And the issue, there create,

Ever shall be fortunate.it dans the da

So shall all the couples three

And the blots of nature's hand

Shall not in their issue stand;

Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,0

Nor mark prodigious5, such as are

Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate,
Every fairy take his gate;

And each several chamber bless,

Through this palace with sweet peace:
E'er shall it in safety rest,

And the owner of it blest.

Trip away;
Make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train.

Puck. If we shadows have offended,
Think but this (and all is mended),
That you have but slumber'd here,
shes While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;

If you pardon, we will mend.

and wine. It is recorded in France, that, on frequent occasions, the priest was improperly detained till midnight, whilst the wedding guests rioted in the luxuries of the table, and made use of language that was extremely offensive to the clergy, injurious to the salvation of the parties. It was therefore ordained, in the year 1577, that the ceremony of blessing the nuptial bed should for the future be performed in the day-time, or at least before supper, and in the presence of the bride and bridegroom, and of their nearest relations only.

And, as I'm an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck 8

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue 9,
We will make amends, ere long:
Else the Puck a liar call.

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands 10, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Exit.

8

i.

e. if we have better fortune than we have deserved. 9 i. e. hisses.

10 Clap your hands, give us your applause.

WILD and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their varl ous modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author designed. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and Spenser's poem had made them great. JOHNSON.

JOHNSON'S concluding observations on this play are not conceived with his usual judgment. There is no analogy or resemblance between the Fairies of Spenser and those of Shakspeare. The Fairies of Spenser, as appears from his description of them in the second book of the Faerie Queene, canto x. were a race of mortals created by Prometheus. of the human size, shape, and affections, and subject to death. But those of Shakspeare and of common tradition, as Johnson calls them, were a diminutive race of sportful beings, endowed with immortality and supernatural powers, totally different from those of Spenser.

M. MASON.

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST.