The Complete Works of Shakspeare, Revised from the Best Authorities : with a Memoir, and Essay on His Genius

Thisne!"-"Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby dear! and lady dear!"

Quin. You can play no part but Pyramus: for Pyramus is a sweetfaced man; a proper man as

Quin. No, no; you must play Pyramus; and one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely, gentlemanlike man; therefore you must needs play Pyramus.

Flute, you Thisby.

Bot. Well, proceed.

Quin. Robin Starveling, the tailor.

Star. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother. Tom Snout, the tinker.

Snout. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You, Pyramus's father; myself, Thisby's father; Snug, the joiner, you the lion's part: and I hope there is a play fitted.

Snug. Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.

Bot. Let me play the lion too. I will roar that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar that I will make the duke say, "Let him roar again, Let him roar again."

Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all. All. That would hang us every mother's son. Bot. I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice So, that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 't were any nightingale.

Bot. Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in?

Quin. Why, what you will.

Bot. I will discharge it in either your strawcolored beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colored beard, your perfect yellow.

Quin. Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play barefaced.But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request you, and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with company, and our devices known. In the mean time, I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not.

Bot. We will meet; and there we may rehearse more obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect; adieu.

Quin. At the duke's oak we meet.
Bot. Enough; hold or cut bowstrings.

[Exeunt.

Take heed the queen come not within his sight.
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changéling:
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild:
But she perforce withholds the lovéd boy;

Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her
joy:

And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But they do square; that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn-cups, and hide them there.

Fai. Either I mistake your shape and making
quite,

Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,
Called Robin Goodfellow: are you not he
That fright the maidens of the villagery;
Skim milk; and sometimes labor in the quern,
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck :
Are not you
he?

Puck.

Thou speak'st aright;

I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough;

SCENE II.

Enter OBERON, at one door, with his Train; and
TITANIA, at another, with hers.

Obe. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
Tita. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence;
I have forsworn his bed and company.

Obe. Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?
Tita. Then I must be thy lady. But I know
When thou hast stolen away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day,
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the farthest steep of India?
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskined mistress and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded; and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.

Obe. How canst thou thus, for shame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering
night

From Perigenia, whom he ravishéd?
And make him with fair Æglé break his faith,
With Ariadne, and Antiopa?

Tit. These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never, since the middle summer's spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By pavéd fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or on the beachéd margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have sucked up from the sea
Contagions fogs; which, falling in the land,
Have every pelting river made so proud,
That they have overborne their continents.
The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain,

And then the whole quire hold their hips and The plowman lost his sweat; and the green corn

loffe;

And waxen in their mirth, and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.-
But room, Faery, here comes Oberon.

Hath rotted ere his youth attained a beard:
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
The crows are fatted with the murrain flock;
The nine-men's morris is filled up with mud

Fai. And here my mistress. 'Would that he And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,

were gone!

For lack of tread, are undistinguishable;
The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest.

Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound.
And thorough this distemperature, we sce
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose:
And on old Hyems' chin and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set. The spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the 'mazed world,

By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.

Obe. Do you amend it, then; it lies in you:
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.

The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votaress of my order:
And, in the spicéd Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossiped by my side;
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embarkéd traders on the flood;
When we have laughed to see the sails conceive
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
Following (her womb then rich with my young
squire),

The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
[Exit PUCK

Would imitate; and sail upon the land
To fetch me trifles, and return again
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake I do rear up the boy;
And for her sake I will not part with him.
Obe. How long within this wood intend you I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
stay?
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:

Obe.

Having once this juice,

Tita. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding- The next thing then she waking looks upon

day.

If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us:
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Tita. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies away:
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.

[Exeunt TITANIA and her Train.

(Be it on lion, bear or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape),
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
And ere I take this charm off from her sight
(As I can take it with another herb),
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible;
And I will overhear their conference.

Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.

The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootless speed!

Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. When cowardice pursues, and valor flies.

Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

Thou told'st me they were stolen into this wood,
And here am I, and wood within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel. You draw me, you hardhearted adamant,
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel. Leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.

Dem. Do I entice you; do I speak you fair?
Or rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you I do not, nor I cannot love you?

Hel. And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you. Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me, Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave, Unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love (And yet a place of high respect with me), Than to be used as you use your dog?

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go;

Or if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius !
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We should be wooed, and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the land I love so well.

[Exeunt DEMETRIUS and HELENA. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,

Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.

Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;

spirit ;

For I am sick when I do look on thee.

Hel. And I am sick when I look not on you. Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much To leave the city and commit yourself

Into the hands of one that loves you not:
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.
Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that.
It is not night when I do see your face;
Therefore I think I am not in the night:
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company;
For you, in my respect, are all the world :
Then how can it be said I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?

Quite over canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enameled skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.

Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:

A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove

Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the More fond on her than she upon her love:

brakes,

And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Run when you will, the story shall be changed; Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;

And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do [Exeunt.

So.

SCENE III. · Another part of the Wood.

Enter TITANIA, with her Train.

Tita. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song; Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds; Some war with rear-mice for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats; and some keep back

The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders

At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.

FIRST FAIRY.

You spotted snakes, with double tongue;
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen;

CHORUS.

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our sweet lullaby:

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh:
So, good night, with lullaby.

SECOND FAIRY.

Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence;

Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm, nor snail, do no offense.

CHORUS.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

1st Fai. Hence, away; now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps.
Enter OBERON.

Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost wake,
[Squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids.

Do it for thy true love take;
Love and languish for his sake:

Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,

Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

In thy eye that shall appear

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.

Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

And, to speak troth, I have forgot our way: We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day. Her. Be it so, Lysander; find you out a bed, For I upon this bank will rest my head.

Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.

Her. Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,

Lie further off yet; do not lie so near.

Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence; Love takes the meaning, in love's conference. I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit; So that but one heart we can make of it: Two bosoms interchainéd with an oath; So then, two bosoms and a single troth. Then, by your side no bed-room me deny; For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Her. Lysander riddles very prettily. Now much beshrew my manners and my pride, If Hermia meant to say, Lysander lied. But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off: in human modesty Such separation as, may well be said, Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend: Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!

Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I! And then end life when I end loyalty: Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest! Her. With half that wish the wisher's eyes be pressed! [They sleep.

Enter PUCK.

Puck. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian find I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:

This is he my master said

Despised the Athenian maid;

And here the maiden, sleeping sound,

On the dank and dirty ground.

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The Complete Works of Shakspeare, Revised from the Best ..., Volume 2