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Hol. Begin, fir; you are my elder.

[elder.

Arm. The sweet war-man is dead and rotten; fweet chucks, beat not the bones of the buried: when he breath'd, he was a man-But I will for

royalty, bestow on me the sense of hearing.

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Prin. Speak, brave Hector; we are much delighted.

Biron. Well follow'd; Judas was hang'd on an ward with my device; [To the princess] fweet

Hol. I will not be put out of countenance.

Biron. Because thou haft no face.

Hol. What is this?

Boyet. A cittern head.

Don. The head of a bodkin.

Biron. A death's face in a ring.

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Prin. Alas, poor Macchabæus, how he hath
been baited!

Enter Armado, for Hector.

Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles; here comes
Hector in arms.

Dum. Though my mocks come home by me, I
will now be merry.

King. Hector was but a Trojan 3 in refpect of this.
Boyet. But is this Hector?

Dum. I think, Hector was not fo clean timber'd.
Long. His leg is too big for Hector.

Arm. I do adore thy sweet grace's flipper.
Boyet. Loves her by the foot,

Dum. He may not by the yard.

Arm. "This Hector far furmounted Hannibal, -"
Coft. The party is gone, fellow Hector, the is

gone, she is two months on her way.

Arm. What mean'ft thou?

Coft. Faith, unless you play the honeft Trojan, the poor wench is caft away: the's quick; the child brags in her belly already; 'tis yours.

Arm. Dost thou infamonize me among potentates? thou shalt die.

Coft. Then shall Hector be whipp'd, for Jaque netta that is quick by him; and hang'd, for Pontpey that is dead by him.

Dum. Most rare Pompey!
Boyet. Renowned Pompey!

Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great
Pompey! Pompey the huge!

Dum. Hector trembles.

Biron. Pompey is mov'd:-More Ates, more
Ates 5; stir them on, ftir them on!
Dum. Hector will challenge him.

Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in's belly than will fup a flea.

Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee. Eoft. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern man: I'll flash; I'll do't by the fword:I pray you, let me borrow my arms 6 again. Dum. Room for the incenfed worthies. Coft. I'll do it in my shirt. Dum. Most refolute Pompey!

Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower, Do you not fee, Pompey is uncafing for the combat?

A cittern was a musical instrument of the harp kind. 2 That is, a foldier's powder-horn, 3 A Trojan, in the time of Shakspeare, was a cant term for a thief. 4 An orange ftuck with cloves appears to have been a common new-year's gift. 5 Ate was the heathen goddess who incited bloodshed. • Meaning the weapons and armour which he wore in the character of Pompey.

What What mean you? you will lofe your reputation. A. Gentlemen, and foldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.

Daw. You may not denyit; Pompey hath made the challenge.

Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will.
Biron. What reason have you for't?

Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt;
I go woolward for penance.

Boyer. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen: fince when, I'll be fworn, he wore none, but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's; and that a' wears next his heart for a favour.

Enter Mercade.

Mer. God fave you, madam!
Prin. Welcome, Mercade;

But that thou interrupt'it our merriment.

Mer. I am forry, madam; for the news I bring, Is heavy in my tongue. The king your fatherPrin. Dead, for my life..

Mer. Even so: my tale is told.
Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to cloud.
Arm. For mine own part, I breathe free breath:
I have seen the days of wrong through the little
hole of difcretion, and I will right myself like a
foldier.
[Exeunt Wortbies.

King. How fares your majesty?
Prid. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night.
King. Madam, not fo; I do beteech you, stay.
Prin. Prepare, I say. I thank you, gracious lords,
For all your fair endeavours; and entreat,
Out of a new-fad foul, that you vouchfafe
In your rich wisdom, to excuse, or hide,
The liberal 2 oppofition of our fpirits:
I over-boldly we have borne ourselves
In the converse of breath, your gentleness
Was guilty of it.-Farewell, worthy lord!
A heavy heart bears not an humble tongue:
Excufe me fo, coming so short of thanks
For my great fuit fo easily obtain'd.

