<br> 3025Approach, ye Furies fell!<br> 3026O Fates, come, come,<br> 3027Cut thread and thrum;<br> 3028Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!<br> 3029 3030<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 3031This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would<br> 3032go near to make a man look sad.<br> 3033 3034<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 3035Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.<br> 3036 3037<p><b>Pyramus</b></p> 3038O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame?<br> 3039Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear:<br> 3040Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame<br> 3041That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd<br> 3042with cheer.<br> 3043Come, tears, confound;<br> 3044Out, sword, and wound<br> 3045The pap of Pyramus;<br> 3046Ay, that left pap,<br> 3047Where heart doth hop:<br> 3048Stabs himself 3049Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.<br> 3050Now am I dead,<br> 3051Now am I fled;<br> 3052My soul is in the sky:<br> 3053Tongue, lose thy light;<br> 3054Moon take thy flight:<br> 3055Exit Moonshine 3056Now die, die, die, die, die.<br> 3057 3058<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 3059No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.<br> 3060 3061<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 3062Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.<br> 3063 3064<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 3065With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and<br> 3066prove an ass.<br> 3067 3068<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 3069How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes<br> 3070back and finds her lover?<br> 3071 3072<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 3073She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and<br> 3074her passion ends the play.<br> 3075 3076<p><b>HIPPOLYTA</b></p> 3077Methinks she should not use a long one for such a<br> 3078Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.<br> 3079 3080<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 3081A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which<br> 3082Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant us;<br> 3083she for a woman, God bless us.<br> 3084 3085<p><b>LYSANDER</b></p> 3086She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.<br> 3087 3088<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 3089And thus she means, videlicet:--<br> 3090 3091<p><b>Thisbe</b></p> 3092Asleep, my love?<br> 3093What, dead, my dove?<br> 3094O Pyramus, arise!<br> 3095Speak, speak. Quite dumb?<br> 3096Dead, dead? A tomb<br> 3097Must cover thy sweet eyes.<br> 3098These My lips,<br> 3099This cherry nose,<br> 3100These yellow cowslip cheeks,<br> 3101Are gone, are gone:<br> 3102Lovers, make moan:<br> 3103His eyes were green as leeks.<br> 3104O Sisters Three,<br> 3105Come, come to me,<br> 3106With hands as pale as milk;<br> 3107Lay them in gore,<br> 3108Since you have shore<br> 3109With shears his thread of silk.<br> 3110Tongue, not a word:<br> 3111Come, trusty sword;<br> 3112Come, blade, my breast imbrue:<br> 3113Stabs herself 3114And, farewell, friends;<br> 3115Thus Thisby ends:<br> 3116Adieu, adieu, adieu.<br> 3117 3118<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 3119Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.<br> 3120 3121<p><b>DEMETRIUS</b></p> 3122Ay, and Wall too.<br> 3123 3124<p><b>BOTTOM</b></p> 3125Starting up No assure you; the wall is down that<br> 3126parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the<br> 3127epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two<br> 3128of our company?<br> 3129 3130<p><b>THESEUS</b></p> 3131No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no<br> 3132excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all<br> 3133dead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if he<br> 3134that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself<br> 3135in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine<br> 3136tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably<br> 3137discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your<br> 3138epilogue alone.<br> 3139A dance 3140The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:<br> 3141Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.<br> 3142I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn<br> 3143As much as we this night have overwatch'd.<br> 3144This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled<br> 3145The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.<br> 3146A fortnight hold we this solemnity,<br> 3147In nightly revels and new jollity.<br> 3148 3149<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 3150Now the hungry lion roars,<br> 3151And the wolf behowls the moon;<br> 3152Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,<br> 3153All with weary task fordone.<br> 3154Now the wasted brands do glow,<br> 3155Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,<br> 3156Puts the wretch that lies in woe<br> 3157In remembrance of a shroud.<br> 3158Now it is the time of night<br> 3159That the graves all gaping wide,<br> 3160Every one lets forth his sprite,<br> 3161In the church-way paths to glide:<br> 3162And we fairies, that do run<br> 3163By the triple Hecate's team,<br> 3164From the presence of the sun,<br> 3165Following darkness like a dream,<br> 3166Now are frolic: not a mouse<br> 3167Shall disturb this hallow'd house:<br> 3168I am sent with broom before,<br> 3169To sweep the dust behind the door.<br> 3170 3171<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 3172Through the house give gathering light,<br> 3173By the dead and drowsy fire:<br> 3174Every elf and fairy sprite<br> 3175Hop as light as bird from brier;<br> 3176And this ditty, after me,<br> 3177Sing, and dance it trippingly.<br> 3178 3179<p><b>TITANIA</b></p> 3180First, rehearse your song by rote<br> 3181To each word a warbling note:<br> 3182Hand in hand, with fairy grace,<br> 3183Will we sing, and bless this place.<br> 3184 3185<p><b>OBERON</b></p> 3186Now, until the break of day,<br> 3187Through this house each fairy stray.<br> 3188To the best bride-bed will we,<br> 3189Which by us shall blessed be;<br> 3190And the issue there create<br> 3191Ever shall be fortunate.<br> 3192So shall all the couples three<br> 3193Ever true in loving be;<br> 3194And the blots of Nature's hand<br> 3195Shall not in their issue stand;<br> 3196Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,<br> 3197Nor mark prodigious, such as are<br> 3198Despised in nativity,<br> 3199Shall upon their children be.<br> 3200With this field-dew consecrate,<br> 3201Every fairy take his gait;<br> 3202And each several chamber bless,<br> 3203Through this palace, with sweet peace;<br> 3204And the owner of it blest<br> 3205Ever shall in safety rest.<br> 3206Trip away; make no stay;<br> 3207Meet me all by break of day.<br> 3208 3209<p><b>PUCK</b></p> 3210If we shadows have offended,<br> 3211Think but this, and all is mended,<br> 3212That you have but slumber'd here<br> 3213While these visions did appear.<br> 3214And this weak and idle theme,<br> 3215No more yielding but a dream,<br> 3216Gentles, do not reprehend:<br> 3217if you pardon, we will mend:<br> 3218And, as I am an honest Puck,<br> 3219If we have unearned luck<br> 3220Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,<br> 3221We will make amends ere long;<br> 3222Else the Puck a liar call;<br> 3223So, good night unto you all.<br> 3224Give me your hands, if we be friends,<br> 3225And Robin shall restore amends.<br> 3226</body> 3227</html> 3228