2827 ! fl5 .>.^^^Vyy^T^A^X''rf^':x-rilJML'J-Ji.JLUuC:;^lli'*JAVJJ/i^Ug«^*-'->"^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. @^ap ©opFW 1^ Shelf ..A 2./^ 5 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^^ ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS THE COMEDY OF A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM b; WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 1894 A. Copyright, 1894, by American Book Company. Midsummer-Night's Dream. printed bi? TICKUfain flvison flew 33orfe, "CI. S. B« INTRODUCTION. That all of Shakespeare's dramas were written and on the stage long before they were printed is well known, but the pre- cise date of the composition of any of them is a matter of con- jecture, and fortunately is of no real importance to the general reader. ** A Midsummer- Night's Dream " was produced as early as 1598 — probably much earHer — but its first publication was in 1600, in which year two quarto editions were issued, being the only editions published previous to its appearance in the famous "First Folio," a collection of the poet's plays printed in 1623, seven years after his death. As to the sources of the plot of this comedy, it cannot be said that Shakespeare found them either in Chaucer or Plutarch, though it is likely he had the '' Knight's Tale " of the former, and Plutarch's '' Theseus," in his mind when writing the play ; and he was probably indebted to Chaucer's ''Thisbe of Baby- lon " for the Pyramus and Thisbe of the interlude. But it was from the homely English folklore that his creative fancy pro- duced this lyrical drama, giving to the '' airy nothings " of its fairy scenes dramatic form and interest, and to English litera- ture some of the most delightful and fascinating poetry in the language. The play opens in the palace of Theseus, Duke of Athens, 3 4 INTRODUCTION, but the scene of action of its main incidents is in a wood near the city. Egeus, accompanied by his daughter Hermia, Lysan- der, and Demetrius, comes with complaint against his child, whose heart Lysander has gained, while Demetrius has the father's consent to marry her. Egeus claims the privilege of the law of Athens to constrain his daughter's choice. Lysander pleads that he is as well derived as his rival, his fortunes as good, his love greater, and that Demetrius has won the soul of old Nedar's daughter Helena, who still devoutly dotes on this inconstant man, But Theseus warns Hermia that she must sub- mit to her father's will or suffer the penalty, which is death or perpetual seclusion from the society of men. He allows her till the next new moon, when his nuptials with Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, are to be celebrated, to make her election. The lovers being left alone, Lysander proposes that they fly to the home of his dowager aunt, seven leagues distant, where the Athenian law does not prevail, and there be married. In further- ance of this design, Hermia is to steal from her father's house and join her lover in the wood *' to-morrow night." As they are going out, Helena, who it seems is an intimate friend of Hermia, meets them, and they disclose to her the plan of their intended flight. This she determines to betra)^ to Demetrius, beHeving that he will be apt to seek them in the wood, where she by following may have sight of him. In the next scene we are at Quince's house in Athens, where he and other mechanics are arranging the cast of a play which they intend to present '' before the duke and the duchess, on his wedding day at night." There is much trouble with Nick Bot- tom, the weaver, who, though the leading role is assigned to him, thinks each part as named and described the one for which he is INTRODUCTION'. 5 peculiarly fitted. He is finally pacified however ; the cast is ad- justed, and they adjourn to meet the next night at the wood, where they may rehearse their parts with more privacy and free- dom than in the city. Act II. introduces Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, who with their respective trains '^ are tarrying in this wood," and are come from '' the farthest steppe of India " to do honor to the wedding of Theseus and his Amazon queen. But the royal elves are just now quarreling over the possession of a '' little changeling boy," which Oberon claims and Titania refuses to surrender. Oberon, provoked, determines to punish her obstinacy, and sends Puck, one of his attendants — and a very mischievous elf withal — to fetch a certain flower the juice of which, '' On sleeping eyelids laid, Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees, Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, On meddling monkey, or on busy ape." With this he means to anoint Titania's eyes. While Puck is away, Demetrius, followed by Helena, comes in, and Oberon, invisible, overhears her entreaties and Demetrius' rude rejection of her love, and resolves to charm him to renew his affection for the '' sweet Athenian lady." Puck returns with the flower, and Oberon, after squeezing a portion of the juice on the eyes of the sleeping Titania, sends Puck to do the same with Demetrius, whom he will know '' by the Athenian garments he hath on," charging him to be careful in applying the charm that the next thing the youth may see shall be the '' despised Athenian maid." 6 INTRODUCTION. In the mean time Lysander and Hermia have come to their trysting place, and, wearied with the long walk, have fallen asleep. Puck, looking for Demetrius, mistakes Lysander for that youth, and charms the true lover's eyes, who, awaking at the moment Helena passes, still pursuing Demetrius, follows her with passionate protestations of love, leaving Hermia sleeping. Hermia, starting suddenly from a frightful dream, calls for Ly- sander, and, having no reply, runs off in great distress in search of him. In Act III. we come upon Quince and his company rehears- ing their play in the wood. Puck, indignant at the intrusion of these '' hempen homespuns " on the haunts of the fairies, and so near the cradle of their queen, takes occasion when Bottom is separated for a moment from his companions to fasten an ass's head on his shoulders. He, unconscious of his transformation, returns to his fellows : they, terrified by the apparition, take to their heels, crying out to Bottom that he is ''translated," and leaving him to soliloquize on the knavish trick they are playing to make him afraid. To show that he is not afraid he attempts to sing, which awakens Titania, who is immediately enamored of the monster, fondles his long ears, wreathes them with flowers, and bids her tiny pages, Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, and the rest, ''nod to him and do him courtesies." In the following scene Puck is relating to Oberon the events of the night, when Hermia and Demetrius enter, he ardent in his professions of love, and Hermia, who has failed to find Lysan- der, accusing Demetrius, in angry and scornful words, of the murder of her lover. This Demetrius denies, but, seeing that it would be vain to follow Hermia in her violent humor, lies down and is soon asleep. Oberon discovers by their conversation INTRODUCTION, 7 the mistake that Puck has made in using the magic balsam, and dispatches him to find Helena. Oberon now smears Demetrius' eyes with the potent essence. Demetrius, waking as Puck comes in with Helena whom Lysander is still following, addresses her with fervent vows of love. Now Hermia, hearing Lysander's voice, returns, and making some remark which induces Helena to believe that they are all in conspiracy to mock and annoy her, a fierce quarrel arises between Hermia and herself, while Deme- trius and