ramus.

O, teach me how you look; and with what art Quin. Here is the scroll of every man's name,
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart. which is though: fit, through all Athens, to play in

Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still. our interlude before the duke and duchess, on his
Hel. O, that your frowns would teach my smiles wedding-day at night.
such skill!

Bot. First, good Peter Quince, say what the
Her. I give him curses, yet he gives me love, - play treats on; then read the names of the actors;
Hel. O, that my prayers could such affection and so grow to a point.
move!

Quin. Marry, our play is—The most lamenta
Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me. ble comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and
Hel. The more I love, the more he hateth me. Thisby.*
Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine. Bot. A very good piece of work, I assure yog
Hel. None, but your beauty ; 'Would that fault and a merry.--Now, good Peter Quince, call forth
were mine!

your actors by the scroll: Masters, spread your.
Her, Take comfort; he no more shall see my selves.
face;

Quin. Answer, as I call you.-Nick Bottom, Lysander and myself will fy this place.

the weaver. Before the time I did Lysander see,

Bot. Ready: Name what part I am for, and Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:

proceed. O then, what graces in my love do dwell,

Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for PyThat he hath turn'd a heaven unto hell !

Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold: Bot. What is Pyramus ? a lover, or a tyrant ? To-morrow night when Phæbe doth behold

Quin. A lover, that kills himself most gallantly Her silver visage in the wat'ry glass,

for love. Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass

Bot. That will ask some tears in the true per(A time that lovers' Nights doth still conceal,) forming of it: If I do it, let the audience look to Through Athens' gates have we devis’d to steal. their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in

Her. And in the wood, where often you and I some measure. To the rest :-Yet my chief hue
Upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie, mour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.
There my Lysander and myself shall meet:

« The raging rocks,
And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes,

With shivering shocks,
To seek new friends and stranger companies.

Shall break the locks
Farewell, sweet playfellow; pray thou for us,

Of prison gates :
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius !

And Phibbus' car
Keep word, Lysander: we inust starve our sight

Shall shine from far,
From lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight.

and make and mar
[Erit HERM.

The foolish fates."
Lys. I will, my Hermia.—Helena, adicu : This was lofty !-Now name the rest of the players
As you on him, Demetrius dote on you !

-This Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is

(Exit LYSANDER. more condoling:
Hel. How happy some, o'er other some can be ! Quin. Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. Flu. Here, Peter Quince.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; Quin. You must take Thisby on you.
He will not know what all but he do know.

Flu. What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,

Quin. It is the lady ihat Pyramus must love. So I, admiring of his qualities.

Flu. Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; Things base and vile, holding no quantity,

have a beard coming. Love can transpose to form and dignity.

Quin. That's all one; you shall play it in: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; mask, and you may speak as small as you will... And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind; Bot. An I inay hide my face, let me play Thisby Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste; too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice ;-Thimne, Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste : Thuisne-Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby And therefore is love said to be a child,

dear ! and lady dear !
Because in choice he is so oft beguild.

Quin. No, no; you must play Pyramus; and,
As waggish boys in game' themselves forswear, Flute, you Thisby.
So the boy love is perjur'd every where :

Bot. Well, proceed.
For ere Demetrius'look'd on Hermia's eyne,? Quin. Robin Starveling, the tailor.
He hail'd down oaths, that he was only mine: Star. Here, Peter Quince.
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's
So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt, mother.-Tom Snout, the tinker.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;

Snout. Here, Peter Quince.
Then to the wood will he, to-morrow night,

Quin. You, Pyramus's father; myself, Thisby's
Pursue her; and for this intelligence

father ;-Snug, the joiner, you, the Ton's part:If I have thanks, it is a dear expense :

and, I hope, here is a play fitted. But herein mean I to enrich my pain,

Snug. Have you the lion's part written ? pray To have his sight thither and back again. [Exit. you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. SCENE II. The same. A Room in a Cottage.

Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing

but Enter Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, QUINCE,

roaring. and STARVELING.3

Bol. Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that

I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will Quin. Is all our company here?

Bot. You were best to call them generally, man exclude his inferiors from all possibility of di-tinction by man, according to the scrip.