All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain;
Form'd by the eye, and, therefore, like the eye,
Full of ftraying shapes, of habits, and of forms,
Varying in fubjects as the eye doth roll
To every varied object in his glance:
Which party-coated prefence of loofe love,
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have mifbecom'd our onths and gravities,
Thofe heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,
Suggested 3 us to make: Therefore, ladies,
Our love being yours, the error that love makes.
Is likewife yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true

To those that make us both, fair ladies, you;
And even that falfhood, in itself a fin,
Thus purifies itself, and turns to grace.

Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of love,
Your favours, the embaffadors of love;
And, in our maiden council, rated them
At courtthip, pleafant jeft, and courtesy,
As bombaft 4 and as lining to the time:
But more devout than this, in our respects,
Have we not been; and therefore met your loves
In their own fathion, like a morriment. [than jeit.
Dum. Our letters, madam, shew'd much more
Long. So did our looks.

Rof. We did not quote them fo.

King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour,
Grant us your loves.

Prin. A tane, niethinks, too fhort
To make a world-without-end bargain in:
No, no, my lord, your grace is perjur'd much,
Full of dear guiltiness; and therefore, this,
If for my love (as there is no fuch caufe)
You will do aught, this shall you do for me:
Your oath I will not truft: but go with fpeed
To fome forlorn and naked hermitage,
Remote from all the pleafures of the world;
There stay, until the twelve celettial figns
Have brought about their annual reckoning:

King. Theextreme parts of time extremely forms If this auftere infociable life

All caufes to the purpose of his speed;

And often, at his very loofe, decides

That which long procefs could not arbitrate:

And though the mourning brow of progeny

Forbid the smiling courtesy of love

The holy fuit which fain it would convince;
Yet, fince love's argument was first on foot,

Let not the cloud of forrow juttle it

Change not your offer made in heat of blood;

If frofts, and fafts, hard lodging, and thin weeds,
Nip not the gaudy blofforms of your love;
But that it bear this trial, and last love;
Then, at the expiration of the year,

Come challenge, challenge me by these deferts,
And, by this virgin-palm, now kiffing thine,
I will be thine and till that inftant, thut

Raining the tears of lamentation,

From what it purpos'd; fince, to wail friends loft, My woeful felf up in a mourning-houfe;

Is not by much so wholesome, profitable,

As to rejoice at friends but newly found.

Prin. I understand you not, my griefs are double.
Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the ear of
And by these badges understand the king. [grief; -
For your fair fakes have we neglected time,
Play'd foul play with our oaths; your beauty, ladies,
Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours
Even to the oppofed end of our intents:
And what in us hath feem'd ridiculous,
As love is full of unbefitting strains;

For the remembrance of my father's death.
If this thou do deny, let our hands part;
Neither intitled in the other's heart.

King. If this, or more than this, I would deny,
To flatter 5 up these powers of mine with reft,

The fudden hand of death close up mine eye !
Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast.

Biron. And what to me, my love? and what to me?
Rof. You must be purged too, your fins are rank;
You are attaint with fault and perjury:

1 To go woolward was a phrafe appropriated to pilgrims and penitentiaries, and means, that he was cloathed in wool, and not in linen. 2 Liberal here fignifies. as has been remarked in other places, free to excefs. 3 That is, tempted us. 4 Bombaft was a stuff of loofe texture ufed formerly to fwell the garment, and thence used to fignify bulk, or thew without folidity. That is,

to footh. Therefore, I'll jeft a twelve-month in an hofpital. Prin. Ay, fweet my lord; and fo I take my [To the King. leave. King. No, madam; we will bring you on your way. [play; Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy Might well have made our fport a comedy. Arm. The words of Mercury are harth after the King. Come, fir, it wants a twelve-month and a fongs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this way. And then 'twill end. [Exeunt omnes. 1 Fierce here means vehement, rapid. 2 Dr. Johnfon thinks, that dear should here, as in many other places, be dere, sad, odious. i. e. Scum the pot. The word is yet used in Ireland. 4 i.e. his difcourse. MIDSUMMER

Therefore, if you my favour mean to get,
A twelve-month thall you spend, and never rest,
But feek the weary beds of people fick.
Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to
[nesty;

me?

Kath. A wife! beard, fair health, and hoWith three-fold love I wish you all these three. Dum. O, shall I fay, I thank you, gentle wife? Kath. Not fo, my lord;--atwelve-month and a day I'll mark no words that fmooth-fac'd wooers say: Come when the king doth to my lady come, Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some.

Dum. I'll ferve thee true and faithfully till then.
Kath. Yet swear not, left you be forfworn again.
Long. What fays Maria?

Mar. At the twelve-month's end,

I'll change my black gown fora faithful friend.
Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time is long.
Mar. The liker you; few taller are so young.
Biron. Studies my lady? mistress, look on me,
Behold the window of my heart, mine eye,
What humble fuit attends thy anfwer there;
Impose some service on me for thy love.

Rof. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Biron,
Before I faw you, and the world's large tongue
Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks;
Full of comparifons, and wounding flouts;
Which you on all eftates will execute,
That lie within the mercy of your wit:
To weedthis wormwood from your fruitful brain;
And therewithal, to win me, if you please,
(Without the which I am not to be won)
You shall this twelve-month term from day to day
Visit the speechless fick, and ftill converse
With groaning wretches; and your task shall be,
With all the fierce endeavour of your wit,
To enforce the pained impotent to smile. [death?
Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of
It cannot be; it is impoffible:
Mirth cannot move a foul in agony.

Rof. Why, that's the way to choak a gibing spirit,
Whose influence is begot of that loofe grace,
Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools:
A jeft's profperity lies in the ear

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it then, if fickly ears,
Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear2 groans,
Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,
And I will have you, and that fault withal;
But, if they will not, throw away that spirit,
And I shall find you empty of that fault,
Right joyful of your reformation.

Biron. A twelve-month? well, befal what will

befal,

Biron. That's too long for a play.
Enter Armado.
Arm. Sweet majefty, vouchsafe me,
Prin. Was not that Hector ?

Dum. That worthy knight of Troy.

Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary; I have vow'd to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three year. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dr alogue that the two learned men have compiled, in praife of the owl and the cuckow it should have follow'd in the end of our show.

King. Call them forth quickly, we will do fo. Arm. Holla! approach.

Enter all, for the fong.

This fide is Hiems; winter.
[owl,
This Ver, the spring; the one maintain'd 'by the
The other by the cuckow.
Ver, begin.

:

G.

S 0 N
SPRING.

When daizies pied, and violts blue,
And lady-Smocks all filver-white,
And cuckow-buds of yellow bue,

Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckow then, on every tree,
Mocks marry'd men, for thus fings bes
Guckow;

Cuckow, cuckow, -Ο word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married car!
When shepherds pipe on eaten ftrawς,

And merry larks are plowmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their fummer Smocks,
The cuckow then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus fings be,
Cuckow;

Cuckow, cuckow,-0 word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

WINTER.

When icicles bang by the wall,
And Dick the fhepherd blows bis nail,
And Tom bears logs into the ball,

And milk comes frozen bome in pail,
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,
Then nightly fings the staring owl,
To-who;

Tu-rubit, to-who, a merry nate,
While greafy Joan doth keel the pot 3.
When all aloud the wind doth bloru,

And coughing drewns the parfon's faw 4,
And birds fit brooding in the snow,
• And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs bifs in the bowl,
Then nightly fings the ftaring owl,
To-who;

Tu-whit, to-rubo, a merry note,
While greafy Joan doth keel the pot.

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Other Fairies attending their King and Queen: Attendants on Theseus and Hippolita.
SCENE, Athens, and a Wood not far from it.

:

ACT

I.

I.

:

SCENE

The Palace of Theseus in Athens.

Enter Theseus, Hippolita, Philoftrate, with Attendants.
NOW, fair Hippolita, our nuptial hour

The.

on apace; four happy days

bring in

Another moon: but, oh, methinks, how flow
This old moon wanes! The lingers my defires,
Like to a step-dame, or a dowager,
Long withering out a young man's revenue.

Hip. Four days will quickly. steep themselves
in nights;

Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a filver bow
New bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our folemnities.

The. Go, Philoftrate,

Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
Turn melancholy forth to funerals,

The pale companion is not for our pomp.

!

Hippolita, I woo'd thee with my fword,
And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling.
Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius.
Ege. Happy be Thefeus, our renowned duke!
The. Thanks, good Egeus: What's the news
with thee?

Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Againft my child, my daughter Hermia.-
Stand forth, Demetrius; - My noble lord,
This man hath my confent to marry her :
Stand forth, Lysander; -and, my gracious duke,.
This man hath witch'd the bosom of my child:
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou haft given her rhimes,
And interchang'd love-tokens with my child :
Thou haft by moon-light at her window fung,
With feigning voice, veries of feigning love:.
And stol'n the impreffion of her, fantaiy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweet-meats, meifengers
Of ftrong prevailment in unharden'd youth :

[Exit Phi. With cunning haft thou filch'd my daughter's heart;

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Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,

Ege. Scornful Lyfander! true, he hath my love; To ftubborn harshness: And, my gracious duke, And what is mine, my love shall render hims

Be it so she will not here. before your grace
Confent to marry with Demetrius,

I beg the ancient privilege of Athens;
As the is mine, I may dispose of her :
Which shall be either to this gentleman,
Or to her death; ascording to our law,
Immediately provided in that cafe.

The. What fay you, Hermia 2 be advis'd, fair To you your father should be as a god;

And the is mine; and all my right of her
I do eftate unto Demetrius.

Lyf. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
As well poffeis'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';

[maid: And, which is more than all these boafts can be,
I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then profecute my right?
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted, and within his power

To leave the figure, or disfigure it.

Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

Her. So is Lyfander.

The. In himself he is:

Bur, in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
The other must be held the worthier.

Her. I would, my father look'd but with my eyes.
The. Rather your eyes muft with his judgment

look.

Here I do intreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold;
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In fuch a prefence here, to plead my thoughts:
But I befeech your grace, that I may know
The worst that may befal me in this cate,
If I retufe to wed Demetrius.

The. Either to die the death, or to abjure
For ever the fociety of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your defires,
Know of your youth', examine well your blood
Whether, if youyield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun;
For aye to be in fhady cloister mew'd,
To live a barren fifter all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice bleffed they, that master so their blood,
To undergo fuch maiden pilgrimage:
But earthlier happy is the rofe dirtill'd,
Than that, which, withering on the virgin-thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in fingle blessedness.

Her. So will I grow, to live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, to whose unwith'd yoke
My foul consents not to give fovereignty.

The. Take time to paufe; and by the next new

moon,

(The fealing-day betwixt my love and me,
For everlatting bond of fellowship)
Upon that day either prepare to die,
For difobedience to your father's will;
Or elfe to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana's altar to protest,

For aye, aufterity and fingle life.

And won her foul; and the, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,

Upon this fpotted and inconstant man,

The. I must confefs, that I have heard fo mach,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of telf-affairs,

My mind did lofe it. But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have fome private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourfelf
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
Or elfe the law of Athens yields you up
(Which by no means we may extenuate)
To death, or to a vow of fingle life-
Come, my Hippolita; What cheer, my love-
Demetrius, and Egeus, go along:
I must employ you in fome butiness
Againit our nuptial; and confer with you
Of fomething, nearly that concerns yourselves.
Age. With duty, and defire, we follow you.

[Excunt Thef. Hip. Egeus, Dem. and train. Lyf. How now, my love? Why is your cheek fo pale?

How chance the roses there do fade so faft? [well
Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could
Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes.

Lyf. Ah me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or hiftory,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
But, either it was different in blood;

Her. O crofs! too high to be enthrall'd to low!
Lv. Or else misgratled, in refpect of years;
Her. O fpight! too old to be engag'd to young!
Ivf. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends:
Her. O hell! to chuse love by another's eye!
Lyf. Or, if there were a fympathy in chơice,
War, death, or fickness, did lay fiege to it.
Making it momentany as a found,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the colly'd 3 night,
That, in a fpleen 4, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to fay, Behold!
The jaws of darkness do devour it up :

[yield So quick bright things come to confufion.

Dem. Relent, sweet Hermia;-And, Lyfander, Thy crazed title to my certain right.

Lyf. You have her father's love, Demetrius;

Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.

Her. If then true lovers have been ever crofs'd,

It ftands as an edict in destiny:
Then let us teach our tryal patience,
Because it is a customary cross;

I i. e. confider your youth. 2 i.e. give them. 3 i. c. black. 4 Meaning, in a sudden hasty it.

As

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