Lysander, each claiming Helena's love, withdraw to settle their jealous rivalry at the sword's point. But Puck, by Oberon's direction, overcasts the night with 'drooping fog as black as Acheron," and then, by imitating now the voice of Demetrius and now that of Lysander, leads them a tangled round in fruitless search of each other, till, tired out, they fall asleep. Hermia and Helena, severally wandering in the dark- ness, come in exhausted, and also fall down and sleep. Puck, appearing, purges Lysander's eyes with a countercharm, that, waking and spying Hermia, all his love for her shall return. In Act IV., Oberon, having obtained from Titania the "change- ling boy," removes the spell that causes her infatuation for Bot- tom ; and Puck, while the lubber is sleeping, relieves him of the ass's* head. Bottom, waking bewildered as from a dream, goes in quest of his associates, who, assembled at Quince's house lamenting his transformation and the consequent failure of their play, are vociferous in their joy when he makes his appearance in his own proper person. Bottom says he has had a wonderful dream, but will tell them no word about it. He lets them know, however, that their play is chosen, that they must meet presently at the palace, and charges them '* to eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath." 8 INTRODUCTION. Again at the wood : Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and attend- ants are come in the early morning prepared to hunt in the forest. The noise of horns and hounds arouses the lovers whom we left sleeping. Theseus meeting them, Lysander and Demetrius re- count the adventures of the night. Egeus, enraged by the at- tempted flight of Lysander with his daughter, demands the law upon his head ; but Theseus overbears his will. The purposed hunt is abandoned, and as this is the day fixed for the nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta, when their marriage is solemnized in the temple, Demetrius weds Helena, and Lysander weds Hermia. The play ends with the presentation of the interlude, ludicrously enough, by the ^'hard-handed men" of Athens, but it is graciously received by Theseus. At the conclusion of the comedy, it being ''fairy time," Oberon and Titania with their airy trains reappear, and chant a nuptial song, dancing ** Hand in hand, with fairy grace." Professor Dowden (" Shakespeare "), commenting on this play, remarks : " ' A Midsummer-Night's Dream ' is a strange and beautiful web woven delicately by a youthful poet's fancy. What is perhaps most remarkable about the play is the har- monious blending in it of widely different elements. ... In '' North's ' Plutarch ' or in Chaucer's ' Knight's Tale,' Shakespeare may have found the figures of Theseus and his Amazonian bride; from Chaucer also ('Wife of Bath's Tale') may have come the figure of the elf queen (though not her name, Titania) and the story of Pyramus and Thisbe (see Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women ') : this last, however, was perhaps taken from Golding's translation of Ovid's ' Metamorphoses.' Oberon, the INTRODUCTION, 9 fairy king, had recently appeared in Greene's play ' The Scottish History of James IV.' Puck, under his name of Robin Good-/ fellow, was a roguish sprite well known in Enghsh fairy lore. Finally, in Montemayor's ' Diana,' which Shakespeare had made acquaintance with, occur some incidents which may have sug- gested the magic effects of the flower juice laid upon the sleep- ing lovers' lids. Taking a little from this quarter and a httle from that, Shakespeare created out of such shght materials his marvelous ' Dream.' The marriage of Duke Theseus and Hip- poly ta — who are classical in name only, being in reality romantic mediaeval figures — surrounds the whole, as it were, with a mag- nificent frame. Theseus is Shakespeare's early ideal of a heroic warrior and man of action. His life is one of splendid achieve- ment and joy, his love is a kind of hapjpy victory, his marriage a triumph. From early morning, when his hounds- — themselves heroic creatures — fill the valley with their 'musical confusion,' until midnight, when the Athenian clowns end their very tragical mirth with a Bergomask dance, Theseus displays his joyous en- ergy and the graciousness. of power. In contrast with him and his wamor bride the figures of the young lovers look shght and graceful, and their love perplexities and errors are seen to be among the minor and remediable afflictions of the world. Shake- speare was not interested in making much distinction between Demetrius and Lysander ; they are little more than a first lover and a second lover. Nor is Helena distinguishable from Hermia by much else than that in person she is the taller of the two, and the gentler in disposition. Where there are so many contrasts, the play can admit, and perhaps needs, some uniformities. . . . As the two extremes of exquisite dehcacy, of dainty elegance, and on the other hand of thick-witted grossness and clumsiness, I o IN TROD UCTION, Stand the fairy tribe and the group of Athenian handicraftsmen. The world of the poet's 'Dream' includes the two — a Titania and a Bottom, the weaver — and can bring them into grotesque conjunction. No such fairy poetry existed in EngHsh Hterature before Shakespeare. The tiny elves, to whom a cowslip is tall, for whom the third part of a minute is an important division of time, have a miniature perfection which is charming. They de- light in all beautiful and dainty things, and war with things that creep and things that fly if they be uncomely ; their lives are gay with fine frolic and delicate revelry. Puck, the jester of fairyland, stands apart from the rest, the recognizable ' lob of spirits,' a rough ' fawn-faced, shock-pated little fellow, a very Shetlander among the gossamer-winged, dainty-limbed shapes around him.' '' The rehearsing of their play and its performance before the Duke afford a happy occasion for grouping together the carpen- ter, the tinker, the bellows mender, and their fellows who have turned actors for the nonce. Bottom in his broad-blown self- importance, his all but impenetrable self-satisfaction, stands a head and shoulders higher in absurdity than any other comic personage in Shakespeare's early plays. He is the admitted king of his company, the cock of his walk, and he has a consciousness that his gifts are more than equal to his opportunities. When the ass's head is on his shoulders it seems hardly a disguise, so naturally does the human asinine seem to come to Bottom ; nor is he more embarrassed in offering to Duke Theseus his explana- tions of the play. This comedy of the Athenian handicraftsmen, it should be noted, is an indirect answer to any objections which might be brought against Shakespeare's attempt to represent the fairy world, and the world of classical romance, which could be INTROD UCTION. 