He is therefore desirous to play Pyramus, Thisbe, and

the Lion, at the same time. I Sport.

2 Eyes. 4 Probably a burlesque upon the titles of some of our 3 In this scene Shakspeare takes advantage of his old Dramas. knowledge of the theatre, to ridicule the prejudices and 5 This passage shows how the wanı of women on the competitions of the players. Bottom, who is generally old stage was supplied. If they had not a young man acknowledged the principal actor, declares his inclina who could perform the part with a face that michi pass tion to be for a tyrant, for a part of fury, tumult, and for feminine, the character was acted in a mask, which noise, such as every young man pants to perform when was at that time a part of a lady's dress, and so much he first appears upon the stage. The same Bottom, in use that it did not give any unusual appearance to the who seems bred in a tiring.room, has another histrioni- scene; and he that could modulate his voice to a semala cal passion. He is for engrossing erory part, and would' wone might play the woman very successfully

14

roar, that I will make the duke say, Let him roar In their gold coats spots you see ; again, Let him roar again.

Those be rubies, fairy favours, Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would those freckles live their savors: fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would I must go seek some dewdrops here, shriek; and that were enough to hang us all. And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

AU. That would hang us every mother's son. Farewell, thou lobo of spirits, I'll be gone ; Bot. I grant you, friends, if that you should Our queen and all her elves come here anon. sright the ladies out of their wits, they would have Puck. The king doth keep his revels here to no more discretion but to hang us : but I will ag- night; gravate my voice so, that I will roar you as gently Take heed the queen come not within his sight. as any sucking dove; I will roar you and 'twere For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, any nightingale.

Because that she, as her attendant, hath Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus : for A lovely boy, stoln from an Indian king; Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as She never had so sweet a changeling:# one shall see in a summer's day ; à most lovely, And jealous Oberon would have the child gentleman-like man; therefore you must needs Knight of his train, to trace the forest wild. play Pyramus.

But she, perforce, withholds the loved boy, Bot. Well, I will undertake it. What beard Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her were I best to play it in ?

joy: Quin. Why, what you will.

And now they never meet in grove, or green, Bot. I will discharge it in either your straw-co- By fountain clear, or spangled star-light sheen,' loured beard, your orange-tawny beard, your pur- But they do square ; 13 that all their elves, for fear, ple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colour Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there. beard, your perfect yellow.2

Fai. Either I mistake your shape and making Quin. Some of your French crowns have no hair quite, at all, and then you will play bare-faced. But, or else

you are that shrewd and knavish sprite, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat Call?d Robin Good-fellow: are you not le, you, request you, and desire you, to con them by That fright the maidens of the villagery: io-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, Skim milk; and sometimes labour in the quern,' a mile without the town, by moon-light; there will And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; we rehearse: for if we meet in the city, we shall And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;! be dogg'd with company, and our devices known. Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? In the mean time I will draw a bill of properties, Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. You do their work ;16 and they shall have good luck.

Bot. We will meet; and there we may rehearse Are not you he ? more obscenely, and courageously. Take pains ; Puck. Thou speak'st aright; be perfect, adieu.

I am that merry wanderer of the night. Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.

I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, Bot. Enough; Hold, or cut bow-strings." When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,

(Eseunt. Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:

And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
ACT II.

In very likeness of a roasted crab ;!?

And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob, SCENE I. A Wood near Athens. Enter a Fairy And on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale. at one door ; and Puck at another.

The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Puck. How now, spirit! whither wander you? Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Fai. Over hill, over dale,

Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
Thorough bush, thorough briar,

And tailor cries, 18 and falls into a cough;
Over park, over pale,

And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe: Thorough flood, thorough fire.

And yexen!' in their mirth, and neeze, and swear I do wander every where,

A merrier hour was never wasted there.Swifter than the moones sphere;

But room, Faery, here comes Oberon. And I serve the fairy queen,

Fei. And here my mistress :-'Would that he To dew her orbs upon the green:

were gone! The cowslips tall her pensioners' be ;

11 A changeling was a child changed by a fairy; it 1 As if.

here means one stolen or got in exchange. 2 It seems to have been a custom to stain or dye the 12 Shining beard.

13 Quarrel, For the probable cause of the use of 3 This allusion to the Corona Veneris, or baldness square for quarrel, see Mr. Douce's Ilustrations, vol. i attendant upon a particular stage of, what was then termed, the French disease, is too frequent in Zhak. 14 A quern was a handmill. speare, and is here explained once for all.

15 And if that the bowle of curds and creame were 4 Articles required in performing a play.

not duly set out for Robin Goodfellow, the frier, and 5 To meet whether bowstrings hold or are cur is to Sisse ine dairy-maid, why then either the pottage was meet in all events. But the origin of the phrase has burnt next day in the pot, or the cheeses would not not been sati factorily explained.

curdle, or the butter would not come, or the ale in the 6 So Drayton, in his Nymphidia, or Court of Fairy: fat never would have good head. But if a Peeterpenny, "Thorough brake, thorough briar,

or an housle-egg were behind, or a patch of tythe un. Thorough muck, thorough mire,

paid,--then ware of bull-beggars, spirits,' &c. Thorough water, thorough fire.

16 Milton refers to these traditions in L'Allegro. 7 The orbs here mentioned are those circles in ne 17 Wild apple. herbage commonly called fairy-rings, ine cause of 18 Dr. Johuson thought he remembered to have heard which is not yet certainly known.

this ludicrous exclamation upon a person's seat slipping 3 The allusion is to Elizabe-h's band of gentlemen from under him. He that slips from his chair falls as a pensioners, who were chosen from among the hand. tailor squats upon his board. Hanmer thought the pas. somest and ta'iest young men of fazily and fortune ; sage corrupt, and proposed to read 'rails or cries.!. they were dressed in habits richly garnished with gold 19 The old copy reads: 'And waren in their mirth, lace.

&c. Though a gliminering of sense may be extracted 9 In the old comedy of Doctor Dodypoll, 1600, an en. from this passage as it stands in the old copy, it seems chanter says,

most probable that we should read, as Dr. Farmer pro. *Twas I that led you through the painted meads Where the light fairies danc'd upon the flowers,

posed, yeren. To yer is to hiccup, and is so explained

in all the old dictionaries. The meaning of the passage Hanging on every leaf an orient pearl.'

will then be, that the objects of Puck's waggery laughed 10 Lubber or clown. Lob, Jobcock, Tooby, and lubber, till their laughter ended in a yer or hiccup. Puck is all denote inactivity of body and dulness of mind. speaking with an affectation of ancient phraseology.

p. 182

9

SCENE II. Enter OBERON, at one door, with his And on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,

Train, and TITANIA, at another, with hers. An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Obe. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.

Is, as in mockery, set: The spring, the summer,
Tita. What, jealous Oberon ? Fairy, skip hence; Their wonted liveries; and the’mazed world,

The childing autumn, angry winter, changeld
I have forsworn his bed and company.

Obe. Tarry, rash wanton: Am not I thy lord ? By their increase, 12 now knows not which is which:
Tita. Then I must be thy lady: But I know

And this same progeny of evils comes
When thou hast stol'n away from fairy land,

From our debate, from our dissension;
And in the shape of Corin sal all day,

We are their parents and original.
Playing on pipes of corn ;' and versing love

Obe. Do you amend it then; it lies in you:
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,

Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
Come from the farthest steep of India ?

I do but beg a liule changeling boy,
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,

To be my henchman,13

Tita.
Your buskin'd mistress, and your warrior love,

Set your heart at rest,
To Theseus must be wedded; and you come

The fairy land buys not the child of me.
To give their bed joy and prosperity.

His mother was a vot'ress of my order :
Obe. How, canst thou thus, for shame, Titania, And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,

Full often haih she gossip'd by my side
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus ?

And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering When we have laugh’d to see the sails conceive,

Marking the embarked iraders on the flood;
night
From Perigenia, whom he ravished ?

And grow big-bellied, with the wanton wind;
And make him with fair Ægle break his faith,

Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait With Ariadne, and Antiopa ??