1 1 so ill set visibly before the spectators of an Elizabethan theater. In ' Pyramus and Thisbe ' an actual man with a lantern stands for the moon ; another represents wall with plaster on his fingers. Bottom and his crew assume that the spectators have no imagi- nations : Shakespeare in his fairy ^ Dream ' assumes that they can imagine as poetically real anything beautiful or grotesque which the poet suggests to them. " The action of the play is comprised within three days, ending at twelve o'clock on the night of May Day. The notes of time given in the opening lines are inconsistent with this statement, but the inconsistency is Shakespeare's own." Dr. Nathan Drake ('' Shakespeare and His Times") has this notice of the fairies of this play : '^ The fairies of Shakespeare have been truly denominated the favorite children of his roman- tic fancy, and perhaps in no part of his works has he exhibited a more creative and visionary pencil or a finer tone of enthusiasm than in bodying forth these ^ airy nothings,' and giving them in brighter and ever-durable tints once more 'a local habitation and a name.' Of his unlimited sway over this delightful world of ideal forms no stronger proof can be given than that he has imparted an entire new cast of character to the beings he has evoked from its bosom, purposely omitting the darker shades of their character, and whilst throwing around them a flood of light, playful yet exquisitely soft and tender, endowing them with the moral attributes of purity and benevolence. In fact, he not only dismisses altogether the fairies of malignant nature, but clothes the milder yet mixed tribe of his predecessors with a more fascinating spontaneousness and with a much larger share of unalloyed goodness. . . . 12 INTRODUCTION. '' Such, in fact, has been the success of our bard in expanding and coloring the germs of Gothic fairyism, in assigning to its tiny agents new attributes and power, and in clothing their ministra- tion with the most Hght and exquisite imagery, that his portraits, in all their essential parts, have descended to us as indissolubly connected with, and indeed nearly if not altogether forming, our ideas of the fairy tribe. '^ Verplanck (Introduction to ''A Midsummer- Night's Dream"), m a general criticism of the play, observes : '' Tliis is in several respects the most remarkable composition of its author, and has probably contributed, more to his general fame, as it has given a more peculiar evidence of the variety and brilliancy of his genius, than any other of his dramas. Not that it is in itself the noblest ' of his works, or even one of the highest order among them ; but it is not only exquisite of its kind, it is also original and peculiar in its whole character, and of a class by itself. . . . For ' The Tempest,' which it resembles in its preternatural personages and machinery of the plot, is in other respects wholly dissimilar, is of quite another mood in feeling and thought, and with, perhaps, higher attributes of genius, wants its pecuHar fascination. Thus it is that the loss of this singularly beautiful production would, , more than that of any other of his works, have abridged the measure of its author's fame, as it would have left us without , the means of forming any estimate of the brilliant lightness of his ^ forgetive ' fancy in its most sportive and luxuriant vein. The poet and his contemporaries seem to have regarded this piece, as they well might, as in some sort a nondescript in dramatic literature, for it happens that, while the other plays published during the author's life are regularly denominated in INTRODUCTION. ■ 13 their title-page as ^ the pleasant comedy/ ' the true dramatic his- tory,' or ' the lamentable tragedy,' this has no designation of the kind beyond the mere title in either of the original editions. It has, in common with all his comedies, a perpetual intermixture of the essentially poetical with the purely laughable, yet it is dis- tinguished from all the rest by being (as Coleridge has happily defined its character) ' one continued specimen of the dramatized lyrical.' Its transitions are as rapid, and the images and scenes it presents to the imagination as unexpected and as remote from each other, as those of the boldest lyric, while it has also that highest perfection of the lyric art, the pervading unity of the poetic spirit, that continued glow of excited thought, which blends the whole rich and strange variety in one common effect of gay and dazzling brilliancy. ** There is the heroic magnificence of the princely loves of Theseus and his Amazon bride, dazzling with the strangely gorgeous mixture of classical allusion and fable with the taste, feelings, and manners of chivalry ; and all embodied in a calm and lofty poetry, fitted alike to express the grand simplicity of primeval heroism and ^ the high thoughts in a heart of courtesy,' which belong to the best parts of the chivalrous character. This is intertwined with the ingeniously perplexed fancies and errors of the Athenian lovers, wrought up with a luxuriant profusion of quaint conceits and artificial turns of thought, such as the age delighted in. The fairy king and queen, equally essential to the plot, are invested with a certain mythological dignity, suited to the solemn yet free music of the verse, and the elevation and grave elegance of all their thoughts and images. Their fairy subjects, again, are the gayest and most fantastic of Fancy's children. All these are relieved and contrasted by the grotesque 1 4 IN TROD UCTION. absurdity of the mock play, and still more by the laughable truth and nature of the amateur ' mechanicals ' who present it. . . . '' This clustering of the sweetest flowers of fancy and of heroic poetry around the grotesque yet substantial reahty of Bottom and hi^ associates, gives to the whole play that mixed effect of the grotesquely ludicrous with the irregularly beautiful which the poet himself has painted in his picture of Titania 'rounding the hairy temples ' of the self-satisfied fool ^* With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers." *' All this profusion of pure poetry and dull reality is worked up with the dramatic skill of a practiced artist in embodying these apparently discordant plots and personages into one per- fectly connected and harmonious w^hole, out of which nothing could well be removed without injury to the rest." A MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS DREAM. PERSONS OF THE PLAY. Theseus, Duke of Athens. Egeus, father of Hermia. LySANDER, > . / -^j TT Demetrius, \ "' '"''' ''^'^'' ^'"""'- Philostrate, master' of the i-evels to Theseus. Quince, a carpenter. Snug, a joiner. Bottom, a weaver. Flute, a bellozvs me7ider. Snout, a tinker. Starveling, a tailor. HiPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons^ betrothed to Theseus. Hermia, daughter to Egeus ^ in love zvith Lysander. Helena, in love with DeiJietritis. Oberon, king of the fairies. TiTANiA, queen of the fairies. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow. Peaseblossom, "1 Cobweb, Moth, mustardseed, fairies. Other fairies attending their king and queen. Attendants on Theseus and liippolyta. Scene : Athe7is, and a wood near it. ACT I. Scene I. Athens. The Palace of Theseus. Enter Theseus,! Hippolyta, Philostrate, <7;z^ Attendants. Theseus. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace ; four happy days bring in Another moon : but, O, methinks, how slow 1 Theseus, a famous legendary hero of Greece, was the son of Egeus, king of Athens. One of his adventures was an excursion into the land of the Amazons — a formidable community of warrior women — from whence he brought back Hippolyta, whom he married. Or, according to another tradi- tion, it was Antiope, their queen, whom he captured; and the Amazons, under pretext of rescuing her, invaded Attica, led by Hippolyta, whom The- seus took prisoner, and afterwards married. 15 1 6 SHAKESPEARE, [act i. This old moon wanes! she hngers my desires, Like to a stepdame or a dowager Long withering out a young man's revenue.^ Hippolyta. Four days will quickly steep themselves in night ; Four nights will quickly dream away the time ; And then the moon, like to a silver bow New bent in heaven, shall behold the night Of our solemnities. Theseiis, Go, Philostrate, 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. [Exit Philostrate. Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword, And won thy love, doing thee injuries ; But I will wed thee in another key. With pomp, with triumph,*^ and with reveling. Eitter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, a7td Demetrius. Egeus. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke! Theseus. Thanks, good Egeus i'^ what's the news with thee? Egeus. Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia. — Stand forth, Demetrius. — My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her. — Stand forth, Lysander: — and, my gracious duke, This hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child: — Thou, thou, Lysander, thou, hast given her rhymes, And interchang'd love tokens with my child : 1 " Like to a," etc. *' The picture here is of a widow who for long years keeps the heir out of possession of that portion of his father's property to a life interest in which she is entitled as her dower, and which will be his at her death." 2 *' With pomp, with triumph," i.e., with public shows and pageantry. 3 Pronounced E-ge-ns. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 17 Thou hast by moonUght at her window sung With feigning voice verses of feigning love, And stolen the impression of her fantasy With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, — messengers Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth : With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart, Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me. To stubborn harshness: — and, my gracious duke, Be it so she will not here before your grace Consent to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens, As she is mine, I may dispose of her : Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death, according to our law Immediately! provided in that case. Theseus. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd,^ fair maid : To you your father should be as a god ; 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. Hermia. So is Lysander. Theseus. In himself he is ; But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,^ The other must be held the worthier. Herinia, I would my father look'd but with my eyes. Theseus, Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. Hermia. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. I know not by what power I am made bold, Nor how it may concern my modesty, 1 Specially. 2 '' jBe advised," i.e., consider well. 3 '* But in this," etc., i.e., but in this matter, lacking your father's ap- proval. ?8 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. In such a presence here to plead my thoughts ; But I beseech your grace that I may know The worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius. Theseus. Either to die the death or to abjure Forever the society of men. Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires ; Know of your youth, examine well your blood, Whether if you yield not to your father's choice, You can endure the livery of a nun. For aye ^ to be in shady cloister mew'd,^ To live a baiTen sister all your life, Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon. Thrice blessed they that master so their blood, To undergo such maiden pilgrimage ; But earthher happy is the rose distill'd. Than that which withering on the virgin thorn Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness. Her77iia. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord. Ere I will yield my virgin patent up Unto his lordship,^ whose unwished yoke My soul consents not to give sovereignty. Theseus. Take time to pause ; and, by the next new moon — The sealing day betwixt my love and me For everlasting bond of fellowship — Upon that day either prepare to die For disobedience to your father's will. Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would ; Or on Diana's ^ altar to protest For aye austerity and single life. 1 Ever. 2 Confined. 3 Government. * Diana, daughter of Jupiter, was not only goddess of the moon, but also of the chase. As soon as she had been introduced in Olympus, all the gods expressed a wish to marry her ; but she refused to listen to their entreaties, SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, 19 Deinetrius. Relent, sweet Hermia : — and, Lysander, yield Thy crazed title to my certain right. Lysande7'. You have her father's love, Demetrius ; Let me have Hermia's : do you marry him. Egeiis. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love, And what is mine my love shall render him ; And she is mine, and all my right of her I do estate 1 unto Demetrius. Lysander. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he. As well possess' d ; my love is more than his ; My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd. If not with vantage, as Demetrius' ; And, which is more than all these boasts can be, I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia : Why should not I then prosecute my right ? Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head. Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena, And won her soul ; and she, sweet lady, dotes. Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry. Upon this spotted 2 and inconstant man. Theseus. I must confess that I have heard so much. And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof ; But, being overfull of self-affairs, My mind did lose it. — But, Demetrius, come ; — And come, Egeus ; you shall go with me, I have some private schoohng for you both. — For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself To fit your fancies to your father's will ; Or else the law of Athens yields you up — Which by no means we may extenuate — To death, or to a vow of single Hfe. — begged her father's permission to remain single all her life, and pleaded her cause so ably that Jupiter was forced to grant her request. (See Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome.) 1 Transfer. 2 Perjured; treachet-ous. 20 SHAKESPEARE, [act i. Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love ? — Demetrius and Egeus, go along : I must employ you in some business Against our nuptial, and confer with you Of something nearly that concerns yourselves. Egeus. With duty and desire we follow you. \Exeunt all but Lysa7ider and Hermia. Ly Sander. How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale ? How chance the roses there do fade so fast ? Hermia. Belike^ for want of rain, which I could well Beteem2 them from the tempest of my eyes. Ly Sander. Ay me ! for aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history. The course of true love never did i-un smooth ; But, either it was different in blood, — Hermia. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low. Ly Sander. Or else misgraffed^ in respect of years, — Hermia. O spite! too old to be engaged to young. Ly Sander. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends, — Hermia. O hell! to choose love by another's eyes. Lysander. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentany ^ as a sound. Swift as a shadow, short as any dream ; Brief as the lightning in the collied^ night. That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say *' Behold ! " The jaws of darkness do devour it up : So quick bright things come to confusion. Hermia. If then true lovers have been ever cross'd, It stands as an edict' in destiny : Then let us teach our trial patience, 1 Perhaps. 2 Yield. 3 Misgrafted; unmatched. 4 Momentary. ^ Darkened. SCENE I.J A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, 2i Because it is a customary cross, As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs, Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.^ Lysa7ider, A good persuasion : therefore, hear me, Hermia. I have a widow aunt, a dowager Of great reven^ue, and she hath no child : From Athens is her house remote seven leagues ; And she respects me as her only son. There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee ; And to that place the shaip Athenian law Cannot pursue us. If thou lov'st me then, Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night; And in the wood, a league without the town, Where I did meet thee once with Helena, To do observance to a morn of May,^ There will I stay for thee. Hermia, My good Lysander! I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow, By his best arrow with the golden head,'^ By the simplicity of Venus' doves,^ By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves. And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,-^ When the false Troyan under sail was seen, 1 '' Fancy's followers," i.e., love's attendants. 2 " To do observance," etc. The observance of the Festival of May was general in England. Every village had its Maypole painted in gay colors, around which the villagers danced and sung in their May festivities. Young folks of both sexes would rise early on May Day morning, and, trooping to some neighboring wood, gather branches and wild flowers ; and returning home about sunrise, decorate their doors and windows with their flowery spoils. 3 Mythologists tell us that Cupid is armed with arrows of two kinds ; the one, of gold, causing love, the other, of lead, repelling it. * Venus is represented in a chariot drawn by doves. Sparrows and swans are also favorites of the goddess of love. ^ Dido, who immolated herself on a funeral pyre when deserted by yEneas. (See Guerber.) 2 2 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. By all the vows that ever men have broke, In number more than ever women spoke, In that same place thou hast appointed me, To-morrow truly will I meet with thee. Lysafider. Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena. Enter Helena. Herniia, God speed fair Helena! whither away? Hele7ia. Call you me fair ? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair! Your eyes are lodestars ; and your tongue's sweet air More tunable than lark to shepherd's ear. When w^heat is green, w^hen hawthorn buds appear. Sickness is catching: O, w^ere favor ^ so, Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go ; My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye, My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody. AVere the world mine, Demetrius being bated, The rest I'll give to be to you translated.'^ O, teach me how you look, and with what art You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart. Hermia, I frown upon him, yet he loves me still. Heleiia. O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill! He7'mia, I give him curses, yet he gives me love. Helena, O that my prayers could such affection move! Hermia. The more I hate, the more he follows me. Helena, The more I love, the more he hateth me. Hermia. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine. Helena. None, but your beauty : would that fault were mine! Hermia, Take comfort : he no more shall see my face ; Lysander and myself will fly this place. Before the time I did Lysander see, Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me : 1 Looks ; appearance. 2 Transformed. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, 23 O, then, what graces in my love do dwell, That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell! Ly Sander. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold : To-morrow night, when Phoebe ^ doth behold Her silver visage in the watery glass. Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass, A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal, Through Athens' gates have wx devis'd to steal. Jlermia. And in the wood, where often you and I Upon faint primrose beds were wont to He, Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet. There my Lysander and myself shall meet ; And thence from Athens turn away our eyes. To seek new friends and stranger companies. Farewell, sweet playfellow : pray thou for us ; And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius! — Keep word, Lysander : wx must starve our sight From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight. Lysander, I will, my Hermia. [Exit Hermia, Helena, adieu : As you on him, Demetrius dote on you! [Exit Hele7ia, How happy some o'er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know : And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes. So I, admiring of his qualities. Things base and vile, holding no quantity,^ Love can transpose to form and dignity : Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted bhnd : Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste ; 1 Another name of Diana, goddess of the moon. 2 *' Holding no quantity," i.e., bearing no proportion to what love esti- mates them. 24 SHAKESPEARE. [act i. Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste : And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjur'd everywhere : For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,^ He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine ; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt. I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight : Then to the wood will he to-morrow night Pursue her ; and for this intelHgence If I have thanks, it is a dear expense i^ But herein mean I to enrich my pain, To have his sight thither and back again. \Exit, Scene II. Athens. Qiiince's House. Enter QuixcE, SxuG, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling. Qumce, Is all our company here? Bottom. You were best to call them generally,^ man by man, according to the scrip.^ Qiiinee. Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his wedding day at night. Bottoi7i. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow to a point. Quince. Marry, our play is, The most lamentable Comedy, and most cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby.^ 1 Eyes. 2 '' Dear expense," i.e., it will cost me dear, because it will be in return Kox my procuring him a sight of my rival. 3 '* Severally" is what Bottom means. * Written list. 5 Pyramus and Thisbe were youthful lovers of Babylon, whose parents opposed their marriage. They agreed on a meeting at Ninus' tomb, without SCENE II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, 25 Bottom, A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll. — Masters, spread yourselves. Qiiince, Answer as I call you. — Nick Bottom, the weaver. Bottom, Ready. Name w^hat part I am for, and proceed. Qiiiiice, You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus. Bottom. What is Pyramus ? a lover, or a tyrant ? Quince. A lover, that kills himself most gallantly for love. Bottom, That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes ; I will move storms, I will condole^ in some measure. To the rest. — Yet my chief humor is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles^ rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split. The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates ; And Phibbns^^ car Shall shine froni far, And 7nake and mar The foolish Fates. This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players. This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein ; a lover is more condohng. the walls of the city. Thisbe was the first at the appointed place, and, affrighted by a lioness which had just torn an ox to pieces, fled to a cave near by, dropping her scarf as she ran, which the beast seized and smeared with its bloody jaws. Pyramus comes, sees the stained garment, and sup- posing Thisbe has fallen a prey to some wild animal, in an agony of grief kills himself. Thisbe returning, finds the dead body of her lover, and in despair takes her life with the weapon he had used. 1 '' Be pathetic,*' Bottom means. 