Following (her womb, then rich with my young
Tita. These are the forgeries of jealousy:

squire,)
And
never,
since the middle summer's spring,"

Would imitate; and sail upon the land,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,

To fetch me trifles, and return again,
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,

As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
Or on the beached margent of the sea,

But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,

And, for her sake, I do rear up her boy;
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport. And, for her sake, I will not part with him.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,

Obe. How long within this wood intend you stay?
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea

Tita. Perchance, till after Theseus' wedding-day.
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,

If you will patiently dance in our round,
Have every pelting4 river made so proud,

And see our moon-light revels, go with us;
That they have overborne their continents ::

If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,

Ohe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn We shall chide down-right, if I longer stay.

Tila. Not for thy fairy kingdom.-Fairies, away :
Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard:
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,

(Ereunt TITANIA and her Train. And crows are fatted with the murrain flock;

Obe. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this The nine men's morriso is fill'd up with mud;

grove,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,

Till I torment thee for this injury.--
For lack of tread, are undistinguishable :

And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow, Then how can it be said, I am alone,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts: When all the world is here to look on me?
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft

Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon;

brakes, And the imperial vot'ress passed on,

And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. In maiden meditation, fancy-free.!

Hd. The wildest hath not such a heart as you Yei mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd; It fell upon a little western flower,

Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase ; Before, milk-white; now purple with love's wound, The dove pursues the griffin ; the mild hind And maidens call it, love-in-idleness.”

Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootless speed ! Fetch me that flower: the herb I show'd thee once: When cowardice pursues, and valour flies. The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid,

Dem. I will not stay thy questions ; let me go : Will make or man or woman madly dote

Or, if thou follow me, do not believe Upon the next live creature that it sees.

But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. Fetch me this herb: and be thou here again, Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

You do me mischief. Fye, Demetrius! Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex In forty minutes.

(Erit Puck. We cannot fight for love, as men may do Obe. Having once this juice,

We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,

I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, And drop ihe liquor of it in her eyes :

To die upon the hand I love so well. The next thing then she waking looks upon,

(Exeunt DEM. and HEL (Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,

Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,)

this

grove, She shall pursue it with the soul of love.

Thou shalı fiy him, and he shall seek thy love. And ere I take this charm off from her sight

Re-enter Puck, (As I can take it with another herb,) I'll make her render up her page to me.

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. But who comes here ? I am invisible ;

Puck. Ay, there it is. And I will overhear their conference.

Obe.

I pray thee, give it me.

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.

Where ox-lips' and the nodding violet grows; Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia ?

With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine: The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

There sleeps Titania, some time of the night, Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And here am I, and wood' within this wood, And there the snake throws her enameld skin, Because I cannot meet with Hermia.

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. And with the juice of this I'll sureak her eyes,

Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant ;* And make her full of hateful fantasies.
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove · Is true as steel; Leave you your power to draw, A sweet Athenian lady is in love And I shall have no power to follow you.

With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; Dem. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair ? But do it, when the next thing he espies Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth

May be the lady: Thou shall know the man Tell you—I do not, nor I cannot love you ? By the Athenian garments he hath on.

Hel. And even for that do I love you the more. Effect it with some care, that he may prove I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,

More fond on her, than she upon her love : The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow, Use me bui as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so. Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,

[Exeunt. Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love,

SCENE III. Another part of the Wood. Enter (And yet a place of high respect with me,

TITANIA, with her train. Than to be used as you do your dog?

Tita. Come, now a roundel," and a fairy song; Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; spirit;

Some, to kill cankers in the inusk-rose buds; For I am sick, when I do look on thee.

Some, war with rear-mice?" for their leathern wings, Hel. And I am sick, when I look not on you. To make my small elves coats; and some, keep Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much

back To leave the city, and commit yourself

The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders Into the hands of one that loves you not ;

At our quaint spirits :') Sing me now asleep;
To trust the opportunity of night,

Then to your offices, and let me rest.
And the ill counsel of a desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity:

SONG.
Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that. 1 Fai. You spotled snakes, with double tongue,
It is not night when I do see your face,

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
Therefore I think I am not in the night :

Neuts, 1? and blindworms, 19 do no wrong, Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company

Come not near our fairy queen : For you, in my respect, are all the world:

5 i. e. bring it into question. 1 Exempt from the power of love.

6 To die upon, &c. appears to have been used for 10 2 The tricolored violet, commonly called pansies, or die by the hand.' heartsease, is here meant; one or two of its petals are 7 The greater cowslip. of a purple colour. It has other fanciful and expressive S Steevens thinks this rhyme of man and on a susinames, such as-Cuddle me to you; Three faces under cient proof that the broad Scotch pronunciation once a hood; Herb trinity, &c.

prevailed in England. But our ancient poets were not 3 Mad, raving.

particular in making their rhymes correspond in sound, 4 - There is now a dayes a kind of adamant which and I very much doubt a conclusion made upon such draweth unto it tleshe, and the game so strongly, that it slender grounds. hath power to knit and tie together two mouthes of con. 9 The roundel, or round, as its name implies, was a trary persons, and draw the heart of a man out of his dance of a circular kind. bodie without offending any part of him.' Certaine 10 Bats,

11 Sports

12 Ens. Secrete Wonders of Nature, by Edward Fenton, 1569. 13 Slow-worms.

CHORUS. Philomel, with melody,

Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
Lulla, lulla, lullaby ; lulla, lulla, lullaby;

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
Never harm, nor spell nor charm,

All the porter this charm doth owe :*
Come our lovely lady nigh;

When thou wak’sı, let love forbid
So, good night, with lullaby.

Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.5
II.

So awake, when I am gone;

For I must now to Oberon. [Exit. 2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence :

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running. Beetles black, approach not near;

Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius. Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me CHORUS. Philomel, with melody, fc.

thus, I Fai. Hence, away; now all is well;

Hel. O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so One, aloof, stand sentinel.

Dem. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go. (Ereunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps.

(Ext DEMETRIUS.

Hel. O, I am out of breath in this fond chase ! Enter OBERON.

The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Obe. What thou seest when thou dost wake,

Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;

For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
[Squeezes the flower on Titania's eyelids. How came her eyes so bright ? Not with salt tears :
Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake :

If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
Be it ounce,' or cat, or bear,

No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

For beasts that meet me, run away for fear:
In thy eye that shall

Therefore, no marvel, though Demetrius
appear
When thou wak’st, it is thy dear;

Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.

What wicked and dissembling glass of mine Wake, when some vile thing is near. (Exit. Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne? Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.

But who is here!-Lysander ! on the ground ! Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the Dead ? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound: wood;

Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.
And to speak troth, I have forgot our way;

Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet
We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,

sake.

[Waking And tarry for the comfort of the day.

Transparent Helena ; Nature shows her art,"
Her. Be it so, Lysander; find you out a bed, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
For I upon this bank will rest my head.

Where is Demetrius ? O, how fit a word
Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; Is that vile name to perish on my sword !
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth. Hel. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so.

Her. Nay, good Lysander ; for my sake, my dear, What though he love your Hermia ? Lord, what
Lie further off yet, do pot lie so near.

though?
Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence ;? Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
Love takes the meaning, in love's conference. Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit;

The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
So that but one heart we can make of it: Not Hermia, but Helena I love:
Two bosoms interchained with an oath ;

Who will not change a raven for a doye ?
So then, two bosoms, and a single troth.

The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny ; And reason says you are the worthier maid.
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Things growing are not ripe until their season :
Her. Lysander riddies very prettily :-

So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason ;
Now much beshrewd my manners and my pride, And touching now the point of human skill,
If Hermia meant to say, Lysander lied.

Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy And leads me to your eyes; where I o'erlook
Lie further off; in human modesty

Love's stories written in love's richest book.
Such separation, as, may well be said,

Hel. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, When, at your hands, did I deserve this scorn?
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend :

Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
Thy love ne'er alier, till thy sweet life end ! That I did never, no, nor never can,

Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I; Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
And then end life, when I end loyalty !

But you must fout my insufficiency?
Here is my bed : Sloep give thee all his rest! Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,
Her. With half thai wish the wisher's eyes be In such disdainful manner me to woo.
press'd!

through this groen