2 Hercules. ** The Twelve Labors of Hercules " had been dramatized in Shakespeare's day with scenes '' to tear a cat in " and *' make all split," in which the players, as a contemporary writes, *' thundered terribly from the stage." 3 Phoebus, god of the sun. 26 SHAKESPEARE, [act i. Quince. Francis Flute, the bellows mender. Flute, Here, Peter Quince. Quince. Flute, you must take Thisby on you. Flute. What is Thisby ? a wand'ring knight ? Quince. It is the lady that Py ramus must love. Flute. Nay, faith, let not me play a woman ;i I have a beard coming. Quince. That's all one : you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will. Bottom. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too. I'll speak in a monstrous little voice, — '' Thisne, Thisne, — Ah Pyra- mus, my lover dear! thy Thisby dear, and lady dear! " Quince. No, no; you must play Pyramus : — and. Flute, you Thisby. Botto7n. Well, proceed. Quince. Robin Starveling, the tailor. Starveli7tg. Here, Peter Quince. Quince. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby 's mother. — Tom Snout, the tinker. Snout. Here, Peter Quince. Quiiice. You, Pyramus' father : myself, Thisby's father. — Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I hope, here 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. Quince. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. Bottom. Let me play the hon 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." Quince. 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. 1 Women's parts were played by men in England up to the time of Charles II., with or without masks, varying with the youth and good looks of the actors. SCENE II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, 27 AIL That would hang us, every mother's son. Bottom, 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 'twere any nightingale. Quince, You can play no part but Pyramus ; for Pyramus is a sweet-fac'd man; a proper ^ man, as one shall see in a summer's day ; a most lovely gentleman-hke man : therefore you must needs play Pyramus. Bottom, Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in ? Quince. Why, what you will. Bottom, I will discharge it in either your straw-color beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-color beard — your perfect yellow. Quince, Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play barefac'd. — 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 moonhght. There will we rehearse, for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogg'd with company, and our devices known. In the mean time I will draw a bill of proper- ties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. Bottom. We will meet ; and there we may rehearse most ob- scenely^ and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu. Qui?tce. At the duke's oak we meet. Bottom, Enough ; hold or cut bowstrings.^ [Exeunt, 1 " Moderate" is what Bottom means. 2 Handsome. 3 Privately ; '* obscurely " may have been the word Bottom was struggling with. 4 ** Hold or cut bowstrings," a slang phrase of the day, meaning, '' Be there without fail." 28 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. ACT ir. Scene I. A Wood near Athens, Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy and PuCK. Puck, How now, spirit! whither wander you? Fairy, Over hill, over dale. Thorough 1 bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere. Swifter than the moon's sphere ; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs^ upon the green. The cowslips tall her pensioners^ be; In their gold coats spots you see ; Those be rubies, fairy favors. In those freckles live their savors : I must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob^ of spirits; Fll be gone: Our queen and all her elves come here anon. Puck, The king doth keep his revels here to-night : Take heed the queen come not within his sight ; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, ^ Because that she as her attendant hath 1 Through. ^ Circles of a richer green than that of the surrounding grass, which are often seen in meadows. It was the popular belief that they were caused by the nightly tripping fairies. 3 Queen Elizabeth had a bodyguard of tall, handsome, and gayly uni- formed courtiers who were known as '' pensioners." 4 The Fairy calls Puck the " lob [lubber] of spirits," as the mischievous sprite is of less ethereal nature than the other fairies whom he serves. 5 *' Fell and wrath," i.e., fierce and wroth. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, 29 A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling ; ^ And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild ; But she perforce withholds the loved 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. Fairy. Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Caird Robin Goodfellow : are not you he That frights 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? ^ Fuck. 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, 1 Child stealing or changing was a vicious propensity of the fairies ; the handsome babe being taken from the cradle and carried off, and an ill-favored, deformed child left in its place. The latter was usually called * * a change- ling." Here the boy taken by the fairies is so called. 2 Quarrel. 3 a handmill for grinding corn. 4 Froth ; foam. ^ Crab apple. 30 SHAKESPEARE. [act ii. And on her withered dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt,i telHng 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; And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh. And waxen in their mirth, and neeze,^ and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there. But room, fairy! here comes Oberon. Fairy, And here my mistress. Would that he were gone ! Enter, f7V?n one side, Oberon, with his train ; from the other, TiTANiA, with hers, Oberoii. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. Titajiia. What, jealous Oberon! — Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company. Oberon, Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord? Titania, Then I must be thy lady : but I know When thou hast stolen away from fairyland, And in the shape of Corin^ sat all day. Playing on pipes of corn,^ and versing love To amorous Philhda. Why art thou here, Come from the farthest steppe of India? But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, Your buskin'd^ mistress and your warrior love, To Theseus must be wedded, and you come To give their bed joy and prosperity. 1 Aged people were familiarly called *' uncle " or " aunt " by their neigh- bors in England. 2 Sneeze. 3 Corin and Phillida are names given to shepherds and shepherdesses in classic pastoral poetry. * ** Pipes of corn," i.e., musical pipes made of oat or wheat straws bound together. 5 Buskins are a sort of leggings to protect the ankles from thorns, etc. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM, 31 Oberon, 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 gUmmering night From Perigenia, whom he ravished? And make him with fair ^gle break his faith, With Ariadne 1 and Antiopa ? 2 Titania, These are the forgeries of jealousy : And never, since the middle summer's spring. Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead. By paved fountain or by rushy brook. Or in the beached margent of the sea. To dance our ringlets to the whistHng wind. But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain. As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs ; which falling in the land Have every pelting ^ river made so proud That they have overborne their continents:* The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain. The plowman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard ; The fold stands empty in the drowned field. And crows are fatted with the murrain ^ flock ;. 1 The daughter of Minos, king of Crete, who, it is fabled, kept confined in an intricate labyrinth the Minotaur, a hideous monster which was sup- posed to devour the youths and maidens yearly exacted by the tyrannical king as tribute from the Athenians. Theseus, of whom Ariadne was enamored, having been furnished by her with a clew by which to extricate himself from its windings, entered the labyrinth, slew the monster, and escaping, sailed for Athens, taking Ariadne as his bride. He ungratefully abandoned her, however, for the nymph ^gle at Naxos, where the vessel had temporarily stopped. (See Guerber.) 2 See Note i, page 15. 3 Petty. 4 Banks. 5 An infectious disease to which cattle are liable. 32 SHAKESPEARE, [act il The nine men^s moms^ is fill'd up with mud, And the quaint mazes ^ in the wanton green, 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 rheu'matic diseases do abound : And thorough this distemperature we see The seasons alter : hoary-headed frosts Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose, And on old Hiems'^ thin 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. Oberon. Do you amend it then ; it lies in you. Why should Titania cross her Oberon? I do but beg a httle changehng boy. To be my henchman.^ Titania. Set your heart at rest : The fairyland buys not the child of me. His mother was a votaress of my order: And, in the spiced Indian air, by night. Full often hath she gossip'd by my side, 1 " Nine men's morris," i.e., a game played with nine men, or pieces, to eacli player. It was played out of doors, on a square of turf where lines were marked and holes cut, which in rainy weather would become filled with mud. 2 This alludes to a game played by boys that was known as " running the figure of eight." 3 Winter. ^ Fruitful. 5 Product. 6 Page. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, S3 And sat with me on Neptune's^ yellow sands, Marking the embarked traders on the flood,^ Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait 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 do I rear up her boy, And for her sake I will not part with him. Oberon. How long within this wood intend you stay? Titania. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding day. If you will patiently dance in our round And see our moonlight revels, go with us ; If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. Oberon, Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. Tita7iia. Not for thy fairy kingdom. — Fairies, away! We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. \Exit Titania with her tram. Oberon. Well, go thy way : thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee for this injury. — My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberest Since once I sat upon a promontory. And heard a mermaid ^ on a dolphin's back Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath That the rude sea grew civil at her song, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres. To hear the sea-maid's music. Puck, I remember. ^ Neptune was the mythical god of the ocean and of all waters. 2 ** Embarked traders on the flood," i.e., trading or merchant vessels under sail. 3 Here used for " siren." The sirens were fabulous nymphs of the sea who were wont to sit on rocky ledges, or swim in the waves around them, " and sing entrancing songs which allured mariners till they turned aside from their course, and their vessels were dashed to pieces on the rocks." 3 34 SHAKESPEARE, [act ii. Oberon. That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal ^ throned by the west, And loos'd his love shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ; But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon. And the imperial votaress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy-free. ^ Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness.^ Fetch me that flower ; the herb I show'd thee once : 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. Fuck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes. \Exit. Obero7i. Having once this juice, I'll watch Titania when she is asleep. And drop the liquor of it in her eyes. The next thing then she waking looks upon, 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 from off her sight. As I can take it with another herb, I'll make her render up her page to me. — ^ The allusion here is a graceful compliment to Elizabeth, the maiden queen of England, in whose reign the play was written. 2 Heart-whole. 3 Pansy. ^ Whale. 5 Busybody. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, 35 But who comes here? I am invisible ; And I will overhear their conference. Enter DEMETRIUS, Helena following him, Demetrius, I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood ; And here am I, and wode^ within this wood. Because I cannot meet my Hermia. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Helena, You draw" me, you hard-hearted 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. Demetrius. 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? Helena. 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? Denietriiis. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit. For I am sick when I do look on thee. Helena. And I am sick when I look not on you. Demetrius, You do impeach^ your modesty too much, To leave the city and commit yourself Into the hands of one that loves you not ; 1 Mad ; frantic. 2 Lodestone ; magnet. 3 Bring in question. 36 SHAKESPEARE, [act 11. To trust the opportunity of night And the ill counsel of a desert place With the rich worth of your virginity. Helena. 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? Demetrius. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,^ And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. Helena. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd : Apollo 2 flies, and Daphne holds the chase; The dove pursues the griffin \^ the mild hind Makes speed to catch the tiger ; bootless speed, When cowardice pursues and valor flies. Demetrius. I will not stay thy questions ; ^ let me go : Or, if thou follow me, do not believe But J shall do thee mischief in the wood. Helena. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius! 1 Thickets. 2 The myth is, that Apollo met in a wood a beautiful nymph, Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus. '* Love at first sight was the imme- diate consequence on Apollo's part, and he longed to speak to the maid and win her affections," But Daphne fled his approach, and he pursuing, the affrighted maiden invoked her father's protection, who heard her prayer and changed her to a laurel tree just as she was reached by her pursuer. The disappointed lover declared that from thenceforth the laurel would be his favorite tree; and as Apollo was the god of poetry, music, and all'fine arts, prizes awarded to poets, musicians, etc., consist of a wreath of laurel leaves. (See Guerber.) ^ A fabulous animal, half lion and half eagle. ^ Upbraiding speeches. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM, 37 Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex : We cannot fight for love, as men may do ; We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. [Exit De77ie trills, I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, To die upon the hand I love so well. \Exit, Oberon. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove, Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. Reenter PucK. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. Puck, Ay, there it is. Obero7i. I pray thee, give it me. I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with lush^ woodbine. With sweet musk roses and with eglantine : ^ There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight ; And there the snake throws^ her enamel'd skin. Weed 4 wide enough to wrap a fairy in : And with the juice of this 111 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 ^ .Luxuriant. 2 Sweetbrier. 2 Sheds. 4 Garment or covering. The word survives in ** widow's weeds," the headdress worn by widows. 3^ SHAKESPEARE, [act ii. More fond on her than she upon her love : And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. Piick. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so. \Exeunt. Scene II. A7iother Part of the Wood. Enter Titania, with her train. Titania. 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 reremice^ 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. Fairies' Song. I. \st Fairy. You spotted snakes with- double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen j Newts^ and blindworms, do no wrong. Come not near our fairy queen. CHORUS. Philomel ^'^ with jnelody Sing in our sweet lullaby ; Lttlla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby: Never harm, Nor spell nor charm. Come our lovely lady nigh ; So, good-night, with lullaby. ^ Hand-in-hand dance. '^ Bats. ^ Lizards. 4 Philomel, the nightingale, from Philomela, daughter of King Pandion of Athens, of whom the myth is that she was changed to a nightingale. SCENE II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, ' 39 II. 2d Fairy, Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence! Beetles black, approach not near: Worm nor snail, do 710 offense. Philomel, with melody, etc. 1st Fairy. Hence, away I now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel. \^Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps. Enter Oberon, and squeezes the Jiower 07t Titania' s eyelids, Qberon. What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy truelove take ; Love and languish for his sake : Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, Pard,i or boar with bristled hair, In thy eye that shall appear When thou wak'st, it is thy dear : Wake when some vile thing is near. \Exit, Enter Lysander and Hermia. Lysander. Fair love, you faint with wand'ring 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. Hermia. Be it so, Lysander : find you out a bed ; For I upon this bank will rest my head. Lysafider. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both ; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth. Hermia. Nay, good Lysander ; for my sake, my dear. Lie further off yet ; do not lie so near. Lysander. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence! 1 Leopard. 40 " SHAKESPEARE, [act ii. 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 interchained 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 He. Hermia, 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 ! Lysander, 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! Hermia, With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd! [ They sleep. Enter PuCK. Puck, Through the forest have I gone, But Athenian found 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. Pretty soul! she durst not lie ^ A gentle term of reproach or reproof. SCENE II.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM. 41 Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe.^ When thou wak'st, let. love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid. So awake when I am gone ; For I must now to Oberon. [Exit. Enter Demetrius aiid Helena rimiii7ig. Hele7ia. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius. Demetrius, I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus. Helena. O, wilt thou darkling 2 leave me? do not so. Deinetiius. Stay, on thy peril : I alone will go. [Exit. Helena. O, I am out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Happy is Hermia, wheresoever she lies ; For she hath blessed and attractive eyes. How came her eyes so bright ? Not with salt tears : If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers. No, no, I am as ugly as a bear ; For beasts that meet me run away for fear : Therefore no marvel though Demetrius Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.^ What wicked and dissembhng glass of mine Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?^ — But who is here ? Lysander! on the ground! Dead ? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound. — Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake. Lysander. [Awaking] And run through fire I will for ihy sweet sake. Transparent Helena! Nature shows her art, That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. 1 Own. 2 In the dark. 3 ** Do as a," etc., i.e., do fly my presence as that of a monster. * " Sphery eyne," i.e., starry eyes. 42 SHAKESPEARE, [act ii. Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word Is that vile name to perish on my sword! Helena, Do not say so, Lysander; say not so. What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?^ Yet Hermia still loves you : then be content. Lysa7idei\ Content with Hermia! No; I do repent The tedious minutes I wath her have spent. Not Hermia but Helena I love : Who will not change a raven for a dove? The will of man is by his reason sway'd ; And reason says you are the worthier maid. Things growing are not ripe until their season : So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason ; And touching now the point of human skill, Reason becomes the marshal to my will,^ And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook Love's stories written in lovers richest book. Heleiia. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born? When at your hands did I deserve this scorn? Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man, That I did never, no, nor never can, Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye, But you must flout ^ my insufficiency? Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do, In such disdainful manner me to woo. But fare you well : perforce I must confess I thought you lord of more true gentleness. O, that a lady, of one man refus'd. Should of another therefore be abus'd! \Exit. Lysander. She sees not Hermia. -^ Hermia, sleep thou there ; And never mayst thou come Lysander near! 1 '' What thoagh," i.e., what matters it? 2 " And touching now," etc., i.e., and having now come to maturity, my will is guided by reason. 3 Jeer at. SCENE I.] A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S DREAM. 43 For as a surfeit of the sweetest things The deepest loathing to the stoma(;h brings, Or as the heresies that men do leave Are hated most of those they did deceive, So thou, my surfeit and my heresy. Of all be hated, but the most of me ! And, all my powers, address your love and might To honor Helen and to be her knight! \Exit, Hennia. [Awaking] Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here! Lysander, look how I do quake with fear. Methought a serpent eat my heart away. And you sat smiling at his cruel prey. Lysander! what, remov'd? Lysander! lord! What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word? Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear ; Speak, of all loves !i I swoon almost with fear. No? then I well perceive you are not nigh: Either death or you I'll find immediately. [£xi/. ACT III. Scene I. T/ie Wood. Titania lying asleep. Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout,