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 SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDY 
 
 OF 
 
 A Midsummer-Nights Dream 
 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 KATHARINE LEE BATES 
 
 Wellesley College 
 
 * 
 " Music and poesy use to quickest you " 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, I. i. 
 
 NOV ^^^^ 
 
 LEACH, SHEWELL, & SANBORN, 
 
 BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO. 
 
 N. 
 

 ^v. V 
 
 Copyright, 1895, 
 By Leach, Shewell, & Sanbokn. 
 
 /^-5fJT> 
 
 Typogkapht by C. J. Petees & Son, Boston 
 
 Pbesswobk by Bebwick & Smith. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This school edition of A Midsumtner-Night^ s Dream 
 differs but little in plan from the preceding edition of 
 The Merchant of Venice. Both books aim to recog- 
 nize the poetic values of Shakesperian study, and to 
 stimulate the student to do his own thinking about the 
 plays. The distinctive feature of the editing is to be 
 found in the interrogative character of the notes. In- 
 formation which the student could not readily obtain 
 for himself and brief quotations of peculiarly suggestive 
 criticism are supplied, but, more often, questions take 
 the space usually allotted to statements of fact and 
 opinion. The notes are divided into three groups, — tex- 
 tual, grammatical, and literary. The text is based upon 
 that of the first folio, quarto readings and critical guesses 
 being introduced only where the meaning would other- 
 wise be obscured or the cadence seriously marred. Ex- 
 cept in case of obvious misprints, such changes are duly 
 recorded in the notes. The textual notes present, too, 
 all other important quarto variations, and a few of the 
 less impertinent emendations, in order that the student 
 may in every significant instance make his own decision 
 as to what Shakespeare probably wrote. If the folio 
 text as here printed be carefully revised by teacher and 
 
 iii 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 students in accordance with, the suggestions of the notes, 
 the exercise can hardly fail to impart a livelier sense of 
 style in general, and of Shakesperian style in particular, 
 together with something more than a hint of the pro- 
 cesses and principles of Shakesperian scholarship. The 
 textual work, however, is not designed for beginners. 
 It may also be well for junior classes to pass over the 
 grammatical notes, although students sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to undergo the drill in the niceties of language 
 afforded by annotated editions of the Anabasis and the 
 jEneid should find something to interest them in Eliza- 
 bethan syntax. The literary notes refer to the two pre- 
 ceding sets in cases where acquaintance with a textual 
 or grammatical discussion is essential to the appreciation 
 of the passage. In illustration of those elfin and lyric 
 qualities that are to the editor the chief charms of the 
 play, the literary notes contain, together with questions 
 on substance and form, and with more or less of the usual 
 explanatory matter, many scattered bits of .fairy-lore and 
 snatches of Elizabethan song. It is hoped that these 
 notes, judiciously administered, may result not only in a 
 finer and more independent apprehension of the young 
 poet's delectable fairy-drama, but in quickened fancy and 
 fuller joy. 
 
 The introduction is confined to the play under dis- 
 cussion. For a brief sketch of Shakespeare's early life 
 and of the antecedent growth of the English drama, 
 with references, and for a condensed account, with refer- 
 ences, of Elizabethan copyright and the history of 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Shakesperian criticism, students may refer to the intro- 
 duction of The Merchant of Venice in the Students' 
 Series of English Classics. 
 
 The welcome appearance, this past summer, of A 
 Midsuminer-N'ujhfs Dream in the " ]^ew Variorum " so 
 ably and delightfully edited by Dr. Furness has been 
 a cause of especial thanksgiving to the present writer, 
 whose debt to so rich a mine of learning and wisdom 
 may not easily be overstated. 
 
 KATHAKLNE LEE BATES. 
 
 Wkljlesley College, 
 October, 1895. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface .• iii 
 
 Introduction — 
 
 I. History of the Play 1 
 
 IT. Sources 6 
 
 III. Structure 10 
 
 lY. Treatment 16 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream 25 
 
 Notes — 
 
 Textual 113 
 
 Gkammatical 129 
 
 Literary , 141 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. HISTORY OF THE PLAY. 
 
 When was A Midsummer-Night's Dream written ? Three 
 hundred years ago nobody cared, and so to-day nobody knows. 
 It was printed in 1600. It was mentioned in 1598. Is there 
 any way of tracing it farther back ? The Queen of Fairyland 
 plumes herself with comical complacency on the cold, wet 
 summer, followed by a poor harvest, which has befallen Attica 
 {alias England) because of her tiny Maj-Bsty's domestic wranglS 
 with " jealous Oberon." At this hint the scholars have ran- 
 sacked Elizabethan literature, from almanac to sermon, in the 
 effort to locate this calamitous season. The year 1595 fell 
 under suspicion, 1597 was challenged, but the bulk of testi- 
 mony points to 1594. Yet while it is quite possible that, in 
 case the play was written and presented during an excep- 
 tionally stormy period, Shakespeare might have alluded to 
 the bad weather, it by no means follows that poetical fogs 
 and frosts within the theatre are proof of literal fogs and 
 frosts without. If we knew from other sources that A Mid- 
 summer-Nighfs Dream was acted in 1594, it would be sound 
 criticism — supposing, what some critics deny, that weather 
 and description tally — to recognize in Titania's boast, pro- 
 tracted as it is, a reference to the times ; but the reverse does 
 not hold good. It cannot be maintained that this much-dis- 
 puted passage has established the date of the comedy. Neither 
 
 1 
 
2 INTE OB UCTION. 
 
 can anything more solid than conjecture be raised upon tlie 
 
 lines, — 
 
 " The thrice-three Muses, mourning for the death 
 Of Learning, late deceas'd in beggary," 
 
 although there may well be in these saucily syllabled verses 
 both a reminiscence of the alliterative Spenser's somewhat 
 despondent poem, " The Teares of the Muses," 1591, and, with 
 this, a haunting, not unkindly memory of poor, brilliant, un- 
 stable Robert Greene, " Master of Arts in both Universities," 
 who had worked with Shakespeare, and envied Shakespeare, 
 and had died a profligate's death in 1592. 
 
 A Midsummer-Nighfs Dream has something the effect of a 
 bridal masque. It is easy to see in imagination a stately 
 Elizabethan hall thronged with applauding gentles, while the 
 young poet, still in the dress of Lysander, receives with be- 
 coming modesty the thanks of a noble bridegroom, and bends 
 his knee to the imperial smile of the " fair vestal throned by 
 the west." Again the critics have recourse to the Elizabethan 
 annals, and again the fruits of research are confusion and dis- 
 appointment, although two weddings within the decade have 
 excited especial interest. The Earl of Essex espoused the 
 widow of Sir Philip Sidney in April, 1590. It was a private 
 marriage which, when divulged, brought down upon the young 
 husband the hot wrath of the queen. A private marriage, 
 however, might admit of private festivities. Shakespeare was 
 then a " poor player " of six and twenty, seeking a patron. 
 There is, apparently, a loyal reference to Essex, who was three 
 years Shakespeare's junior, in Henry V. (Prologue to Act Y., 
 lines 29-34), and it is probable that sooner or later the two 
 men were personally acquainted. If the play was acted on or 
 near May Day, the plot becomes significant, while the title, 
 
INTBOBUCTION. 3 
 
 A Mid summer-Nigh fs Dream, usually understood, like Twelfth 
 Night, as indicating the time when the comedy was first 
 brought upon the stage, may have been added for a later 
 public presentation in a London theatre. The other wedding 
 about which much wistful curiosity has played is that of the 
 Earl of Southampton and Elizabeth Vernon in 1598. This, 
 too, was a secret marriage, and one peculiarly unwelcome to 
 <he queen. To the Earl of Southampton Shakespeare had 
 dedicated, in formal terms, his Venus and Adonis in 1593, and, 
 this time with words of strong affection, his Lucrece in 1594. 
 Neither wedding date is satisfactory. How could Shakespeare 
 write so well in 1590 ? How could he write so ill in 1598 ? 
 
 The likelihood is that we have in A Midsummer-Night's 
 J^ream a boyish comedy of clowns and fairies and bewildered 
 lovers, hastily retouched and enlarged for some high occasion 
 upon which the figures of Theseus and Hippolyta, and the 
 exquisite flattery of the queen, had a direct bearing ; but like- 
 lihood is not fact. We do not know. 
 
 There was one Francis Meres living in London at the turn 
 of the century, a scholar younger than Shakespeare by a year, 
 and destined for the pulpit and the ferule. He had artistic 
 longings in him, however, and gave an unusual attention to 
 contemporary authors, painters, and musicians of his own na- 
 tion. He counted Shakespeare the best dramatist, both in com- 
 edy and tragedy, of the English stage, and it is to him we owe 
 the precious list of Shakesperian plays known in 1598: "for 
 comedy, witnes his Gentlemen of Verona, his Errors, his Love 
 Labors Lost, his Love Labours Wonne, his Midsummers Night 
 Dreame, and his Merchant of Venice ; for tragedy, his Richard 
 the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the ^, King John, Titus Andronicus, 
 and his Romeo and Juliet.'' 
 
 The publishers of London were not far behind the critic in 
 
4 . INTRODUCTION. 
 
 learning of these plays, and, before 1600 was over, eight of the 
 twelve had been issued in sixpenny quartos. In October of 
 that year, when Thomas Heyes obtained from the Master War- 
 dens of the Stationers' Company a license to print The Mer- 
 chant of Venice, — already printed, perhaps without authority, 
 by the prominent and slippery stationer, James Roberts, — 
 Thomas Fisher registered for A Midsummer-Nighfs Dream. 
 In the same year, 1600, but probably later, Roberts, without a 
 license, printed the play more attractively and less correctly. 
 Fisher's edition is known as the First Quarto (Qj^), and Rob- 
 erts' as the Second Quarto (Qg)- The third original text, that 
 of the First Folio (F^), 1623, was taken from the Second Quarto 
 slightly revised — apparently from a copy which had been used 
 in Shakespeare's theatre, and into which stage directions had 
 been somewhat minutely written. The Folio is the only one 
 of these three texts which indicates the division into acts. It 
 was left for later hands to mark out the scenes. 
 
 The play, in one guise or another, has held the stage ever 
 since it was first produced. Taylor, the Water-Poet, has a gay 
 allusion to it in 1622. It is suspected of being the comedy 
 which brought the Bishop of Lincoln into disgrace in 1631. 
 Scandal whispers that the prelate, with guests, had witnessed 
 in his own house on a Sunday evening a play in which one of 
 the characters wore an ass-head. The unlucky actor was com- 
 pelled by the growing power of the Puritans to sit for twelve 
 consecutive hours " in the Porters Lodge at my Lords Bish- 
 opps House, with his feete in the stocks and attyred with his 
 asse head, and a bottle of hay sett before him, and this sub- 
 scription on his breast : — 
 
 ' Good people, I have played the beast, 
 
 And brought ill things to passe. 
 I was a man, but thus have made 
 My selfe a silly Asse.' " 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 In 1661 was published a droll taken from A Midsummer- 
 Night's Dream, and entitled The Merry Conceited Humours of 
 Bottom, the Weaver. It was evidently a popular performance, 
 that held its own, even during the suppression of the theatres, 
 when the strictest Puritanic vigilance could not entirely ex- 
 clude such side-shows from the public fairs, nor banish their 
 exhibition from the merry conclaves of London prentices. 
 This droll was copied in Germany under the title of Herr 
 Peter Squentz. "And thus the whirligig of Time brings in 
 his revenges." After the Restoration, A Midsummer-Night's 
 Dream was revived at the King's Theatre, where it had the 
 mischance, in September of 1662, to number among its specta- 
 tors Mr. Pepys. This worthy promptly confided to his famous 
 Diary that it was " the most insipid ridiculous play that ever 
 1 saw in my life." In 1692 it was worked over into an opera 
 called The Fairy Queen, in which Shakespeare's creations are 
 supplemented by fauns and nymphs, swans and dragons, three 
 drunken poets, four savages, six monkeys, a Chinese man, a 
 Chinese woman, and Hymen. The eighteenth century three 
 times tapped A Midsummer-Nigh fs Dream, in Leveridge's Com- 
 ick Masque of Pyramus and Thisbe, 1716 ; in Garrick's opera of 
 The Fairies, 1755 ; and in Colman's afterpiece, A Fairy Tale, 
 1777. 
 
 Our own century has contributed to Shakespeare's magic 
 comedy appreciative study, Mendelssohn's music and, on the 
 whole, successful performances. It is true that until the elfin 
 troops themselves 
 
 " Come from the farthest steep of India " 
 
 to join theatrical companies, the fancy of the audience must 
 bear an active part in the representation. But why not? 
 " The best in this kind are but shadows ; and the worst are 
 no worse, if imagination amend them." 
 
6 INTR OB UCTION, 
 
 II. SOURCES. 
 
 The ostensible sources of A Midsummer-Night' s Dream 
 divide into two main channels, — the ancient classics, and Eng- 
 lish folk-lore. For the legend of Pyj-amus and TJiishe, Shake- 
 speare had only to go to his Latin Ovid, Golding's translation, 
 or Chaucer's Legends of Guode Women. For the heroic figures 
 of Theseus and Hippolyta, JN'orth's Plutarch or Chaucer's 
 Knightes Tale would furnish sufficient suggestion. 
 
 For Oberon, Titania, and the attendant fairies, not forget- 
 ting Puck, the young poet had but to remember, it is most 
 likely, stories told by Stratford firesides and reveries under 
 Warwickshire moonshine. Greene's History of James IV., with 
 its very dull and moral "skipjack" of a fairy king, and 
 Spenser's high-thoughted epic may have made the sound of 
 Oberon familiar to his ears. (See literary notes. Act II., Scene 
 I., for names Oberon, Titania, Puck, and Robin Goodfellow.) It 
 is, of course, quite possible, as Dr. Furness suggests, that a 
 lost fairy-play served the young dramatist here, as rude and 
 early work served him elsewhere ; but there is nothing to sub- 
 stantiate the conjecture bQyond Henslowe's shuffling entry of 
 " hewen of burdokes " (for Huon of Burdeaux, see literary notes 
 on Oberon, II., I.) which is recorded as having been acted in 
 January, 1593. 
 
 For the true sources of the poem we must look to Stratford, 
 London, and a young man's heart. It was the lad from the 
 Midlands who knew so well " a bank where the wild thyme 
 blows," who had seen " the round and orient pearls " of dew 
 adorning " the nodding violet " and " the fresh lap of the 
 crimson rose," and had counted the rubies set in the '• gold 
 coats " of the cowslips. It was the country-bred boy who 
 remembered in the city din how tuneable is 
 
INTE OB UCTION. 1 
 
 " lark to shepherd's ear, 
 "When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear," 
 
 •who, resting on " faint primrose beds," had drunk the wood- 
 land notes of throstle, nightingale, and wren, finch, sparrow, 
 cuckoo, dove, and 
 
 " ousel cock so black of hue, 
 "With orange-tawny bill." 
 
 In the lanes about Stratford he had gathered his fill of 
 dewberries, from trees trained against a neighbor's garden- 
 wall, or against the sunny side of a thatched cottage he had 
 plucked green figs, and in a venturous hour had, perhaps, 
 climbed to the squirrel's hoard, and fetched him thence " new 
 nuts." He knew " thorny hedgehog," and " leathern-winged 
 rere-mouse," and " clamorous owl ; " among the acorns of 
 Arden his foot had chanced upon the " enamell'd skin " 
 abandoned of the snake ; he had watched many " a red- 
 hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle," and had often seen 
 
 "wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, 
 Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, 
 Rising and cawing at the gun's report, 
 
 Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky." 
 
 He had tried his musical skill, perhaps, on "pipes of corn," 
 had lingered on his way to " haunted Hillborough " or " dan- 
 cing Marston," or whatever hamlet of the neighborhood his 
 steps might seek, to note the empty sheep-fold or the ox 
 stretching his yoke ; and we may be sure that Shakespeare was 
 not far removed from boyhood when he reckoned among the 
 grave disasters of the fairy-born distemperature that — 
 
 " The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud. 
 And the quaint mazes in the wanton green 
 For lack of tread are undistinguishable." 
 
8 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 He " with the mormng's love " had " oft made sport," and 
 " like a forester " trodden the groves in " the vaward of the 
 day " to 
 
 " mark the musical confusion 
 Of hounds and echo in conjunction," 
 
 when with " such gallant chiding " 
 
 " The skies, the fountains, every region near 
 Seem'd all one mutual cry." 
 
 He had risen early, too, 
 
 " To do observance to a morn of May," 
 
 and had, not improbably, danced with the youth of the conn- 
 try side about the famous " painted Maypole " of Welford. 
 Perhaps Shottery could tell a story of his giving of rhymes 
 and interchanging of love-tokens, if not of singing verses by 
 moonlight at Anne Hathaway's window, and stealing 
 
 " impression of her fantasy " 
 
 with bracelets of his hair, 
 
 " rings, gauds, conceits, 
 Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers 
 Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth," 
 
 though, indeed, poor Anne had passed her days of " childhood 
 innocence." 
 
 Hermia and Helena, for all their palace setting, have the 
 vigorous limbs and untutored manners of lower-class country- 
 girls — such " maidens of the villagery " as Will Shakespeare 
 would often have seen busy over their milk-pans, and might 
 sometime have surprised quarrelling with ready nails and fists. 
 Surely if Anne Hathaway courted him as Helena courted 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 Demetrius, he showed himself " lord of more true gentleness " 
 than the Athenian. The " hempen homespuns " swaggered 
 in Warwickshire ; and Shakespeare may have played the hidden 
 Puck at one of their rehearsals, or he may himself, with a 
 group of Stratford urchins, have been a woodland actor 'in his 
 own first play, using a " green plot " for stage, and a " haw- 
 thorn-brake " for " tiring-house." The housewife who turned 
 from her churning to pour him a bowl of ale, or the wise old 
 gossip, roasting crab-apples in the chimney-corner, told him 
 tales of Robin Goodfellow, and pointed out half-fearfuUy the 
 dewy " orbs upon the green ; " and who knows but that, on 
 some dreamy midsummer night, with " liquid pearl " decking 
 " the bladed grass," and the odor of " sweet musk-roses " in 
 the air, while through a " haunted grove " he sought " the 
 close and consecrated bower " of the fairy queen, the moon- 
 beams were fanned for an instant from his eyes, and he caught 
 a far-away glimmer of Mustard-seed's gold cap or Cobweb's 
 gossamer wings ? 
 
 But it was in London that he found his Theseus, the man 
 of rank and of career, half contemptuous of poetry, a careless 
 patron of the stage, preferring farce to tragedy or to heroics, 
 and yet so rich and strong and grand a nature that the young 
 Shakespeare bowed his heart before it in something more like 
 hero-worship than the dramas show again. " The spacious 
 times of great Elizabeth " saw many a Theseus, with Romeos 
 and Hamlets in their trains. 
 
 Hippolyta is a court lady, but Shakespeare looks upon her 
 from a distance. As in Love's Labour's Lost, A Comedy of 
 Errors, and Two Gentlemen of Verona, he does not yet un- 
 derstand a noble woman's heart. Hippolyta has dignity of 
 silence, grace of speech, but little ardor, mirth, or power of 
 personality. Theseus is too evidently her conqueror. Even 
 
10 INTBOBUCTION. 
 
 in trifles the man must have his way, and the woman must 
 accept his assurance that she likes it better than her own. 
 
 Shakespeare's experience in the city theatres doubtless lent 
 edge to his satire upon the all-capable, irrepressible Bottom, 
 and the realistic devices of the stage. Many a touch of bur- 
 lesque in his " most lamentable comedy " was appreciated to 
 the full by fellow-actors and fellow-playwi'ights, where now, 
 with reference-books and commentaries spread like a sea be- 
 fore us, we fish patiently for the jest. The very excellence of 
 his portraiture of the rural life he had left testifies to the 
 wider life and broader vision into which he had entered. K 
 Stratford gave him material, London gave him art. 
 
 It is not for us to persist further and inquire curiously 
 from what mood or what experience this young poet and 
 young husband drew the fantasy of " love-in-idleness " that is 
 here so daintily and derisively portrayed, — a thing airy, 
 tricksy, accidental, matter for clownish parody, the sport of 
 elfin wags, a dream in " fairy-time." " The boy Love " might 
 take the word from Helena and ask : — 
 
 " "Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born " ? 
 
 in. STRTJCTURE. 
 
 From one point of view A Midsummer-NigJifs Dream is a 
 triumph of construction. The most heterogeneous fowl, — a 
 classical hero, a Teutonic goblin, an Amazonian queen, gro- 
 tesque English artisans, two brace of Athenian lovers, and the 
 daintiest woodland fairies that ever sang lullaby with Phil- 
 omel, are caught together in a moonshine net of poetry span- 
 gled with allusions to mythical demigods, mediaeval nuns, 
 Warwickshire mayers, London actors, Indian kings, French 
 coins. Centaurs, sixpences, the Man in the Moon, Bacchanals, 
 
INTR OB UCTION. 1 1 
 
 heraldry, Jack and Jill, mermaids, magic herbs, swords, guns, 
 Tartars, and the Antipodes. The elfin queen of subjects so 
 tiny as to 
 
 " Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there " 
 
 winds in her arms the big body of a human clown. Four days 
 so quickly steep themselves in nights, four nights so quickly 
 dream away the time, that not all the counting of all the critics 
 has yet righted the silver striking of the fairy clock. The 
 waning moon is full before she is new. The play that is 
 acted in the palace has forgotten the parts assigned in the 
 carpenter's shop and the speeches rehearsed in the grove. 
 The threat of death excites Hermia far less than the slur on 
 her stature. Fairy sentinels nod at their posts, and the ass- 
 head enables Bottom to speak the English tongue. It ought 
 to be all a jumble, and it is an artistic harmony. 
 
 But how ? What, in this that looks so helter-skelter, is the 
 unifying truth ? Here the scholars are at variance. The play 
 is a twist of gold cord and rainbow silks, homespun yarn and 
 shimmering moonbeams. The royal gold, it is generally 
 agreed, binds the rest together, but does not make a part of 
 the actual comedy-knot. Each of the other threads in turn 
 has felt the critical tug. 
 
 " We hurry over the tedious quarrels of the lovers," declares 
 Mr. Marshall (Irving Shakespeare, 1888), " anxious to assist at 
 the rehearsal of the tragi-cpmedy of ' Pyramus and Thisbe.' 
 The mighty dispute that rages between Oberon and Titania 
 about the changeling boy does not move us in the least de- 
 gree. We are much more anxious to know how Nick Bottom 
 will acquit himself in the tragical scene between Pyramus and 
 Thisbe. It is in the comic portion of this play that Shake- 
 speare manifests his dramatic genius." 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " The fairies are tlie primary conception of the piece," as- 
 serts a contributor to the Edinburgh Review (April, 1848), 
 " and their action the main action." 
 
 " The real centre of the plot," announces Professor Wendell 
 of Harvard ("William Shakspere," 1894), "is the love-story 
 of the four Athenians." 
 
 a. Tliesevis and Hippolj'ta. d. TheFairies, tlie"niglit-rule" of Titania(l) 
 
 b. The Lovers. lying apart from that of Oberon (2). 
 
 c. Tlie Clowns. e. The Magic Flower. 
 
 It is not difficult to see in what mutual relation the four 
 elements stand. If a diagram may be allowed, it becomes 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 clear that the encompassing action is that of Thesens and 
 Hippolyta, the human sovereigns. With the fairy element 
 these never come into contact. The clown action touches 
 both, and so does the action of the Athenian lovers. All the 
 perplexities of the plot proceed from the fairies, save the cross 
 in the loves of Helena and Demetrius, which is resolved by 
 the fairies. The elves are thus at the centre of the comedy, 
 although Titania has so far withdrawn herself from her wee 
 lord, — as bent on maintaining masculine supremacy in fairy- 
 land as Theseus is in Athens, — that she, too, undergoes the 
 witchery of the magic juice. The web of enchantment that 
 overspreads the play radiates from the mischievous little flower 
 love-in-idleness, and its ready agents, the " king of shadows " 
 and " sweet Puck." 
 
 The contrasted features here are the waking world, the 
 world of daylight, scepticism, reality, and the dream-world, 
 the world of moonshine, charm, illusion. These two worlds 
 must forever lie apart. So long as the poet observes this 
 verity, what matter if Athens and London are shaken up to- 
 gether, and the classic ages masquerade in feudal dress? No 
 elves hop in the walks and gambol in the eyes of Theseus. 
 He gives courtly audience in palace halls, or in the crisp " va- 
 ward of the day " rides to the chase after his pack of Spartan 
 hounds, whose 
 
 "heads are hung 
 With ears that sweep away the morning dew." 
 
 If we meet the duke between " after-supper and bed-time," 
 he sits in the circle of the lights, smiling graciously as he 
 classes in one category of " seething brains " 
 
 "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet." 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 He takes good-humored pleasure in the absurdities of the 
 interlude, unaware that Shakespeare may be quizzing even 
 him, to whom the Real is the all, to whom "strong imagina- 
 tion " is but a thing of " tricks," in the blundering efforts 
 after realism manifested in Wall and JNIoonshine. 
 
 Lysander and his sharp-tongued Hermia, Helena and her 
 still enchanted Demetrius, touch prose-land on the side of their 
 daily Athenian living ; but their loves and their youth have 
 made them free of the fairy-haunted wood for one long mid- 
 summer night. 
 
 As for Bottom, he is the very creature of delusion. Self- 
 love lays a more potent spell upon the eyelids than the infatu- 
 ation even of a Titania for an ass. 
 
 The drama opens in the realm of reality. Theseus and 
 Hippolyta, in the briefest of conversations, unconsciously strike 
 the keynotes of moonlight, dreams, and love. With the en- 
 trance of the courtiers, the entanglements of comedy become 
 apparent. Helena loves Demetrius. Demetrius, forsworn, 
 loves Hermia. Hermia and Lysander love each other. Under 
 stern penalty their loves are forbidden. They plot an escape, 
 which Helena betrays to Demetrius. In a humble quarter of 
 Athens, meanwhile, under constant interruption and dictation 
 from the tragic star, Master Peter Quince is schooling his com- 
 pany of amateur players. The second act introduces us to 
 quite another world. We live with spirits for our company ; 
 and although once the moonlight glades are crossed by the 
 fleeting figures of Demetrius and Helena, and again the fra- 
 grant turf is pressed by the weary forms of Lysander and 
 Hermia, the human world they represent has already waxed 
 more unreal than fairyland. Upon the eyes of Lysander is 
 thrown the power of the charm, and Helena is w^apt in angry 
 bewilderment. With the third act the climax of confusion is 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 15 
 
 attained. Bottom wears in the sight of all the ass-head which 
 Puck saw on him from the first ; the fairies guide his boorish 
 steps to the bower of their enamoured queen, whose flower- 
 cradle was ill-guarded from jealousy and surprise ; deep into 
 the apple of Demetrius's eye sinks the purple juice ; and the 
 four lovers, for the delectation of roguish Puck, play out their 
 " fond pageant " with hearts and hands and voices all striving 
 at cross-purposes, until exhaustion constrains to rest. The 
 fourth act brings blithe relief. That determined inch of maj- 
 esty. King Oberon, his end secured, looks askance on Titania's 
 devotion to Bottom, and deems it time to undo 
 
 *'This hateful imperfection of her eyes." 
 
 Startled by the morning lark, away trip the fairies after the 
 night's shade, — 
 
 ** We the globe can compass soon, 
 Swifter than the wandering moon," 
 
 and the hunting-horns of Theseus awake the lovers. This 
 long-bewitched quartette, their parts tunefully adjusted at last, 
 kneel before the duke for his urbane and easy pardon, and 
 rise, with haunting memories of agonies and raptures gone, 
 to make ready for their weddings. Even Bottom arouses from 
 such a dream as " the eye of man hath not heard," and, with a 
 marked lapse in his English, hurries on the play. The fifth 
 act, like the first, opens in the realm, not of Oberon, but of 
 Theseus — yet with a difference. The literalism of the play- 
 ers parodies the realistic theories of the duke, the " very tra- 
 gical mirth" of the - interlude mocks the forest adventures of 
 the lovers, and possibly Bottom himself vaguely suspects deris- 
 ion in the plaudits. The world of fact is never so stable and 
 
1 6 INTR OB UCTIOJSr. 
 
 serious again after a midsummer night in fairyland. And 
 when, at last, 
 
 *' The iron tongue of midnight hath told tsvelve/' 
 
 and the palace is hushed and dim, frolic trippings and warbled 
 notes and glimmering sprites bless the bridal chambers, sweep- 
 ing away the impurities of life's toilsome hours, and purging 
 man's mortal grossness yet once more with the mysteries of 
 moonlight, dreams, and love. 
 
 IV. TREATMENT. 
 
 The poet Sidney Lanier, in the richly suggestive series of 
 papers on Chaucer and Shakespeare, published in the New 
 York Independent (1891), phrases the theme of the play under 
 consideration as the " dream-relation of youth toward the 
 Real." 
 
 " Let one remind one's self — to begin — how youth, or early 
 manhood, with its debonair waving-off of the more terrible 
 questions of existence in favor of those immediate joys which 
 are rendered possible by the physical luxuriance of this period, 
 succeeds for a while in maintaining toward real life an at- 
 titude of nonchalance and irresponsibility. It is, as to the 
 Real, an amateur period. ... Or if, indeed, the sensitive 
 soul of a youth is impressed with the dread revelations of the 
 underlying reality of things, it is so impressed with a saving 
 clause — namely, with a certain cm'ious doubt which appears 
 to brood beneficially about our dreams. The most painful of 
 dreams affect us but little in comparison with slight actual 
 griefs. . . . No one's heart was ever broken by a dream. . . . 
 It is precisely such a relation which the Midsummer-NigJiV s 
 Dream expresses in the most ravishing terms of fancy. . . . 
 
INTE OB UCTION. 1 7 
 
 Here we have the cross of love, — two mad for one, Oberon 
 quarrelling with his wife, but no thought of heart-break. 
 Here Bottom and his fellow patches show us Shakespeare con- 
 scious of the fashionable degradations of his art ; but there is 
 no mourning over it, as in the later sonnet, 
 
 ' Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,' 
 
 and several others. Here we have the stupid ass-worship of 
 contemporary criticism in all times, — Titania, or current 
 applause, doting upon the absurd monster ; but it is matter for 
 smiles only, not indignation. Certainly, wrong is abroad, that is 
 clear; but meantime one is young, and this is a dream — such 
 appears to be the fair moral outcome of this play." 
 
 The above is a fortunate characterization, if not of the pre- 
 cise theme, at least of the informing spirit of the play. In 
 the tone there is such buoyancy of youth, such a blithesome 
 roguery and unconcern, such uplift of pure song, that another 
 poet, Thomas Campbell, was impelled to exclaim : " Of all 
 Shakespeare's works, the Midsummer-Nighf s Dream leaves the 
 strongest impression on my mind, that this miserable world 
 must have, for once at least, contained a happy man." 
 
 Who can doubt it ? Happy eyes twinkled over poor little 
 Mustardseed's quaking obeisances before this ass-headed jester 
 with tastes so alarmingly akin to those of "that same 
 cowardly, giart-like ox-beef " which had devoured " many a 
 gentleman " of the shining Mustardseed house. Plappy ears 
 hearkened to the " LuUa, lulla, lullaby " sweetly sung by fairy 
 voices in the " spangled starlight sheen." And it cannot be 
 but that the poet's lips curved into a smile over Bottom's 
 jocular concern lest " Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur," 
 be " overflown with a honey-bag." 
 
 Mr. Pepys is in an unenviable minority among the critics 
 
18 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 with reference to the charms of this drama. Over every sen- 
 sitive mind it holds the sway of most rare poetry. The mere 
 name, spoken by chance, in a prosaic working-hour, flashes 
 upon " the inward eye " visions of " quaint spirits " and 
 " moonlight revels," refreshing all the heart with beauty and 
 with laughter. It sings through the soul like a lyric. One 
 does not care to criticise. One rejoices and gives thanks. 
 
 The charge that is most seriously brought against the 
 treatment is lack of individual characterization. Loyal Shake- 
 spearians have labored to show that Demetrius is the "lack- 
 love," the " kill-courtesy," and that Lysander, for all his fluency 
 in taunting his swiftly soured " sweet " of an hour passed with 
 the names of " dwarf " and " bead " and " acorn," is the frank 
 and winsome gentleman. 
 
 It may be doubted, however, whether modern criticism 
 really succeeds any better than Puck in its attempt to know 
 these two apart. 
 
 " "Weeds of Athens lie doth wear," 
 
 and, for the rest, it is difficult to see why Helena should not 
 have been as well content with one as with the other, or why 
 she should have tired her feet with running after either. The 
 girls, too — what but the juice of that miracle-working pansy 
 could lead a man to care whether he strolled through the silver 
 glades with tall, fair, lovesick Helena, or shrewish, brown, little 
 Hermia ? 
 
 In answer to this objection. Professor Wendell has noted 
 that the characterization in A Midsummer-Night'' s Dream is 
 that of groups and not of individuals. We may not plainly 
 distinguish the young Athenians from one another, or timid 
 Starveling and shrill-voiced Flute from stupid Snout and con- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 scientious Snug ; but the group of youthful lovers is outlined 
 with brilliant distinctness as against the 
 
 " crew of patches, rude ineclianicals, 
 That work for bread upon Athenian stalls," 
 
 and both are a clear remove from the elfin troop on the one 
 hand, and the heroic pair on the other. 
 
 Shakespeare might be said to here anticipate Wagner in 
 giving to each of these groups a musical motive of its own. 
 
 The strain belonging to Theseus and Hippolyta is deep 
 and royal. Their blank verse, sonorous and most skilfully 
 modulated, is in the richest tone of Shakespeare's second 
 period. No prentice hand penned that swift and vital picture 
 of the Spartan hounds, — description by suggestion, as dis- 
 tinguished from the detailed enumeration in Ve7ius and 
 Adonis of the points of a good horse, — or that unsurpassed 
 expression, coming with strange force from the sceptic and 
 the realist, of the poetic rapture : — 
 
 " The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 
 Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven ; 
 And as imagination bodies forth 
 The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
 Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
 A local habitation and a name." 
 
 " Sweet Bully Bottom " and his " barren sort " enter to the 
 accompaniment of " the tongs and the bones." Over the dis- 
 torted prose of their puzzle-headed conferences, and the prepos- 
 terous verse oi their "palpable-gross play " Shakespeare's fun 
 runs riot. Bottom himself is one of the immortal creations 
 of genius, — a type that will not be outworn so long as the 
 green earth spins through space. " Now the world is possessed 
 
20 INTBODUCTION. 
 
 of a certain big book, the biggest book on earth ; that might 
 indeed be called the Book of Earth ; whose title is the Book 
 of Egoism." 
 
 The music that expresses the Athenian lovers has, in gen- 
 eral, a dulcet quality ; but here it is that we detect the uneven 
 and often unsuccessful style of Shakespeare's very first come- 
 dies. There are scenes, notably the good-night duet of Hermia 
 and Lysander, as sweet, almost, as the first delicious converse 
 of Romeo and Juliet at the Capulet festival ; but over the page 
 one encounters verse so feeble and so thin, that the wonder 
 grows how the poet of hero-chant and fairy-roundelay could 
 ever have suffered these mawkish lines to stand. That it was 
 a question of sufferance seems clear. To my own thinking it 
 is inconceivable that, at the same date, Shakespeare should 
 have written with such ease and dignity of style as, for in- 
 stance, in this quiet passage : — 
 
 " I will hear that play; 
 For never anything can be amiss 
 When simpleness and duty tender it," 
 
 and again with such crudity as here : — 
 
 " Do not say so, Lysander; say not so. 
 "What though he love your Hermia ? Lord, 
 what though?" 
 
 The fairy motive is the haunting strain of the drama. 
 There must have been a time when little Will Shakespeare 
 believed in fairies. Perhaps the young students for whom 
 these pages are written will bear with an illustrative anecdote. 
 In 1890 the present writer met on the Isle of Arran a sonsy 
 Scotch lassie, with the springiest of steps on her native turf, 
 and the most honest of gray eyes. Cautious and canny, she 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 21 
 
 would not say that she believed or disbelieved in the fairy-lore 
 of the island. 
 
 " I've na leukit on the wee people myselV' she said, " an* 
 my mither canna speak the English." 
 
 The old woman, big-capped and angry-eyed, crouched in the 
 chimney-corner, muttering in Gaelic her detestation of the 
 stranger who was all unconsciously smiling upon her over a 
 toasted oatmeal cake. When we were out on the heather 
 again, the daughter, as she grew freer of speech, explained that 
 her mother objected to English-talking folk, because the Eng- 
 lish tongue had driven the fairies out of Arran. It seems 
 that in her mother's girlhood the fairies would often, of a 
 summer evening, come " oot of their holes " (compare " The 
 Veairies " of Barnes, the Dorsetshire poet) and dance under 
 the two old hawthorn-trees, pointed out on the edge of the 
 little croft. But all this was long ago, before the times grew 
 bad, and English was taught in the schools, and the old Gaelic 
 songs were forgotten. Now the Arran fairies have " gane awa 
 to France." 
 
 " But what was it they used to do ? " the auditor asked, 
 with a remembrance of Puck. " Milk and churn ? " 
 
 " Ay, it's at their tricks they were." 
 
 " I should call it very kind in them to draw your milk and 
 make your cheese." 
 
 " Ah, but if they keppit it ! " 
 
 " Yes, if they did ! But you don't truly believe these fairy- 
 tales?" 
 
 " N'a when I speak the English, but when I speak the 
 Gaelic at hame with mither — hoots ! I dinna ken." 
 
 The keen-eyed young playwright of London, with nobles 
 and scholars for associates, touched on every side by the ample 
 air of Elizabethan culture, practised in gay satire, had no 
 
22 INTBODUCTION. 
 
 faith in fairies, not he — albeit half his old neighbors at 
 home, staid Puritans though they were coming to be, would 
 go down to their graves in Stratford churchyard with their 
 belief in elves and goblins undisturbed. Shalzespeare knew 
 better, but the pulses of the child thrilled still in the heart of 
 the man. Mary Arden's " sweet Will " had been a brave and 
 trustful little fellow, not fearing the fairies with the common 
 fear of the peasantry. The poems of Hogg, the Ettrick Shep- 
 herd, testify to the dread with which the rustic shunned 
 uncanny society : — 
 
 " When sound of fairies' silver horn 
 Came on the evening breezes borne, 
 Homeward he fled, nor made a stand, 
 Thinking the spirits hard at hand. 
 But when he heard the eldritch swell 
 Of giggling laugh and bridle bell, 
 Or saw the riders troop along, 
 His orisons were loud and strong." 
 
 But as Gervinus has pointed out, Shakespeare's fairy-comedy 
 has, once for all, cleared the little people of the evil suspicions 
 that so long hung over them. Puck makes fun of us, — 
 
 "Lord! what fools these mortals be! " 
 
 but that is the worst of Puck. And as for the flower-bright 
 realm of Oberon and Titania, the poet Hood has taught the 
 fairy queen a language in which to thank the bard whose gen- 
 ius blessed her elfin troop to an immortality of beauty : — 
 
 '' Nay, by the golden lustre of thine eye, 
 And by thy brows' most fair and ample span, 
 Thought's glorious palace, framed for fancies high, 
 And by thy cheek thus passionately wan, 
 I know the signs of an imm.ortal man. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 Nod to him, Elves, and flutter round about him, 
 Arui quite enclose him with your pretty crowd, 
 And touch him lovingly, for that, without him, 
 The silk- worm now had spun our dreary shroud." 
 
 Hudson has written charmingly of Shakespeare's fairies : 
 " They worship the clean, the neat, the pretty, and the pleas- 
 ant, whatever goes to make up the idea of purely sensuous 
 beauty ; this is a sort of religion with them ; whatever of con- 
 science they have adheres to this ; so that herein they not 
 unfitly represent the wholesome old notion which places clean- 
 liness next to godliness. Everything that is trim, dainty, ele- 
 gant, graceful, agreeable, and sweet to the senses, they delight 
 in : flowers, fragrances, dew-drops, and moonbeams, honey-bees, 
 butterflies, and nightingales, dancing, play, and song, — these 
 are their joy; out of these they weave their highest delecta- 
 tion ; amid these they ' fleet the time carelessly,' without 
 memory or forecast, and with no thought or aim beyond the 
 passing pleasure of the moment. On the other hand, they 
 have an instinctive repugnance to whatever is foul, ugly, slut- 
 tish, awkward, ungainly, or misshapen ; they wage unrelenting 
 war against bats, spiders, hedgehogs, spotted snakes, blind- 
 worms, long-legg'd spinners, beetles, and all such disagreeable 
 creatures ; to ' kill cankers in the muskrose-buds ' and to ' keep 
 back the clamorous owl ' are regular parts of their business." 
 
 They are indeed such dainty little beings that even Bot- 
 tom, although he does not precisely " like an airy spirit go," is 
 brightened by their society, becoming at once a linguist and a 
 wit. He not only drops his English blunders, but as he be- 
 comes wonted to the fairy court, he makes brief excursions 
 into French and Italian ; and his jest on the " patience " of 
 Mustardseed is better than anything that the duke and the 
 courtiers get off in their running comment on the interlude. 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The fairy note, as we catch it again and again through the 
 harmonies of the play, 
 
 " Music, lio! music, such as charmeth sleep! " 
 
 is the purest lyricism. The brief trochaics have the very trip 
 of " dances and delight." It is a music heard " for the third 
 part of a minute " between Philomel and " the morning lark," 
 — a music, eerie and jocund, that is gone with the reddening 
 
 of the east, 
 
 " Following darkness like a dream," 
 
 but leaving behind it for the weary hearts of mortals a blithe 
 and fragrant waking to a perennial " morn of May." 
 
A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSOX^. 
 
 Theseus, Duke of A thens. Hippoltta, Queen of the Amazons. 
 
 Egeus, an Athenian Lord. Heemi a, daughter of Egeus, in love with 
 
 Lysandee, ) . . . , ^ Lysander. 
 
 m love with Hermia, 
 
 .Demetrius, } "' '""'= ^"'^ xienum. Helena, in love with Demetrius. 
 Philostrate, Master of the Revels to 
 
 Theseus. Obeeon, King of the Fairies. - 
 
 Peter Quince, a Carpenter. Titania, Queen of the Fairies. 
 
 Nick Bottom, a Weaver. Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, a Fairy. 
 
 Francis Flute, a Bellows-mender. Peaseblossom, -v 
 
 Tom Snout, a Tinker. Cobweb, { pa^jj-ies 
 
 Robin Starveling, a Tailor. Moth, j 
 
 Snug, a Joiner. Mustaedseed, ^ 
 
 Other Fairies attending their King and Queen. Attendants on Theseus and 
 
 Hippolyta. 
 
 Scene : Athens, and a Wood near it. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 Scene I. Athens. The Palace of Theseus. 
 
 Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostkate, and At- 
 
 tendants. 
 
 Theseus. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour 
 Drawls on apace ; four happy days bring in 
 Another Moon : but, 0, methinks, how slow 
 This old Moon wanes ! she lingers my desires, 
 
 25 
 
26 SHAKESPEARE. Act I. 
 
 Like to a step-dame, or a dowager, 
 
 Long withering out a young man's revenue. 
 
 HipPOLYTA. Pour days will quickly steep themselves 
 in nights ; 
 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 lo 
 
 Of our solemnities. 
 
 Theseus. Go, Philostrate, 
 
 Stir up th' 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. 
 
 \^ISxit 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 revelling. 
 
 \E^7ife7* Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. 
 
 Egeus. Happy be Theseus, our renowned Duke ! 20 
 Theseus. Thanks, good Egeus : what's the news with 
 
 thee? 
 Egeus. Eull 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 man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child : 
 
Scene I. MID SUMMER-NIGHT' S DEE AM. 27 
 
 Thou, tlioUj Lysancler, thou hast given her rhymes, 
 
 And interchang'd love-tokens with my child : 
 
 Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung so 
 
 With feigning voice verses of feigning love, 
 
 And stolen the impression of her fantasy 
 
 With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, 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't so she will not here before your Grace 
 
 Consent to marry with Demetrius, 40 
 
 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 50 
 
 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. 
 
28 SHAKESPEARE. Act I. 
 
 The otlier must be held the worthier. 
 
 Hekmia. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. 
 
 Theseus. Bather 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, 60 
 
 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 
 For ever 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, 70 
 
 For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd, 
 To live a barren 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 earthlier-happy is the rose distill'd 
 Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn, 
 Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness. 
 
 Hermia. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord. 
 Ere I will yield my virgin patent up 80 
 
 Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke 
 My soul consents not to give sovereignty. 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DEE AM. 29 
 
 Theseus. Take time to pause ; and, by tlie 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. 90 
 
 Demetrius. E-elent, sweet Hermia : and, Lysander, 
 yield 
 Thy crazed title to my certain right. 
 
 Lysander. You have her father's love, Demetrius ; 
 Let me have Hermia' s : do you marry him. 
 
 Egeus. 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 unto Demetrius. ^ - 
 
 Lysander. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he. 
 As well possess'd ; my love is more than his ; 100 
 
 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. 
 
30 SHAKESPEARE. Act I. 
 
 Upon this spotted and inconstant man. no 
 
 Theseus. I must confess that I have heard so much, 
 And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof : 
 Butj being over-full of self-affairs. 
 My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come ; 
 And come, Egeus ; you shall go with me, 
 I have some private schooling 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 — 120 
 
 To death, or to a vow of single life. 
 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 Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, 
 Demetrius, and Train. 
 
 Ltsandek. 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 130 
 
 Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes. 
 
 Lysander. Ay me ! for aught that ever I could 
 read. 
 Could ever hear by tale or history. 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM. 31 
 
 The coursajof-fcrue love nevejr did run smp otli ; 
 But, either it was different in blood, — 
 
 Hermia. cross ! too higli to be enthrall'd to low ! 
 
 Lysander. Or else misgraffed in respect of years, — 
 
 Hermia. spite ! too old to be engag'd to young ! 
 
 Ltsaistder. Or else it stood upon the choice of 
 friends, — 
 
 Hermia. Hell ! to choose love by another's 
 eyes ! i40 
 
 Lysander. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, 
 War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, 
 Making it momentary as a sound. 
 Swift as a shadow, short as any dream ; 
 Brief as the lightning in the collied night, • ' 
 
 That, in a sjoleen, 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. H, then, true lovers have been ever 
 cross'd, 150 
 
 It stands as an edict in destiny : 
 Then let us teach our trial patience, 
 Because it is a customary cross, 
 As due to love as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs, 
 Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers. 
 
 Lysander. a good persuasion ; therefore, hear me, 
 Hermia. 
 I have a widow aunt, a dowager 
 Of great revenue, and she hath no child : 
 
32 SHAKESPEARE. Act I. 
 
 From Athens is lier house remov'd seven leagues ; 
 
 And slie respects me as her only son. 160 
 
 Tiiere, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee ; 
 
 And to that place the sharp 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. ^ 
 
 Heemia. My good Lysander ! 
 
 I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow. 
 By his best arrow with the golden head, 170 
 
 By the simplicity of Yenus' 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. 
 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. 
 
 Lysander. Keep promise, love. Look, here comes 
 Helena. 
 
 Enter Helena. 
 
 Hermia. God speed fair Helena ! whither away ? 
 
 Helena. Call you me fair ? that fair again unsay. 
 Demetrius loves you fair : happy fair ! i82 
 
 Your eyes are lode-stars ; and your tongue's sweet air 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 33 
 
 More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, 
 
 When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear. 
 
 Sickness is catching ; 0, were favour 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. 
 
 Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, 190 
 
 The rest I'd give, to be to you translated. 
 
 0, teach me how you look, and with what art 
 
 You s\^y the motion of Demetrius' heart ! 
 
 Hermia. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still. 
 
 Helena. that your frowns would teach my smiles 
 such skill ! 
 
 Hermia. I give him curses, yet he gives me love. 
 
 Helena. 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. 200 
 
 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 : 
 0, then, what graces in my love do dwell. 
 That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell ! 
 
 Lysander. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold : 
 
34 SHAKESPEABE. Act I. 
 
 To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold 
 
 Her silver visage in the watery glass, 210 
 
 Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass, 
 
 A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal, 
 
 Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal. 
 
 Hermia. And in the wood, where often yon and I 
 Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie, 
 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 ; 220 
 
 And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius ! — 
 Keep word, Lysander : we must starve our sight 
 From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight. 
 
 Lysander. I will, my Hermia. — \_Exit Hermia. 
 
 Helena, adieu : 
 As you on hjm, Demetrius dote on you ! \_Exit. 
 
 Helena. 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, 230 
 
 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 blind : 
 Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste; 
 
Scene 11. MIBSUMMEE-NIGBT' S BEE AM. 35 
 
 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, 240 
 
 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 oath 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 intelligence 
 
 If I have thanks, it is a dear expense : 
 
 But herein mean I to enrich my pain, 250 
 
 To have his sight thither and back again. \_Exit. 
 
 Scene TL Athens. Quince's House. 
 
 Enter Quince, Bottom, - Snug, Flute, Snout, and 
 
 Starveling. 
 
 Quince. Is all our company here ? 
 
 Bottom. You were best to call them generally, man 
 by man, according to the scrip. 
 
 Quince. 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 wed- 
 ding-day at night. 
 
 Bottom. First, good Peter Quince, say what the 
 
36 SHAKESPEABE. Act I. 
 
 play treats on ; tlien read the names of the actors ; and 
 so grow on to a point. . lo 
 
 Quince. Marry, our play is The Tnost lamentahle 
 Comedy and most cruel Death of Pyramus and Thishe. 
 
 Bottom. A very good piece of work, I assure yon, 
 and a merry. Kow, good Peter Quince, call forth your 
 actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves. 
 
 Quince. Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the 
 weaver. 
 
 Bottom. Beady. Name what part I am for, and 
 proceed. 
 
 Quince. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for 
 Pyramus. 21 
 
 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 per- 
 forming of it : if I do it, let the audience look to their 
 eyes ; I will move storms, I will condole in some meas- 
 ure. To the rest. — Yet my chief humour is for a 
 tyrant : I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear 
 a cat in, to make all split. 30 
 
 The raging rocks 
 And shivering shocks 
 Shall break the locks 
 
 Of prison-gates ; 
 And Phihhus^ car 
 Shall shine from far, 
 And make and m,ar 
 
 The foolish Fates. 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 37 
 
 This was lofty ! — Now name the rest of the players. — 
 This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein ; a lover is more 
 condoling. 4i 
 
 Quince. Francis Flute, the bellows-mender. 
 
 Flute. Here, Peter Quince. 
 
 Quince. You must take Tliisbe on you. 
 
 Flute. What is Thisbe ? a wandering knight ? 
 
 Quince. It is the lady that Pyramus must love. 
 
 Flute. Nay, faith, let not me play a woman ; 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. 50 
 
 Bottom. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe 
 too : I'll speak in a monstrous little voice ; — This7ie, 
 Thisne, — Ah, Pyramus, iny lover dear ! thy Thisbe dear, 
 and lady dear! 
 
 Quince. No, no ; you must play Pyramus : — and, 
 Flute, you Thisbe. 
 
 Bottom. Well, proceed. 
 
 Quince. Eobin Starveling, the tailor. 
 
 Starveling. Here, Peter Quince. 
 
 Quince. Eobin Starveling, you must play Thisbe's 
 mother. Tom Snout, the tinker. 61 
 
 Snout. Here, Peter Quince. 
 
 Quince* You, Pyramus' father ; myself, Thisbe'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. 
 
38 SHAKESPEARE. Act I. 
 
 Quince. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing 
 but roaring. 69 
 
 Bottom. 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. 
 
 Quince. If 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. 
 
 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 suck- 
 ing dove ; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale. 82 
 
 Quince. You can play no part but Pyramus ; for 
 Pyramus is a sweet-faced man ; a proper man as one 
 shall see in a summer's day ; a most lovely, gentleman- 
 like 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- 
 colour beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in- 
 grain beard, or your French-crown colour'd beard, your 
 perfect yellow. 93 
 
 Quince. Some of your French crowns have no hair 
 at all, and then you will pla}^ barefaced. But, masters, 
 here are your parts : and I am to entreat you, request 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 39 
 
 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 we will rehearse ; for if we 
 meet in the city, we shall be dogg'd Avith 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. i03 
 
 Bottom. We will meet ; and there we may rehearse 
 more obscenely and courageously. Take pains ; be per- 
 fect : adieu. 
 
 Quince. At the Duke's oak we meet. 
 
 Bottom. Enough ; hold, or cut bow-strings. [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT 11. 
 
 Scene I. A Wood near Athens. 
 
 Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy, and Puck. 
 
 Puck. How now, spirit ! whither wander you ? 
 
 Pairy. Over hill, over dale. 
 
 Through bush, through brier, 
 Over park, over pale, 
 Through flood, through fire, 
 I do wander everywhere, 
 Swifter than the moon's sphere ; 
 And I serve the Pairy Queen, 
 To dew her orbs upon the green. 
 
40 SHAKESPEABE. Act II. 
 
 The cowslips tall her pensioners be : lo 
 
 In their gold coats spots you see : 
 Those be rubies, fairy favours, 
 In those freckles live their savours 
 I must go seek some dewdrops here. 
 And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. 
 Farewell, thou lob of spirits ; I'll 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, 20 
 
 Because that she as her attendant hath 
 A lovely boy, stol'n 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 30 
 
 Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there. 
 
 Faiky. Either I mistake your shape and. making 
 quite. 
 Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite 
 Call'd Eobin Goodfellow. Are you not he 
 That frights the maidens of the villagree. 
 Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern 
 And bootless make the breathless housewife churn ; 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMEB-NIGHT' S DREAM. 41 
 
 And sometime make the drink to bear no barm ; 
 Mislead night- wanderers, laughing at their harm ? 
 Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, 40 
 
 You do their work, and they shall have good luck : 
 Are you not 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 silly 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 wither' d dewlap pour the ale. 50 
 
 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 ; 
 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 ^ from one side the King of Fairies with his Train ; 
 from the other, the Queen, with hers, 
 
 Oberon". Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. 60 
 
 TiTANiA. What, jealous Oberon ? Fairies, skip 
 hence : 
 
42 SHAKESPEARE. Act II. 
 
 I have forsworn Ms 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 stol'n away from Eairy-land, 
 And in the shape of Corin sat all day, 
 Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love 
 To amorous Phyllida. Why art thou here. 
 Come from the farthest steep of India ? 
 But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon, 70 
 
 Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love, 
 To Theseus must be wedded, and you come 
 To give their bed joy and prosperity. 
 
 Obekon. 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 
 Erom Perigenia, whom he ravished ? 
 And make him with fair ^gle break his faith, 
 With Ariadne and Antiopa ? so 
 
 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 whistling wind, 
 But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed 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 90 
 
Scene I. MIBSUMMEE-NIGHT' S DREAM. 43 
 
 Hath every petty river made so proud, 
 
 That they have overborne their continents : 
 
 The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, 
 
 The ploughman 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 ; 
 
 The nine-men's-morris is fill'd up with mud. 
 
 And the quaint mazes in the wanton green 
 
 For lack of tread are undistinguishable : loo 
 
 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 see 
 
 The seasons alter ; hoary-headed frosts 
 
 Pail in the fresh lap of the crimson rose, 
 
 And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown 
 
 An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds no 
 
 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 evil 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 ? 
 
44 SHAKESPEARE. Act II. 
 
 I do but beg a little changeling boy, 120 
 
 To be my hencbman. 
 
 TiTANiA. Set your heart at rest : 
 
 The Fairy-land 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, 
 And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, 
 Marking th' 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, 130 
 
 As from a voyage, rich with merchandise. 
 But she, being mortal, of that boy did die ; 
 And for her sake I do rear up her boy ; 
 And for her sake I will not part with him. 
 
 Obekon. How long within this wood intend you 
 stay ? 
 
 TiT.ANiA. 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. 
 
 TiTANiA. Not for thy Fairy kingdom. Fairies, 
 away ! 141 
 
 We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. 
 
 [^JExit TiTANiA with her train. 
 
 Oberon. Well, go thy way : thou shalt not from this 
 grove 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DEE AM. 45 
 
 Till I torment thee for this injury. 
 
 My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb'rest 
 
 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, i50 
 
 To hear the sea-maid's music. 
 
 Puck. I remember. 
 
 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, i60 
 
 In maiden meditation, fan^y-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 170 
 
46 SHAKESPEARE. Act. II. 
 
 Ere the leviathan can swim a league. 
 
 Puck. I'd put a girdle round about the Earth 
 In forty minutes. \_Exit. 
 
 Oberon. 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 off from her sight, iso 
 
 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 /oZZo^«;^7^^ 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 stol'n into this wood 5 
 And here am I, and wood within this wood. 
 Because I cannot meet my Hermia. 190 
 
 Hence, get thee goAe, 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 ? 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 47 
 
 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 thee the more. 
 I am your spaniel ; and, Demetrius, 200 
 
 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 ? 
 
 Demetrius. 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. 210 
 
 Demethius- You do impeach your modesty too 
 much. 
 To leave the city and commit yourself 
 Into the hands of one that loves you not j 
 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, " 220 
 
 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 ? 
 
48 SHAKESPEARE. Act II. 
 
 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 flies, and Daphne holds the chase ; 
 The dove pursues the griflin ; the mild hind 
 Makes speed to catch the tiger, — bootless speed, 230 
 When cowardice pursues, and valour flies ! 
 
 Demetrius. 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. 
 
 Helena. Ay, in the temple, in the town and 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 woo'd, and were not made to woo. 
 
 \_Exit Demetrius. 
 I'll follow thee, and make a Heaven of Hell, 240 
 
 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. 
 
 Re-enter Puck. 
 
 Hast thou the flower there ? Welcome, wanderer. 
 
 Puck. Ay, there it is. 
 
 Oberon. I pray thee, give it me. 
 
 I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM. 49 
 
 Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows ; 
 
 Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, 
 
 With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine ; 
 
 There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, 250 
 
 Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight ; 
 
 And there the snake throws her enamell'd 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 260 
 
 By the Athenian garments he hath on. 
 
 Effect it with some care that he may prove 
 
 More fond on her than she upon her love : 
 
 And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow. 
 
 Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so. 
 
 Scene II. Another Part of the Wood. 
 Enter the Queen of Fairies, 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 rere-mice for their leathern wings. 
 To make my small elves coats, and some, keep back 
 
50 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Act II. 
 
 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. 
 
 1 Faiky. You spotted snakes with double tongue, 
 
 Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen ; 10 
 
 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. 
 
 2 Fairy. Weaving spiders, come not here ; 20 
 
 Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence ! 
 Beetles black, approach not near; 
 Worm nor snail, do no offence. 
 
 Chorus. Philomel, with melody, etc. 
 
 1 Fairy. Hence, away ! now all is well : 
 One aloof stand sentinel. 
 
 \_Ex6unt Fairies. Titania sleeps. 
 
 Enter Oberon and squeezes the flower on Titania's 
 
 eyelids. 
 
 Oberon. What thou see'st when thou dost wake, 
 Do it for thy true-love take ; 
 
Scene II., MIDSUMMEB-NIGHT'S BBEAM. 51 
 
 Love and languish for his sake : 
 
 Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, so 
 
 Pard, 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 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. 
 
 Hermia. Be it so, Lysander : find you out a bed ; 
 For I upon this bank will rest my head. 40 
 
 Lysander. 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. 0, take the sense, sweet, of my inno- 
 cence ! 
 Love takes the meaning in love's conference. 
 I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit 
 So that but one heart can you make of it : 
 Two bosom's interchanged with an oath ; 
 So then two bosoms and a single troth. 50 
 
52 SHAKESPEARE. Act II. 
 
 Then by your side no bed-room me deny ; 
 For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie. 
 
 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 : 60 
 
 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 find I none. 
 On whose eyes I might approve 
 This flower's force in stirring love. 
 Mght and silence ! who is here ? 70 
 
 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 
 
Scene 11. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 53 
 
 Near tliis 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 so 
 
 Sleep his seat on thy eyelid : 
 
 So awake when I am gone ; 
 
 Por I must now to Oberon. 
 
 Enter Demetrius and Helena running. 
 
 Helena. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Deme- 
 trius. 
 Demetrius. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt 
 
 me thus. 
 Helena. 0, wilt thou darkling leave me ? do not 
 
 so. 
 Demetrius. Stay, on thy peril : I alone will go. 
 
 \_Exit, 
 Helena. 0, I am out of breath in this fond chase ! 
 The i&ore my prayer, the lesser is my grace. 
 Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies ; 90 
 
 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 dissembling glass of mine 
 
54 SHAKE SPU ARE. Act II. 
 
 Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne ? 
 But who is here ? Lysander ! on the ground ! loo 
 
 Dead ? or asleep ? I see no blood, no wound. 
 Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake. 
 
 Lysander. \_Starting up.~\ And run through fire I 
 will for thy sweet sake. 
 Transparent Helen, Nature here shows art, 
 That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. 
 Where is Demetrius ? 0, 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 jovl : then be content. no 
 
 Lysandek. Content with Hermia ! No ; I do repent 
 The tedious minutes I with her have spent. 
 Not Hermia, but Helena now 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 T, being young, till now ripe not to reason ; 
 And, touching now the point of human skill, 
 Eeason becomes the marshal to my will 120 
 
 And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook 
 Love's stories written in Love's richest book. 
 
 Helena. Wherefore was I to this keen mockery 
 born? 
 When at your hands did I deserve this scorn ? 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BEE AM. 35 
 
 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. 130 
 
 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 ! . 
 
 For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things ' 
 
 The deepest loathing to the stomach brings ; 
 Or as the heresies that men do leave 
 Are hated most of those they did deceive, 140 
 
 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 honour Helen and to be her knight ! \_Exit. 
 
 Hermia. \_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. 150 
 
 Lysander ! what, remov'd ? Lysander ! lord ! 
 
56 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 What, out of hearing ? gone ? no sound, no word ? 
 
 Alack, where are you ? speak, and if you hear ; 
 
 Speak, of all loves ! I swoon almost with fear. 
 
 No ? then I well perceive you are not nigh : 
 
 Either death or you I'll find immediately. [^Exit. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 Scene I. The Wood. The Queen of Fairies lying 
 
 asleep. 
 
 Enter Quince, Bottom, Snug, Flute, Snout, and 
 
 Starveling. 
 
 Bottom. Are we all met ? 
 
 Quince. Pat, pat ; and here's a marvellous conve- 
 nient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be 
 our stage, this hawthorn-brake our 'tiring-house ; and we 
 will do it in action as we will do it before the Duke. 
 
 Bottom. Peter Quince, — 
 
 Quince. What say'st thou, bully Bottom ? 
 
 Bottom. There are things in this comedy of Pyr- 
 amus and Thishe that will never please. Pirst, Pyramus 
 must draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies 
 cannot abide. How answer you that ? ii 
 
 Snout. By'r lakin, a parlous fear. 
 
 Starveling. I believe we must leave the killing out, 
 when all is done. 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-MIGHT' S DREAM 57 
 
 Bottom. ISTot a whit : I have a device to make all 
 well. Write me a prologue ; and let the prologue seem 
 to ssij, we will do no harm with our swords, and that 
 Pyramus is not kilPd indeed ; and, for the more better 
 assurance, tell them that I Pyramus am not Pyramus, 
 but Bottom the Weaver : this will put them out of fear. 
 
 Quince. Well, we will have such a prologue ; and it 
 shall be written in eight and six. 22 
 
 Bottom. No, make it two more ; let it be written in 
 eight and eight. 
 
 Snout. Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion ? 
 
 Starveling. I fear it, I promise you. 
 
 Bottom. Masters, you ought to consider with your- 
 selves : to bring in — God shield us ! — a lion among 
 ladies is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more 
 fearful wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought 
 to look to it. 31 
 
 Snout. Therefore another prologue must tell he is 
 not a lion. 
 
 Bottom. Nay, you must name his name, and half 
 his face must be seen through the lion's neck; and he 
 himself must speak through, saying thus, or to the same 
 defect, — Ladies, — or, Fair ladies, — I would wish you, 
 — or, I would request you, — or, I would entreat you, — 
 not to fear, not to tremble : my life for yours. If you 
 think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of TYiy life : no, 
 I am. no such thing ; I am a man as other men are: — 
 and there, indeed, let him name his name, and tell them 
 plainly he is Snug the joiner. , 43 
 
58 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 Quince. Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard 
 things, that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; 
 for, you know, Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight. 
 
 Snout. Doth the Moon shine that night we play our 
 play? 
 
 Bottom. A calendar, a calendar ! look in the al- 
 manac ; find out moonshine, find out moonshine. 50 
 
 Quince. Yes, it doth shine that night. 
 
 Bottom. Why, then may you leave a casement of 
 the great chamber window, where we play, open, and 
 the Moon may shine in at the casement. 
 
 Quince. Ay ; or else one must come in with a bush 
 of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure, 
 or to present, the person of Moonshine. Then there is 
 another thing : we must have a wall in the great cham- 
 ber; for Pyramus and Thisbe, says the story, did talk 
 through the chink of a wall. 60 
 
 Snug. You can never bring in a wall. What say 
 you. Bottom ? 
 
 Bottom. Some man or other must present Wall : 
 and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some 
 rough-cast about him, to signify wall ; and let him hold 
 his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus 
 and Thisbe whisper. 
 
 Quince. If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit 
 down, every mother's son, and rehearse your parts. 
 Pyramus, you begin ; when you have spoken your speech, 
 enter into that brake ; and so every one according to 
 his cue. 72 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM. 59 
 
 Enter Puck behind. 
 
 Puck. What hempen home-spuns have we swagger- 
 ing here, 
 So near the cradle of the fairy Queen ? 
 What, a play toward ! I'll be an auditor ; 
 An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause. 
 
 Quince. Speak, Pyramus. — Thisbe, stand forth. 
 
 Bottom. Thisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet, — 
 
 Quince. Odours, odours. 
 
 Bottom. — odours savours siueet : so 
 
 So doth thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear. 
 But hark, a voice ! stay thou but here awhile, 
 And by-and-by I will to thee ajppear. \_Exit. 
 
 Puck. \_Aside.~\ A stranger Pyramus than e'er play'd 
 here. \_Exit. 
 
 Flute. Must I speak now ? 
 
 Quince. Ay, marry, must you ; for you must under- 
 stand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is 
 to come again. x 
 
 Plute. Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue, 
 Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier, 90 
 
 Most brisky Juvenal, and eke most lovely Jew, 
 As true as truest horse that yet would never tire, 
 Vll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny^s tomh. 
 
 Quince. Ninus^ tomb, man : why, you must not speak 
 that yet ; that you answer to Pyramus : you speak all 
 your part at once, cues and all. — Pyramus, enter : your 
 cue is past ; it is, never tire. 
 
60 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 Flute. 0, ■ — As true as truest horse, that yet would 
 never tire. 
 
 Re-enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass^s head. 
 
 Bottom. If I were fair, Thishe, I were only thine : — 
 
 . Quince. monstrous ! strange ! we are haunted. 
 
 Pray, masters ! fly, masters ! Help ! loi 
 
 [_Exit with Snug, Flute, Snout, and Starveling. 
 
 Puck. I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round, 
 Through bog, through bush, through brake, through 
 
 brier : 
 Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound, 
 A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire ; 
 And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn. 
 Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. [^Exit. 
 
 Bottom. Why do they run away ? this is a knavery 
 of them to make me afeard. 
 
 Re-enter Snout. 
 
 Snout. O Bottom, thou art changed ! what do I see 
 
 on thee ! iii 
 
 Bottom. What do you see ? you see an ass-head of 
 
 your own, do you ? \_Exit Snout. 
 
 Re-enter Quince. 
 
 Quince. Bless thee. Bottom ! bless thee ! thou art 
 translated. \_Exit. 
 
 Bottom. I see their knavery : this is to make an ass 
 of me ; to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMEB-NIGHT'S DREAM. 61 
 
 from this place, do what they can : I will walk up and 
 down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am 
 not afraid. 120 
 
 [Sings.] The ousel-cock so black of hue, 
 With orange-tawny bill, 
 The throstle with his note so true, 
 The wren with little quill ; — 
 
 TiTANiA. l^AwaJcinr/.^ What angel wakes me from 
 
 my flowery bed ? ' 
 Bottom. \^Sin(/s.'] 
 
 The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, 
 
 The plain-song cuckoo gray. 
 Whose note full many a man doth mark, 
 . And dares not answer nay; — 129 
 
 for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird ? 
 who would give a bird the lie, though he cry cuckoo 
 never so ? 
 
 TiTANiA. I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again : 
 Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note ; 
 So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape ; 
 And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me. 
 On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee. 
 
 Bottom. Methinks, mistress, you should have little 
 reason for that : and yet, to say the truth, reason and 
 love keep little company together now-a-days ; the more 
 the pity that some honest neighbours will not make 
 them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion. 142 
 
 TiTANiA. Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. 
 
62 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 Bottom. Not so, neither : but if I had wit enough, 
 to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine 
 own turn. 
 
 TiTANiA. Out of this wood do not desire to go : 
 Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. 
 I am a spirit of no common T^te ; 
 
 The Summer still doth tend upon my state ; i50 
 
 And I do love thee : therefore go with me j 
 I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee ; 
 And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep. 
 And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep : 
 And I will purge thy mortal grossness so. 
 That thou shalt like an airy spirit go. 
 Peaseblossom ! Cobweb ! Moth ! and Mustard-seed ! 
 
 £Jnter Four Fairies. 
 
 Peaseblossom. Eeady. 
 
 Cobweb. And I. 
 
 Moth. And I. leo 
 
 Mustard-seed. And I. 
 
 All Pour. Where shall we go ? 
 
 Titania. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman; 
 Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes ; 
 Peed him with apricocks and dewberries. 
 With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries ; 
 The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees, 
 And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs 
 And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes, 
 To have my love to bed and to arise ; 170 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 63 
 
 And pluck the wings from painted butterflies 
 To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes : 
 Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies. 
 
 Peaseblossom. Hail, mortal ! 
 
 Co*BWEB. Hail ! 
 
 Moth. Hail ! 
 
 MusTARD-SEED. Hail ! 
 
 Bottom. I cry your Worships mercy heartily. I 
 beseech your Worship's name. 
 
 Cobweb. Cobweb. iso 
 
 Bottom. I shall desire you of more acquaintance, 
 good Master Cobweb : if I cut my finger, I shall make 
 bold with you. Your name, honest gentleman ? 
 
 Peaseblossom. Peaseblossom. 
 
 Bottom. I pray you, commend me to Mistress 
 Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your 
 father. Good Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire of 
 you more acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, 
 sir? 
 
 Mustard-seed. Mustard-seed. i90 
 
 Bottom. Good Master Mustard-seed, I know your 
 patience well : that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef 
 hath devoured many a gentleman of your House : I 
 promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water 
 ere now. I desire you more acquaintance, good Master 
 Mustard-seed. 
 
 TiTANiA. Come, wait upon him; lead him to my 
 bower. 
 The Moon methinks looks with a watery eye ; 
 
64 SHAKESPEAEE. Act III. 
 
 And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, 
 Lamenting some enforced chastity. 2co 
 
 Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently. \_Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. Another Part of the Wood. 
 Enter the King of Dairies. 
 
 Oberon. I wonder if Titania be awak'd ; 
 Then, what it was that next came in her eye, 
 Which she must dote on in extremity. 
 
 Enter Puck. 
 
 Here comes my messenger. 
 
 How now, mad spirit ! 
 What night-rule now about this haunted grove ? 
 
 Puck. My mistress with a monster is in love. 
 Near to her close and consecrated bower. 
 While she was in her dull and sleeping hour, 
 A crew of patches, rude mechanicals. 
 That work for bread upon Athenian stalls, lo 
 
 Were met together to rehearse a play, 
 Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day. 
 The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort, 
 Who Pyramus presented in their sport. 
 Forsook his scene, and enter 'd in a brake : 
 When I did him at this advantage take, 
 An ass's nole I fixed on his head : 
 Anon his Thisbe must be answered, 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. Q^ 
 
 And fortli my mimic comes. When they him spy, 
 
 As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, 20 
 
 Or russet-pate d choughs, many, in sort, 
 
 Eising and cawing at the gun's report. 
 
 Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky, 
 
 So, at his sight, away his fellows fly ; 
 
 And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls ; 
 
 He murder cries and help from Athens calls. 
 
 Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong. 
 
 Made senseless things begin to do them wrong ; 
 
 For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch ; 
 
 Some, sleeves, some, hats, from yielders all things catch. 
 
 I led them on in this distracted fear, ' 31 
 
 And left sweet Pyramus translated there : 
 
 When, in -that moment, so it came to pass, 
 
 Titania wak'd and straightway lov'd an ass. 
 
 Oberon. This falls out better than I could devise. 
 But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes 
 With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do ? 
 
 Puck. I took him sleeping, — that is finish'd too, — 
 And the Athenian woman by his side ; 
 That, when he wak'd, of force she must be eyed. 40 
 
 Enter Hermia and Demetrius. 
 
 Oberon. Stand close : this is the same Athenian. 
 Puck. This is the woman, but not this the man. 
 Demetrius. 0, why rebuke you him that loves you 
 so? 
 Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe. 
 
Q6 SHAKESPEABE. Act III. 
 
 Hermia. Now I but cMde ; but I should use thee 
 worse, 
 !For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse. 
 If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, 
 Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep, 
 And kill me too. 
 
 The Sun was not so true unto the day 50 
 
 As he to me : would he have stolen away 
 From sleeping Hermia ? I'll believe as soon 
 This whole Earth may be bored, and that the Moon 
 May through the centre creep, and so disi)lease 
 Her brother's noontide with th' Antipodes. 
 It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him ; 
 So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim. 
 
 Demetrius. So should the murder'd look ; and so 
 should I, 
 Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty : 
 Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear, eo 
 
 As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere. 
 
 Hermia. What's this to my Lysander ? where is he ? 
 Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me ? 
 
 Demetrius. I'd rather give his carcass to my hounds. 
 
 Hermia. Out, dog ! out, cur ! thou driv'st me past 
 the bounds 
 Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then ? 
 Henceforth be never number'd among men ! 
 O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake ! 
 Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake ? 
 And hast thou kill'd him sleeping ? brave touch ! 70 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 67 
 
 Could not a worm, an adder, do so mncli ? 
 An adder did it ; for with, doubler tongue 
 Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung. 
 
 Demetrius. You spend your passion on a misprised 
 mood : 
 I am not guilty of Lysander's blood ; 
 Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell. 
 
 Hermia. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well. 
 Demetrius. And if I could, what should I get there- 
 fore ? 
 Hermia. A privilege never to see me more. 
 And from thy hated presence part I so : so 
 
 See me no more, whether he be dead or no. \_Exit. 
 
 Demetrius. There is no following her in this fierce 
 vein : 
 Here therefore for a while I will remain. 
 So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow 
 For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe ; 
 Which now in some slight measure it will pay, 
 If for his tender here I make some stay. 
 
 \_Lies down and sleeps. 
 OBEROisr. What hast thou done ? thou hast mistaken 
 quite. 
 And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight : 
 Of thy misprision must perforce ensue 90 
 
 Some true-love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true. 
 
 Puck. Then fate o'er-rules ; that, one man holding 
 troth, 
 A million fail, confounding oath on oath. 
 
68 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Act III. 
 
 Oberon. About tlie wood go swifter than the wind, 
 And Helena of Athens look thou find : 
 All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer 
 With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear : 
 By some illusion see thou bring her here : 
 I'll charm his eyes against she doth appear. 
 
 Puck. I go, I go ; look how 1 go, loo 
 
 Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. \^JExit. 
 
 Obekon. Elower of this purple dye. 
 
 Hit with Cupid's archery. 
 
 Sink in apple of his eye ! 
 
 When his love he doth espy. 
 
 Let her shine as gloriously 
 
 As the Venus of the sky. 
 
 When thou wak'st, if she be by, 
 
 Beg of her for remedy. 
 
 Re-enter Puck. 
 
 Puck. Captain of our fairy band, no 
 
 Helena is here at hand ; 
 
 And the youth, mistook by me. 
 
 Pleading for a lover's fee. 
 
 Shall we their fond pageant see ? 
 
 Lord, what fools these mortals be ! 
 Oberon". Stand aside : the noise they make 
 
 Will cause Demetrius to awake. 
 Puck. Then will two at once woo one ; 
 
 That must needs be sport alone ; 
 
 And those things do best please me 120 
 
 That befall preposterously. 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BEE AM. 69 
 
 Re-enter Helena and Lysander. 
 
 Lysander. Why should you think that I should woo 
 in scorn ? 
 Scorn and derision never comes in tears : 
 Look, when I vow, I weep : and vows so born, 
 In their nativity all truth appears. 
 How can these things in me seem scorn to you, 
 Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true ? 
 
 Helena. You do advance your cunning more and 
 more. 
 When truth kills truth, devilish-holy fray ! 
 These vows are Hermia's : will you give her o'er ? 130 
 Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh: 
 Your vows to her and me, put in two scales, 
 Will even weigh ; and both as light as tales. 
 
 Lysander. I had no judgment when to her I 
 
 swore. 
 Helena. Nor none, in my mind, now you give her 
 
 o'er. 
 Lysander. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not 
 
 you. 
 Demetrius. \_Awaking.'] Helen, goddess, nymph, 
 perfect, divine ! 
 1^0 what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne ? 
 Crystal is muddy. 0, how ripe in show 
 Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow ! 140 
 
 That pare congealed white, high Taurus' snow, 
 Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow 
 
70 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 When thou hold'st up thy hand : 0, let me kiss 
 This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss ! 
 
 Helena. spite ! Hell ! I see you all are bent 
 To set against me for your merriment : 
 If you were civil and knew courtesy, 
 You would not do me thus much injury. 
 Can you not hate me, as I know you do, 
 But you must join in souls to mock me too ? iso 
 
 If you were men, as men you are in show. 
 You would not use a gentle lady so ; 
 To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts. 
 When I am sure you hate me with your hearts. 
 You both are rivals, and love Hermia ; 
 And now both rivals, to mock Helena : 
 A trim exploit, a manly enterprise. 
 To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes 
 With your derision ! none of noble sort 
 Would so offend a virgin and extort 160 
 
 A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport. 
 
 Lysander. You are unkind, Demetrius ; be not so ; 
 Eor you love Hermia : this you know I know : 
 And here, with all good will, with all my heart, 
 In Hermia' s love I yield you up my part ; 
 And yours of Helena to me bequeath, 
 Whom I do love and will do to my death. 
 
 Helena. Never did mockers waste more idle breath. 
 
 Demetrius. Lysander, keep thy Hermia ; I will none : 
 If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone. i70 
 
 My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd, 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 71 
 
 And now to Helen it is home retiirn'd, 
 There to remain. 
 
 Lysander. Helen, it is not so. 
 
 Demetrius. Disparage not the faith thou dost not 
 know, 
 Lest, to thy peril, thon aby it dear. 
 Look where thy love comes ; yonder is thy dear. 
 
 Re-enter Hermia. 
 
 Hermta. Dark night, that from the eye his function 
 takes, 
 IJhe ear more quick of apprehension makes ; 
 Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, 
 It pays the hearing double recompense. 180 
 
 Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found ; 
 Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound. 
 But why unkindly didst thou leave me so ? 
 
 Lysander. Why should he stay, whom love doth 
 press to go ? 
 
 Hermia. What love could press Lysander from my 
 side ? 
 
 Lysander. Lysander's love, that would not let him 
 bide. 
 Fair Helena ; who more engilds the night 
 Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light. 
 Why seek'st thou me ? could not this make thee know, 
 The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so ? 190 
 
 Hermia. You speak not as you think : it cannot be. 
 
 Helena. Lo, she is one of this confederacy ! 
 
72 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 Now I perceive they have conjoined all three 
 
 To fashion this false sport in spite of me. 
 
 Injurious Hermia ! most ungrateful maid ! 
 
 Have you conspired, have you with these contriv'd 
 
 To bait me with this foul derision ? 
 
 Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd, 
 
 The sisters' vow^s, the hours that we have spent, 
 
 When we have chid the hasty-footed time 200 
 
 For parting us, — 0, is all forgot ? 
 
 All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence ? 
 
 We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, 
 
 Have with our needles created both one flower, 
 
 Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, 
 
 Both warbling of one song, both in one key ; 
 
 As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, 
 
 Had been incorporate. So we grew together, 
 
 Like to a double cherry, seeming parted. 
 
 But yet a union in partition ; 210 
 
 Two lovely berries moulded on one stem ; 
 
 So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart ; 
 
 Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, 
 
 Due but to one and crowned with one crest. 
 
 And will you rent our ancient love asunder, 
 
 To join with men in scorning your poor friend ? 
 
 It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly : 
 
 Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it, 
 
 Though I alone do feel the injury. 
 
 Hermia. I am amazed at your passionate words. 220 
 I scorn you not : it seems that you scorn me. 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMEE-NIGHT' S DEE AM. 73 
 
 Helena. Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn, 
 To follow me and praise my eyes and face ? 
 And made your other love, Demetrius, 
 Who even but now did spurn me with his foot, 
 To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare. 
 Precious, celestial ? Wherefore speaks he this 
 To her he hates ? and wherefore doth Lysander 
 Deny your love, so rich within his soul, 
 And tender me, forsooth, affection, 230 
 
 But by your setting on, by your consent ? 
 What though I be not so in grace as you, 
 So hung upon with love, so fortunate ; 
 But miserable most, to love unlov'd ? 
 This you should pity rather than despise. 
 
 Hermia, I understand not what you mean by this. 
 
 Helena. Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks ; 
 Make mouths upon me when I turn my back ; 
 Wink each at other ; hold the sweet jest up : 
 This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled. 240 
 
 H you have any pity, grace, or manners. 
 You would not make me such an argument. 
 But fare ye well : 'tis partly mine own fault ; 
 AYhich death or absence soon shall remedy. 
 
 Lysander. Stay, gentle Helena ; hear my excuse : 
 My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena ! 
 
 Helena. O excellent ! 
 
 Hermia. Sweet, do not scorn her so. 
 
 Demetrius. If she cannot entreat, I can compel. 
 
 Lysander. Thou canst compel no more than she 
 entreat ; 
 
74 SHAKESPEABE. Act IIL 
 
 Tliy threats have no more strength, than her weak 
 prayers. " 250 
 
 Helen, I love thee ; by my life I do : 
 I swear by that which I will lose for thee, 
 To prove him false that says I love thee not. 
 
 Demetrius. I say I love thee more than he can do. 
 Lysander. If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too. 
 Demetrius. Quick, come ! 
 Hermia. Lysander, whereto tends 
 
 all this ? 
 Lysander. Away, you Ethiope ! 
 Demetrius. No, no, sir ; 
 
 Seem to break loose, take on as you would follow, 
 But yet come not : you are a tame man, go ! 
 
 Lysander. Hang off, thou cat, thou burr ! vile 
 thing, let loose, 26O 
 
 Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent ! 
 
 Hermia. Why are you grown so rude ? what change 
 is this. 
 Sweet love ? 
 
 Lysander. Thy love ! out, tawny Tartar, out ! 
 Out, loathed medicine ! hated poison, hence ! 
 Hermia. Do you not jest ? 
 Helena. Yes, sooth; and so do 
 
 you. 
 Lysander. Demetrius, I will keep my word with 
 
 thee. 
 Demetrius. I would I had your bond, for I perceive 
 A weak bond holds you : I'll not trust your word. 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMEB-NIGHT' S BREAM. 75 
 
 Ltsander. What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill 
 her dead ? 
 Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so. 270 
 
 'Hermia. What, can you do me greater harm than 
 
 hate? 
 Hate me ! wherefore ? me ! what news, my love ! 
 Am not I Hermia ? are not you Lysander ? 
 I am as fair now as I was erewhile. 
 Since night you lov'd me ; yet since night you left me : 
 Why, then you left me, — 0, the gods forbid ! — 
 In earnest, shall I say ? 
 
 Lysander. Ay, by my life ; 
 
 And never did desire to see thee more. 
 Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt ; 
 Be certain, nothing truer ; 'tis no jest 280 
 
 That I do hate thee, and love Helena. 
 
 Hermia. me ! you juggler ! you canker-blossom ! 
 You thief of love ! what, have you come by night 
 And stol'n my love's heart from him ? 
 
 Helena. Pine, i'f aith ! 
 
 Have you no modesty, no maiden shame. 
 No touch of bashfulness ? What, will you tear 
 Impatient answers from my gentle tongue ? 
 Fie, fie ! you counterfeit, you puppet, you ! 
 
 Hermia. Puppet ! why, so ; ay, that way goes the 
 game. ^ 
 Now I perceive that she hath made compare 290 
 
 Between our statures ; she hath urg'd her height ; 
 And with her personage, her tall personage. 
 
76 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 Her Height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him. 
 
 And are you grown so high in his esteem, 
 
 Because I am so dwarfish and so low ? 
 
 How low am I, thou painted maypole ? speak ; " 
 
 How low am I ? I am not yet so low 
 
 But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. 
 
 Helena. I pray you, though you mock me, gentle- 
 men. 
 Let her not hurt me : I was never curst j soo 
 
 I have no gift at all in shrewishness ; 
 I am a right maid for my cowardice : 
 Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think. 
 Because she is something lower than myself, 
 That I can match her. 
 
 Hermia. Lower ! hark again. 
 
 Helena. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. 
 I evermore did love you, Hermia, 
 Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you ; 
 Save that, in love unto Demetrius, 
 
 I told him of your stealth unto this wood. 310 
 
 He followed you ; for love I follow'd him ; 
 But he hath chid me hence and threaten'd me 
 To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too : 
 And now, so you will let me quiet go. 
 To Athens will I bear my folly back 
 And follow you no further : let me go : 
 You see how simple and how fond I am. 
 
 Hermia. Why, get you gone : who is't that hinders 
 you? 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 77 
 
 Helena. A foolish heart, that I leave here be- 
 hind. 
 
 Hermia. Whatj with Lysander ? 
 
 Helena. With Demetrius. 
 
 Lysander. Be not afraid ; she shall not harm thee, 
 Helena. 321 
 
 Demetrius. No, sir, she shall not, though you take 
 her part. 
 
 Helena. 0, when she's angry, she is keen and 
 shrewd ! 
 She was a vixen when she went to school ; 
 And though she be but little, she is fierce. 
 
 Hermia. Little again ! nothing but low and little ! 
 Why will you suffer her to flout me thus ? 
 Let me come to her. 
 
 Lysander. Get you gone, you dwarf ; 
 
 You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made ; 
 You bead, you acorn. 
 
 Demetrius. You are too officious 330 
 
 In her behalf that scorns your services. 
 Let her alone : speak not of Helena ; 
 Take not her part ; for, if thou dost intend 
 Never so little show of love to her. 
 Thou shalt aby it. 
 
 Lysander. Now she holds me not ; 
 
 Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right, 
 Of thine or mine, is most in Heiena. 
 
 Demetrius. Follow ! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by 
 jole. \_Exeunt Lysander and Demetrius. 
 
78 SHAKESPEARE. Act III. 
 
 Hermia. You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you : 
 Nay, go not back. 
 
 Helena. I will not trust you, I, 340 
 
 Nor longer stay in your curst company. 
 Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray ; 
 My legs are longer though, to run away. \_Exit. 
 
 Hermia. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say. 
 
 \_Exit. 
 
 Oberon. This is thy negligence : still thou mistak'st, 
 Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully. 
 
 Puck. Believe me, King of shadows, I mistook. 
 Did you not tell me I should know the man 
 By the Athenian garments he had on? 
 And so far blameless proves my enterprise, 350 
 
 That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes ; 
 And so far am I glad it so did sort, 
 As this their jangling I esteem a sport. 
 
 Oberon. Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to 
 fight: 
 Hie therefore, Kobin, overcast the night; 
 The starry welkin cover thou anon 
 With drooping fog as black as Acheron, 
 And lead these testy rivals so astray 
 As one come not within another's way. 
 Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue 36O 
 
 Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong ; 
 And sometime rail thou like Demetrius ; 
 And from each other look thou lead them thus, 
 Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep 
 
Scene II. MIBSUMMEE-NIGUT'S DEE AM. 79 
 
 With, leaden legs and batty wings doth creep : 
 
 Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye ; 
 
 Whose liquor hath this virtuous property, 
 
 To take from thence all error with his might, 
 
 And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight. 
 
 When they next wake, all this derision 370 
 
 Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision ; 
 
 And back to Athens shall the lovers wend, 
 
 With league whose date till death shall never end. 
 
 Whiles I in this affair do thee employ, 
 
 I'll to my Queen and beg her Indian boy ; 
 
 And then I will her charmed eye release 
 
 From monster's view, and all things shall be peace. 
 
 Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, 
 For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, 
 And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ; sso 
 
 At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there. 
 Troop home to churchyards : damned spirits all, 
 That in cross ways and floods have burial. 
 Already to their wormy beds are gone ; 
 For fear lest day should look their shames upon. 
 They wilfully themselves exile from light 
 And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night. 
 
 Oberon. But we are spirits of another sort : 
 I with the Morning's love have oft made sport. 
 And, like a forester, the groves may tread, 390 
 
 Even till the eastern gate,. all fiery-red, 
 Opening on Neptune, with fair blessed beams 
 Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams. 
 
80 SHAKESPEARE. Act. III. 
 
 But, notwithstanding, haste ; make no delay : 
 We may effect this business yet ere day. [^Exit. 
 
 Puck. Up and down, up and down, 
 
 I will lead them up and down : 
 I am fear'd in field and town : 
 Goblin, lead them up and down. 
 Here comes one. 400 
 
 Re-enter Lysander. 
 
 Lysander. Where art thou, proud Demetrius ? speak 
 
 thou now. 
 Puck. Here, villain ; drawn and ready. Where art 
 thou ? ' 
 
 Lysander. I will be with thee straight. 
 Puck. Follow me, then, 
 
 To plainer ground. 
 
 \_Exit Lysander, as following the voice. 
 
 Re-enter Demetrius. 
 
 Demetrius. Lysander, speak again : 
 
 Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled ? 
 Speak ! in some bush ? where dost thou hide thy head ? 
 
 Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars. 
 Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars. 
 And wilt not come ? Come, recreant ; come, thou child ; 
 I'll whip thee with a rod : he is defil'd 410 
 
 That draws a sword on thee. 
 
 Demetrius. Yea, art thou there ? 
 
 Puck. Follow my voice : we'll try no manhood here. 
 
 \Exeunt. 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS DEE AM. 81 
 
 Re-enter Lysander. 
 
 Lysander. He goes before me and still dares me on : 
 When I come where he calls, then he is gone. 
 The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I : 
 I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly ; 
 That fall'n am I in dark uneven way, 
 And here will rest me. \_Lies down.'] Come, thou gen- 
 tle day ! 
 For, if but once thou show me thy gray light, 
 Pll find Demetrius and revenge this spite. \_Sleeps. 420 
 
 Re-enter Puck and Demetrius. 
 
 Puck. Ho, ho, ho ! Coward, why com'st thou not ? 
 
 Demetrius. Abide me, if thou dar'st ; for well I wot 
 Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place. 
 And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. 
 Where art thou now ? 
 
 Puck. Come hither : I am here. 
 
 Demetrius. Nay, then thou mock'st me. Thou shalt 
 buy this dear, 
 If ever I thy face by daylight see : 
 Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me 
 To measure out my length on this cold bed. 
 By day's approach look to be visited. 430 
 
 \_Lies down and sleeps. 
 
 Re-enter Helena. 
 
 Helena. weary night, long and tedious night. 
 Abate thy hours ! Shine comforts from the East, 
 
82 SHAKESPEARE, Act III. 
 
 That I may back to Athens by daylight, 
 From these that my poor company detest : 
 And sleep, that sometime shuts up sorrow's eye, 
 Steal me awhile from mine own company. 
 
 [^Lies down and sleeps. 
 Puck. Yet but three ? Come one more ; 
 
 Two of both kinds makes up four. 
 
 Here she comes, curst and sad : 
 
 Cupid is a knavish lad, 440 
 
 Thus to make poor females mad. 
 
 He-enter Hermia. 
 
 Hermia. Never so weary, never so in woe, 
 Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers, 
 I can no further crawl, no further go ; 
 My legs can keep no pace with my desires. 
 Here will I rest me till the break of day. 
 Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray ! 
 
 [_Lies down and sleeps. 
 Puck. On the ground 
 
 Sleep sound: 
 
 I'll apply 450 
 
 To your eye. 
 Gentle lover, remedy. 
 [^Squeezing the flower on Lysander's eyelids. 
 When thou wak'st. 
 Thou tak'st 
 True delight 
 In the sight 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 83 
 
 Of thy former lady's eye : 
 And the country proverb known, 
 That every man should take his own, 
 In your waking shall be shown : 460 
 
 Jack shall have Jill ; 
 Nought shall go ill ; 
 The man ^hall have his mare again, and all shall be well. 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 Scene I. The Wood. Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, 
 and Hermia, lying asleep. 
 
 Enter the Queen of Fairies and Bottom ; Peaseblossom, 
 Cobweb, Moth, Mustard-seed, and other Fairies 
 attending ; the King of Fairies behind unseen. 
 
 TiTANiA. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed, 
 While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, 
 And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, 
 And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy. 
 
 Bottom. Where's Peaseblossom ? 
 
 Peaseblossom. Peady. 
 
 Bottom. Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Where's 
 Monsieur Cobweb ? 
 
 Cobweb. Peady. 9 
 
 Bottom. Monsieur Cobweb, good monsieur, get your 
 weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipp'd humble- 
 
84 SHAKESPEARE Act IV. 
 
 bee on the top of a thistle ; and, good monsieur, bring 
 me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in 
 the action, monsieur, and, good monsieur, have a care 
 the honey-bag break not ; I would be loth to have you 
 overflown with a honey-bag, signior. Where's Monsieur 
 Mustard-seed ? 
 
 Mustard-seed. Eeady. 
 
 Bottom. Give me your neif. Monsieur Mustard- 
 seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur. 20 
 
 MusTARD-SEED. What's your will ? 
 
 Bottom. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help Cava- 
 lery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, mon- 
 sieur; for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the 
 face ; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but 
 tickle me, I must scratch. 
 
 Titania. What, wilt thou hear some music, my 
 sweet love ? 
 
 Bottom. I have a reasonable good ear in music. 
 Let us have the tongs and the bones. 
 
 \_Rural music. Tongs. 
 
 Titania. Or say, sweet love, what thou desirest to 
 eat. 30 
 
 Bottom. Truly, a peck of provender : I could munch 
 your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire 
 to a bottle of hay : good hay, sweet hay hath no 
 fellow. 
 
 TiTANiA. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek 
 The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee thence new nuts. 
 
 Bottom. I had rather have a handful or two of dried 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMEB-NIGHT' S DREAM. 85 
 
 peas. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me : 
 I have an exposition of sleep come upon me. 
 
 \_Exeunt Fairies. 
 TiTANiA. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms : 
 Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away. 41 
 
 So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle 
 Gently entwist ; the female ivy so 
 Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. 
 0, how I love thee ! how I dote on thee ! \_They sleep. 
 
 Enter Puck. 
 
 Oberon. \_Advancing.'] Welcome, good Eobin. See'st 
 thou this sweet sight ? 
 Her dotage now I do begin to pity : 
 For, meeting her of late behind the wood, 
 Seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool, 
 I did upbraid her, and fall out with her ; 50 
 
 For she his hairy temples then had rounded 
 With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers ; 
 And that same dew, which sometime on the buds 
 Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls, 
 Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes. 
 Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail. 
 When I had at my pleasure taunted her 
 And she in mild terms begg'd my patience, 
 I then did ask of her her changeling child ; 
 Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent, eo 
 
 To bear him to my bower in Fairy-land. 
 And now I have the boy, I will undo 
 
86 SHAKE8PEABE. Act IV. 
 
 This hateful imperfection of her eyes. 
 And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp 
 Erom off the head of this Athenian swain ; 
 That he, awaking when the other do, . 
 May all to Athens back again repair. 
 And think no more of this night's accidents, 
 But as the fierce vexation of a dream. 
 But first I will release the fairy Queen. 70 
 
 Be thou as thou wast wont to be ; 
 See as thou wast wont to see : 
 Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower 
 Hath such force and blessed power. 
 Now, my Titania ; wake you, my sweet Queen. 
 
 TiTANiA. My Oberon ! what visions have I seen ! 
 Methought I was enamour'd of an ass. 
 Oberon. There lies your love. 
 
 Titania. How came these things 
 
 to pass ? 
 0, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now ! 
 
 Oberon. Silence awhile. Eobin, take off this head. 
 Titania, music call ; and strike more dead si 
 
 Than common sleep of all these five the sense. 
 
 Titania. Music, ho ! music, such as charmeth sleep ! 
 Puck. Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own 
 
 fool's eyes peep. 
 Oberon. Sound, music ! \_Still music.'] — Come, my 
 Queen, take hands with me. 
 And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be. 
 Now thou and I are new in amity 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 87 
 
 And will to-morrow midnight solemnly 
 
 Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly 
 
 And bless it to all fair posterity : ga. 
 
 There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be 
 
 Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity. 
 
 Puck. Fairy King, attend, and mark : 
 
 I do hear the morning lark. 
 Oberon". Then, my Queen, in silence sad, 
 Trip we after the night's shade : 
 We the globe can compass soon, 
 Swifter than the wandering Moon. 
 TiTANiA. Come, my lord ; and in our flight 
 
 Tell me how it came this night loo 
 
 That I sleeping here was found 
 With these mortals on the ground. 
 
 Exeunt Fairies. Horns winded within. 
 
 Enter Theseus, Hippoltta, Egeus, and Train. 
 
 Theseus. Go, one of you, find out the forester ; 
 For now our observation is perform'd ; 
 And, since we have the vaward of the day, 
 My love shall hear the music of my hounds : 
 Uncouple in the western valley ; let them go ; 
 Dispatch, I say, and find the forester. 
 
 \_Exit an Attendant. 
 We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top, 
 And mark the musical confusion no 
 
 Of hounds and echo in conjunction. 
 
 HippoLYTA. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, 
 
/88 SHAKESPEARE. Act IV. 
 
 When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear 
 With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear 
 Such gallant chiding ; for, besides the groves, 
 The skies, the fountains, every region near 
 Seem'd all one mutual cry : I never heard 
 So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. 
 
 Theseus. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan 
 kind. 
 So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung 120 
 
 With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 
 Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls ; 
 Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, 
 Each under each. A cry more tuneable 
 Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn, 
 In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly : 
 Judge when you hear. But, soft ! what nymphs are 
 these ? 
 
 Egeus. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep ; 
 And this, Lysander ; this Demetrius is ; 
 This Helena, old Nedar's Helena : 130 
 
 I wonder of their being here together. 
 
 Theseus, No doubt they rose up early to observe 
 The rite of May ; and hearing our intent. 
 Came here in grace of our solemnity. 
 But speak, Egeus ; is not this the day 
 That Hermia should give answer of her choice ? 
 
 Egeus. It is, my lord. 
 
 Theseus. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their 
 horns. 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 89 
 
 \^Exit an Attendant, Horns and shout within. Lysan- 
 
 DER, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia, awake and 
 
 start up. 
 Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past : 
 Begin these wood-birds but to couple now ? 140 
 
 Lysaistder. Pardon, my lord. 
 
 Theseus. I pray you all, stand up. 
 
 I know you two are rival enemies : 
 How comes this gentle concord in the world, 
 That hatred is so far from jealousy, 
 To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity ? 
 
 Lysander. My lord, I shall reply amazedly, 
 Half sleep, half waking : but as yet, I swear, 
 I cannot truly say how I came here ; 
 But, as I think, — for truly would I speak, 
 And now I do bethink me, so it is, — 150 
 
 I came with Hermia hither : our intent 
 Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be 
 Without the peril of th' Athenian law. 
 
 Egeus. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough: 
 I beg the law, the law, upon his head. 
 They would have stoPn away ; they would, Demetrius, 
 Thereby to have defeated you and me, 
 You of your wife, and me of my consent. 
 Of my consent that she should be your wife. 
 
 Demetrius. My lord, fair Helen told me of their 
 stealth, iGo 
 
 Of this their purpose hither to this wood ; 
 And I in fury hither follow'd them, 
 
90 SHAKESPEARE. Act IV. 
 
 Fair Helena in fancy following me. 
 
 But, my good lord, I wot not by what power, 
 
 But by some power it is, my love to Hermia, 
 
 Melted as the snow, seems to me now 
 
 As the remembrance of an idle gaud. 
 
 Which in my childhood I did dote upon ; 
 
 And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, 
 
 The object, and the pleasure of mine eye, 170 
 
 Is only Helena. To her, my lord. 
 
 Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia : "" 
 
 But like a sickness did I loathe this food ; 
 
 Now, as in health, come to my natural taste, 
 
 Now do I wish it, love it, long for it. 
 
 And will for evermore be true to it. 
 
 Theseus. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met : 
 Of this discourse we shall hear more anon. 
 Egeus, I will overbear your will ; 
 
 For in the temple, by-and-by, with us, I80 
 
 These couples shall eternally be knit : 
 And, for the morning now is something worn, 
 Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside. 
 Away with us to Athens ! three and three, 
 We'll hold a feast in great solemnity. 
 Come, Hippolyta. 
 
 \_Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and Train. 
 
 Demetrius. These things seem small and undistin- 
 guishable. 
 Like far-oif mountains turned into clouds. 
 
 Hermia. Methinks I see these things with parted 
 eye, 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 91 
 
 When every thing seems double. 
 
 Helena. So methinks : 190 
 
 And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, 
 Mine own, and not mine own. 
 
 Demetrius. Are you sure 
 
 That we are awake ? It seems to me 
 That yet we sleep, we dream. Do you not think 
 The Duke was here, and bid us follow him ? 
 
 Hermia. Yea ; and my father. 
 
 Helena. And Hippolyta. 
 
 Lysander. And he did bid us follow to the temple. 
 
 Demetrius. Why, then we are awake : let's follow 
 
 him ; i98 
 
 And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. \_Exeunt. 
 
 Bottom. \_Awaki7ig.'\ When my cue comes, call me, 
 and I will answers my next is. Most fair Pyramus. 
 Heigh-ho ! Peter Quince ! Flute the bellows-mender ! 
 Snout the tinker ! Starveling ! God's my life, stol'n 
 hence, and left me asleep ! I have had a most rare 
 vision. I have had a dream, — past the wit of man to 
 say what dream it was : man is but an ass, if he go 
 about to expound this dream. Methought I was — there 
 is no man can tell what. Methought I was, — and 
 methought I had, — but man is but a patch' d fool, if 
 he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of 
 man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, 
 man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, 
 nor his heart to report what my dream was. I will get 
 Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream : it shall 
 
92 SHAKESPEARE. Act IV. 
 
 be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom ; 
 and I will sing it in the latter end of our play before 
 the Duke : perad venture, to make it the more gracious, 
 I shall sing it after death. [_Exit. 
 
 Scene II. Athens. A Room in Quince's House. 
 Enter Quince, Elute, Snout, and Starveling. 
 
 Quince. Have you sent to Bottom's house ? is he 
 come home yet ? 
 
 Starveling. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt 
 he is transported. 
 
 Flute. If he come not, then the play is marr'd : it 
 goes not forward, doth it ? 
 
 Quince. It is not possible : you have not a man in 
 all Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he. 
 
 Flute. No, he hath simply the best wit of any 
 handicraft man in Athens. lo 
 
 Quince. Yea, and the best person too; and he is a 
 very paramour for a sweet voice. 
 
 Flute. You must say paragon : a paramour is, God 
 bless us, a thing of naught. 
 
 Enter Snug. 
 
 Snug. Masters, the Duke is coming from the temple, 
 and there is two or three lords and ladies more married : 
 if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made 
 men. is 
 
Scene II. MIDSUMMEB-NIGHT' S DREAM. 93 
 
 Flute. sweet bully Bottom ! Thus hath he lost 
 sixpence a day during his life ; he could not have scaped 
 sixpence a day : an the Duke had not given him six- 
 pence a day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hang'd ; he 
 would have deserved it : sixpence a day in Pyramus, 
 or nothing. 
 
 Enter Bottom. 
 
 Bottom. Where are these lads ? where are these 
 hearts ? 
 
 Quince. Bottom ! most courageous day ! most 
 happy hour ! 28 
 
 Bottom. Masters, I am to discourse wonders : but 
 ask me not what ; for, if I tell you, I am no true 
 Athenian. I will tell you every thing, right as it fell 
 out. 
 
 Quince. Let us hear, sweet Bottom. 33 
 
 Bottom. Not a word of me. All that I will tell 
 you is, that the Duke hath dined. Get your apparel 
 together, good strings to your beards, new ribbons to 
 your pumps ; meet presently at the palace ; every man 
 look o'er his part ; for the short and the long is, our play 
 is preferred. In any case, let Thisbe have clean linen ; 
 and let not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for 
 they shall hang out -for the lion's claws. And, most 
 dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to 
 utter sweet breath ; and I do not doubt but to hear 
 them say it is a sweet comedy. No more words : away ! 
 go ; away ! \_Exeicnt, 
 
94 tSUAKESPEARE. Act'V. 
 
 ACT V. 
 
 Scene I. Athens. The Palace of Theseus. 
 
 Enter Theseus^ Hippolyta, Philostrate, Lords, 
 
 and Attendants. 
 
 HipPOLYTA. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these 
 lovers speak of. 
 
 Theseus. More strange than true : I never may be- 
 lieve 
 The^e antique fables nor these fairy toys. 
 Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, 
 Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 
 More than cool reason ever comprehends. 
 The luriatic, the lover, and the poet' 
 Are of imagination all compact. 
 One sees more devils than vast Hell can hold, 
 That is the madman : the lover, all as frantic, lo 
 
 Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt : 
 The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling. 
 Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven ; 
 And as imagination bodies forth 
 The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
 Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing 
 A local habitation and a name. ^ 
 Such tricks hath strong imagination. 
 That, if it would but apprehend some joy, 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMEE-NIGHT'S DREAM. 95 
 
 It comprehends some bringer of that joyj 20 
 
 Or in the night, imagining some fear, 
 How easy is a bush supposed a bear ! 
 
 HippoLYTA. But all the story of the night told over, 
 And all their minds transfigur'd so together. 
 More witnesseth than fancy's images. 
 And grows to something of great constancy ; 
 But, howsoever, strange and admirable. 
 
 Theseus. Here come the lovers, full of joy and 
 mirth. 
 
 Enter Lysaxdee, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena. 
 
 Joy, gentle friends ! joy and fresh days of love 
 Accompany your hearts ! 
 
 Lysander. More than to us 30 
 
 Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed ! 
 
 Theseus. Come now ; what masques, what dances 
 shall we have, 
 To wear away this long age of three hours 
 Between our after-supper and bed-time ? 
 Where is our usual manager of mirth ? 
 What revels are in hand ? Is there no play, 
 To ease the anguish of a torturing hour ? 
 Call Philostrate. 
 
 Philostrate. Here, mighty Theseus. 
 
 Theseus. Say, what abridgement have you for this 
 evening ? 
 What masque ? what music ? How shall we beguile 40 
 The lazy time, if not with some delight ? 
 
96 SHAKESPEARE. Act V. 
 
 Philostrate. There is a brief liow many sports are 
 ripe: 
 Made choice of which your Highness will see first. 
 
 \_Giving a paper, which Theseus hands to Ly- 
 SANDER to read. 
 Lysander. \Reads.'\ The battle with the Centaurs 
 to be sung 
 By an Athenian eunuch to the harp. 
 
 Theseus. We'll none of that : that have I told my 
 love, 
 In glory of my kinsman Hercules. 
 
 Lysander. \Ueads.'\ The riot of the tipsy Bac- 
 chanals, 
 Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. 
 
 Theseus. That is an old device ; and it was play'd 50 
 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror. 
 
 Lysander. \_Reads.'\ The thrice-three Muses mourn- 
 ing for the death 
 Of Learning, late deceas'd in beggary. 
 
 Theseus. That is some satire, keen and critical, 
 Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony. 
 
 Lysander. \Reads.'\ A tedious brief scene of young 
 Pyramus 
 And his love Thisbe : very tragical mirth. 
 
 Theseus. Merry and tragical ! tedious and brief! 
 That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow. 
 How shall we find the concord of this discord ? eo 
 
 Philostrate. A play there is, my lord, some ten 
 words long, 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM. 97 
 
 Which, is as brief as I have known a play ; 
 
 But by ten words, my lord, it is too long. 
 
 Which makes it tedious ; for in all the play 
 
 There is not one word apt, one player fitted : 
 
 And tragical, my noble lord, it is ; 
 
 For Pyramus therein doth kill himself. 
 
 Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess, 
 
 Made mine eyes water ; but more merry tears 
 
 The passion of loud laughter never shed. 70 
 
 Theseus. What are they that do play it ? 
 
 Philostkate. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens 
 here, 
 Which never labour'd in their minds till now ; 
 And now have toiFd their unbreath'd memories 
 With this same play, against your nuptial. 
 
 Theseus. And we will hear it. 
 
 Philostkate. No, my noble lord ; 
 
 It is not for you : I have heard it over. 
 And it is nothing, nothing in the world, 
 Unless you can find sport in their intents. 
 Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain, so 
 
 To do you service. 
 
 Theseus. I will hear that play 
 
 Por never any thing can be amiss. 
 When simpleness and duty tender it. 
 Go, bring them in : and take your places, ladies. 
 
 \_Exit Philostrate. 
 
 HippoLYTA. I love not to see wretchedness o'er- 
 charg'd. 
 
98 SHAKESPEARE. Act V. 
 
 And duty in Ms service perishing. 
 
 Theseus. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such 
 thing. 
 
 HippoLYTA. He says they can do nothing in this 
 kind. 
 
 Theseus. The kinder we, to give them thanks for 
 nothing. 
 Our sport shall be to take what they mistake : 90 
 
 And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect 
 Takes it in might, not merit. 
 Where I have come, great clerks have purposed 
 To greet me with premeditated welcomes ; 
 Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, 
 Make periods in the midst of sentences. 
 Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears, 
 And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off. 
 Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sw^eet. 
 Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome ; 100 
 
 And in the modesty of fearful duty 
 I read as much as from the rattling tongue 
 Of saucy and audacious eloquence. 
 Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity, 
 In least speak most, to my capacity. 
 
 Re-enter Phil oste, ate. 
 
 ^ ^ Philostkate. So please your Grace, the Prologue is 
 address' d. 
 Theseus. Let him approach. 
 N. \_FlouTish of Trumpets. 
 
Scene I. MIB SUMMER-NIGHT S BREAM, 99 
 
 'Enter Quince for the Prologue. 
 
 Prologue. If we offend, it is with, our good-will. 
 That you should think, we come not to offend, 
 But with good-will. To show our simple skill, no 
 
 That is the true beginning of our end. 
 Consider then, we come but in despite. 
 We do not come as minding to content you, 
 Our true intent is. All for your delight. 
 We are not here. That you should here repent you, 
 The actors are at hand ; and by their show. 
 You shall know all, that you are like to know. \_Exlt. 
 
 Theseus. This fellow doth not stand upon points. 
 
 Lysajsider. He hath rid his prologue like a rough 
 colt ; he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord : 
 it is not enough to speak, but to speak true. 121 
 
 HippoLYTA. Indeed he hath play'd on his prologue 
 like a child on a recorder ; a sound, but not in govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Theseus. His speech was like a tangled chain; 
 nothing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next ? 
 
 Re-enter Prologue, preceded hy the blast of a trumpet. 
 Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and 
 Lion. 
 
 Prologue. Gentles, perchance you wonder at this 
 show. 
 But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. 
 This man is Pyramus, if you would know ; 
 
100 SHAKESPEARE. Act V. 
 
 This beauteous lady, TMsbe is certain. 130 
 
 This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present 
 
 Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder ; 
 
 And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content 
 
 To whisper ; at the which let no man wonder. 
 
 This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, 
 
 Presenteth Moonshine ; for, if you will know. 
 
 By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn 
 
 To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. 
 
 This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name, 
 
 The trusty Thisbe, coming first by night, 140 
 
 Did scare away, or rather did affright ; 
 
 And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall. 
 
 Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. 
 
 Anon comes KyrUmus, sweet youth and tall. 
 
 And finds his trusty Thisbe' s mantle slain : 
 
 Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, 
 
 He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast ; 
 
 And Thisbe, tarrying in mulberry shade. 
 
 His dagger drew, and died. Yot all the rest. 
 
 Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain 150 
 
 At large discourse, while here they do remain. 
 
 \_Exeunt Prologue, Pyramus, Thisbe, 
 Lion, and Moonshine. 
 
 Theseus. I wonder if the lion be to speak. 
 
 Demetrius. No wonder, my lord : one lion may, 
 when many asses do. 
 
 Wall. In this same interlude it doth befall 
 That I, one Snout by name, present a wall ; 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BEE AM. 101 
 
 And such, a wall, as I would have you think, 
 
 That had in it a crannied hole or chink, 
 
 Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, 
 
 Did whisper often very secretly. 160 
 
 This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show 
 
 That I am that same wall ; the truth is so : 
 
 And this the cranny is, right and sinister. 
 
 Through, which the fearful lovers are to whisper. 
 
 Theseus. Would you desire lime and hair to speak 
 better ? 
 
 Demetrius. It is the wittiest partition that ever I 
 heard discourse, my lord. 
 
 Theseus. Pyramus draAvs near the wall : silence ! 
 
 Enter Pykamus. 
 
 Pyramus. grim-look'd night ! night with hue 
 so black ! i7o 
 
 night, which ever art when day is not ! 
 
 night, night ! alack, alack, alack, 
 
 1 fear my Thisbe's promise is forgot ! 
 
 And thou, wall, thou sweet and lovely wall, 
 
 That stand'st between her father's ground and mine ! 
 
 Thou wall, wall, sweet and lovely wall. 
 
 Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne ! 
 
 [Wall holds up his fingers. 
 Thanks, courteous wall : Jove shield thee well for this ! 
 But what see I ? Ko Thisbe do I see. 
 wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss ! iso 
 
 Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me ! 
 
102 SHAKESPEARE. Act V. 
 
 Theseus. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should 
 curse again. 
 
 Pyramus. !N"o, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiv- 
 ing me is Thisbe's cue : she is to enter, and I am to spy 
 her through the wall. You shall see it will fall pat as I 
 told you. Yonder she comes. 
 
 Enter Thisbe. 
 
 Thisbe. wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, 
 Por parting my fair Pyramus and me ! 
 My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones, 190 
 
 Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee. 
 
 Pybamus. I see a voice : now will I to the chink, 
 To spy an I can hear my Thisbe's face. 
 Thisbe ! 
 
 Thisbe. My love ! thou art my love, I think. 
 
 Pyramus. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's 
 Grace ; 
 And like Limander am I trusty still. 
 
 Thisbe. And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill. 
 
 Pyramus. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true. 
 
 Thisbe. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. 
 
 Pyramus. 0, kiss me through the hole of this vile 
 wall ! 200 
 
 Thisbe. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all. 
 
 Pyramus. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me 
 straightway ? 
 
 Thisbe. 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay. 
 
 [^Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe. 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT' S BREAM. 103 
 
 Wall. Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so ; 
 And, being done, thus Wall away doith go. \_Exit. 
 
 Theseus. Now is the mural down between the two 
 neighbours. 
 
 Demetrius. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so 
 wilful to hear without warning. 
 
 HippoLTTA. This is the silliest stuff that e'er I 
 heard. 211 
 
 Theseus. The best in this kind are but shadows ; 
 and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. 
 
 HipPOLYTA. It must be your imagination then, and 
 not theirs. 
 
 Theseus. If we imagine no worse of them than they 
 of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here 
 come two noble beasts in, a moon and a lion. 
 
 Enter Lion and Moonshine. 
 
 Lion. You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear 
 The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, 220 
 May now perchance both quake and tremble here, 
 When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. 
 Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am 
 A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam ; 
 For, if I should as lion come in strife 
 Into this place, 'twere pity of my life. 
 
 Theseus. A very gentle beast, and of a good con- 
 science. 
 
 Demetrius. The very best at a beast, my lord, that 
 e'er I saw. 230 
 
104 SHAKESPEARE. Act V. 
 
 Ltsander. This lion is a very fox for Ms valour. 
 
 Theseus. True ; and a goose for |iis discretion. 
 
 Demetrius. Kot so, my lord ; for his valour cannot 
 carry his discretion ; and the fox carries the goose. 
 
 Theseus. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his 
 valour ; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well : 
 leave it to his discretion, and let us hearken to the 
 Moon. 
 
 Moon. This lanthorn doth the horned Moon pre- 
 sent ; — 
 
 Demetrius. He should have worn the horns on his 
 head. 241 
 
 Theseus. He is not crescent, and his horns are in- 
 visible within the circumference. 
 
 Moon. This lanthorn doth the horned Moon pre- 
 sent ; 
 Myself the Man-i'the-Moon do seem to be. 
 
 Theseus. This is the greatest error of all the rest : 
 the man should be put into the lanthorn. How is it 
 else the Man-i'-the-Moon ? 
 
 Demetrius. He dares not come there for the candle ; 
 for, you see, it is already in snuff. 250 
 
 Htppolyta. I am weary of this Moon : would he 
 would change ! 
 
 Theseus. It appears, by his small light of discretion, 
 that he is in the wane ; but yet, in courtesy, in all 
 reason, we must stay the time. 
 
 Lysander. Proceed, Moon*, . 
 
 Moon. All that I have to say is, to tell you that the 
 
Scene I. MIBSUMMEE-NIGHT' S BEE AM. 105 
 
 lanthom is the Moon ; I, tlie Man-in-the-Moon ; this 
 thom-bush, my thorn-busli ; and this dog, my dog. 259 
 Demetrius. Why, all these should be in the Ian- 
 thorn ; for they are in the Moon. But, silence ! here 
 comes Thisbe. 
 
 Enter Thisbe. 
 
 Thisbe. This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my 
 
 love ? 
 Lion. \_Roaring.'] O — [Thisbe runs off. 
 
 Demetrius. Well roar'd, lion. 
 Theseus. Well run, Thisbe. 
 
 HiPPOLTTA. Well shone, Moon. Truly the Moon 
 shines with a good grace. 
 
 [^Lion shakes Thisbe's mantle, and exit. 
 Theseus. Well mous'd, lion. 
 
 Demetrius. And then came Pyramus. 270 
 
 Lysander. And so the lion vanished. 
 
 Enter Pyramus. 
 
 Pyramus. Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny 
 beams ; 
 I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright ; 
 Por, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams, 
 I trust to taste of truest Thisbe's sight. 
 But stay, spite ! 
 But mark, poor knight, 
 What dreadful dole is here ! 
 
106 SHAKESPEARE. Act V. 
 
 Eyes, do you see ? 
 
 How can it be ? 280 
 
 O dainty duck ! dear ! 
 
 Thy mantle good, 
 
 What, stain'd with blood ! 
 Approach, you Euries fell ! 
 
 Fates, come, come, 
 
 Cut thread and thrum ; 
 Quail, crush, conclude, and quell ! 
 
 Theseus. This passion, and the death of a dear 
 friend, would go near to make a man look sad. 289 
 
 HippoLYTA. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man. 
 
 Ptramus. 0, wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions 
 frame ? 
 Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear : 
 Which is — no, no — which was the fairest dame 
 That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with 
 
 cheer. 
 
 Come, tears, confound ; 
 
 Out, sword, and wound 
 The pap of Pyramus ; 
 
 Ay, that left pap, 
 
 Where heart doth hop : 
 Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. 300 
 
 \_Stahs limiself three or four times. 
 
 Now am I dead. 
 
 Now am I fled ; 
 My soul is in the sky : 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S BREAM. 107 
 
 Tongue, lose thy light ! 
 Moon, take thy flight ! \_Exit MooisrsHiisrE. 
 Now die, die, die, die, die. 
 
 Demeteius. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is 
 but one. 
 
 Lysander. Less than an ace, man ; for he is dead ; 
 he is nothing. 310 
 
 Theseus. With the help of a surgeon he might yet 
 recover, and prove an ass. 
 
 HippoLYTA. How chance Moonshine is gone before 
 Thisbe comes back and finds her lover ? 
 
 Theseus. She will find him by starlight. Here she 
 comes ; and her passion ends the play. 
 
 Re-enter Thisbe. 
 
 HippoLYTA. Methinks she should not use a long one 
 for such a Py ramus : I hope she will be brief. 
 
 Demetrius. A mote will turn the balance, which 
 
 Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, 
 
 God warrant us, she for a woman, God bless us. 321 
 
 Lysander. She hath spied him already with those 
 
 sweet eyes. 
 
 Demetrius. And thus she moans, videlicet : — 
 Thisbe. Asleep, my love ? 
 
 What, dead, my dove ? 
 O Pyramus arise ! 
 
 Speak, speak. Quite dumb ? 
 Dead, dead ? A tomb 
 
108 SHAKESPEAUE. Act V. 
 
 Must cover thy sweet eyes. 330 
 
 These lily lips^ 
 
 This cherry nose, 
 These yellow cowslip cheeks, 
 
 Are gone, are gone : 
 
 Lovers, make moan : 
 His eyes were green as leeks. 
 
 O Sisters Three, 
 
 Come, come to me, 
 With hands as pale as milk ; 
 
 Lay them in gore, 340 
 
 Since you have shore 
 With shears his thread of silk. 
 
 Tongue, not a word : 
 
 Come, trusty sword ; 
 Come, blade, my breast imbrue : 
 
 \_Stabs herself. 
 
 And, farewell, friends ; 
 
 Thus Thisbe ends ; 
 Adieu, adieu, adieu. [^Dies. 
 
 Theseus. Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the 
 dead. 350 
 
 Demetrius. Ay, and Wall too. 
 
 Bottom. No, I assure you ; the wall is down that 
 parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the 
 epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two of 
 our company ? 
 
 Theseus. No epilogue, I pray you ; for your play 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMER-lflGHT'S DEE AM. 109 
 
 needs no excuse. 'Never excuse ; for, when the players 
 are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if 
 he that writ it had play'd Pyramus and hang'd himself 
 in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy : 
 and so it is, truly ; and very notably discharged. But, 
 come, your Bergomask : let your epilogue alone. 362 
 
 [^A dance. 
 The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve : 
 Lovers, to bed ; 'tis almost fairy-time. 
 I fear we shall out-sleep the coming mom, 
 As much as we this night have overwatch'd. 
 This palpable-gross play hath well beguil'd 
 The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed. 
 A fortnight hold we this solemnity 369 
 
 In nightly revels and new jollity. \_Exeunt. 
 
 Enter Puck, with a broom. 
 
 Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, 
 
 And the wolf behowls the Moon ; 
 
 Whilst the heavy ploughman snores. 
 
 All with weary task fordone. 
 
 Now the wasted brands do glow. 
 
 Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud. 
 
 Puts the wretch that lies in woe 
 
 In remembrance of a shroud. 
 
 Now it is the time of night 
 
 That the graves, all gaping wide, sso 
 
 Every one lets forth his sprite. 
 
 In the church-way paths to glide : 
 
no 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 ActV. 
 
 And we fairies, that do run 
 By the triple Hecate's team, 
 Erom the presence of the Sun, 
 Following darkness like a dream, 
 Now are frolic : not a mouse 
 Shall disturb this hallow'd house : 
 I am sent with broom before, 
 To sweep the dust behind the door. 
 
 390 
 
 Enter the King and Queen of Faimes, with all their 
 
 Train, 
 
 Obekon. Through the house give glimmering light, 
 
 By the dead and drowsy fire ; 
 
 Every elf and fairy sprite 
 
 Hop as light as bird from brier ; 
 
 And this ditty, after me, 
 
 Sing, and dance it trippingly. 
 TiTANiA. Eirst, rehearse this song by rote, 
 
 To each word a warbling note : 
 
 Hand in hand, with fairy grace. 
 
 Will we sing, and bless this place. 40o 
 
 \_Song and dance. 
 Oberon. Now until the break of day 
 
 Through this house each fairy stray. 
 
 To the best bride-bed will we. 
 
 Which by us shall blessed be ; 
 
 And the issue there create 
 
 Ever shall be fortunate. 
 
Scene I. MIDSUMMEB-NIGUT'S DEEAM. Ill 
 
 So shall all the couples three 
 
 Ever true in loving be ; 
 
 And the blots of Nature's hand 
 
 Shall not in their issue stand ; 4io 
 
 ^N'ever mole, hare-lip, nor scar, 
 
 Nor mark prodigious, such as are 
 
 Despised in nativity, 
 
 Shall upon their children be. 
 
 With this field-dew consecrate, 
 
 Every fairy take his gait ; 
 
 And each several chamber bless. 
 
 Through this palace, with sweet peace ; 
 
 And the owner of it, blest. 
 
 Ever shall in safety rest. 420 
 
 Trip away ; make no stay : 
 
 Meet me all by break of day. 
 
 \_Exeunt King, Queen, and the Fairy 
 Train. 
 Puck. If we shadows have offended. 
 
 Think but this, and all is mended, — 
 
 That you have but slumber'd here 
 
 While these visions did appear. 
 
 And this weak and idle theme, 
 
 No more yielding but a dream, 
 
 Grentles, do not reprehend : .. 
 
 If yoit pardon, we will mend. 430 
 
 And, as I am an honest Puck, 
 
 If we have unearned luck 
 
 Now to scape the serpent's tongue. 
 
112 SHAKESPEABE. Act V. 
 
 We will make amends ere long ; 
 
 Else the Puck a liar call : 
 
 So, good night unto you all. 
 
 Give me your hands, if we be friends, 437 
 
 And Robin shall restore amends. \^^xit. 
 
TEXTUAL NOTES. 
 
 ACT I. — Scene I. 
 
 7. Qi has night. Which is better ? 
 
 8. Qa has Foure dales. Which is right ? 
 
 10. Kowe proposed the reading New bent, — to which Dyce con- 
 tributed a hyphen, — for the Nott bent of the original texts. Search 
 out the various references to moonlight through the play ("find out 
 moonshine, find out moonshine"), and, by comparison of these, deter- 
 mine whether the moon was crescent or full, " now bent " or presently 
 to be "new-bent," at this opening of the action. 
 
 27. Original texts read bewitcli'd (F.) or bewitcht (Qq). To 
 give smoothness to the verse, some editors have written "witch'd ; and 
 others have omitted man. If the reading of the first folio be re- 
 tained, hath in pronunciation should be reduced to 'th. 
 132. F. gives a defective verse, — 
 
 " For ought that ever I could reade." 
 
 Qa fills out the verse and gives a different order of words, — 
 
 " Eigh me ; for ought that I could ever reade." 
 Qi varies from the above only in punctuation and spelling, — 
 
 " Eigh me : for aught that I could ever reade." 
 
 Johnson and others print Ah me. Dyce and others print Ay me. 
 Defend or improve the reading of the present text. 
 
 136. Original texts read love, where Theobald, followed by the 
 long line of editors, substituted low. Defend this emendation. 
 Cf. :- 
 
 " Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend : 
 It shall be waited on with jealousy, 
 Find sweet beginning, but unsavoury end, 
 Ne'er settled equally, but high or low, 
 That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe." 
 
 Venus and Adonis, 1136-1140. 
 113 
 
114 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act I. 
 
 139. The quartos read friends here, where the folios read merit. 
 Examine the two readings carefully. 
 
 143. The quartos have momentany, apparently an earlier form 
 of the word. 
 
 "Momentany and 'momentary' were each indifferently used in 
 Shakespeare's time. We prefer the reading of the Folio, because 
 momentary occurs in four other passages of our poet's dramas ; and 
 this is a solitary example of the use of momentany, and that only 
 in the Quartos. The reading of the Folio is invariably ' momen- 
 tary.' " — Knight. 
 
 159. Qq read remote Which is better ? 
 
 159-160. Johnson and other editors transpose these lines. Why ? 
 On what grounds may the original reading be defended ? 
 
 167. The quarto reading is here retained. Ff . have for a morne. 
 Compare Chaucer, " Knightes Tale," line 1500, — 
 
 " And for to doon his observance to May." 
 
 182. Qq read your faire. Which is better ? 
 
 187. Original texts have Your words I catch. Hanmer amended 
 to Yours would I catch, — a reading reluctantly adopted here. Yet 
 compare Knight, — "It is in the repetition of the word fair that 
 Helena catches the words of Hermia ; but she would also catch her 
 voice, her intonation, and her expression as well as her words." 
 
 188. Lettsom proposed as emendation : — . 
 
 " My hair should catch your hair." 
 
 Deighton suggests : — 
 
 " My fair should catch your fair." 
 
 Is either of these an improvement on the original reading ? 
 200. The reading of the first quarto, preferred here to the folio 
 reading, — 
 
 " His folly Helena is none of mine." 
 
 Yet can the folio reading be defended ? 
 
 207. Again the reading of the first quarto in place of the folio 
 reading into hell. Why is the quarto phrase preferred ? 
 
 216. Original texts have STveld. Theobald's emendation. 
 
 219. Original texts have strange companions. This emendation, 
 too, is due to Theobald. 
 
Scene II. TEXTUAL NOTES. 115 
 
 225. Folio reading is dotes. How is the quarto reading, given in 
 the present text, better ? 
 
 229. Folio reads doth in place of the quarto reading do. 
 
 239. Quarto reading, he is so oft beguil'd, preferred to folio read- 
 ing, he is often beguil'd. Why ? 
 
 248. Folio reads his for this. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 10. Qq read grow to a point. Which is better? 
 
 23. Qq read gallant. Which is better ? 
 
 28. Punctuation modern, following Theobald's emendation. The 
 original texts have To the rest yet, perhaps not an error, but signi- 
 fying To the rest now. 
 
 52-53. Thisne, Thisne. 
 
 "These words are printed in italic in the old copies, as if they 
 represented a proper name, and so ' Thisne ' has been regarded as a 
 blunder of Bottom's for Thisbe. But as he has the name right in the 
 very next line it seems more probable that ' Thisne ' signifies ' in this 
 way ' ; and he then gives a specimen of how he would aggravate his 
 voice." — Wright. 
 
 "In Mrs. Centlivre's 'Platonick Lady,' IV. i. [1707,] Mrs. Dowdy 
 * enters drest extravagantly in French Niglit cloatlis and Furbelows,' 
 and says : ' If old Roger Dowdy were alive and zeen me thisen, he 
 wou'd zwear I was going to fly away.' " — Furness. 
 
 "The name is the first word that he [Bottom] has to utter in this 
 his first attempt to speak in a ' monstrous little voice.' For an in- 
 stant, may be, it plays him false, then by the next line he has recov- 
 ered himself." — Verity. 
 
 65. Qq have here in place of there. Which is better ? 
 
 92. The quartos admit of the reading [hyphens modern] French- 
 crow^n-colour. Is it better ? 
 
 99. Qi has will wee. Which is better? 
 
 105. Qi has most. Which is better? 
 
 105-106. Modern editors have undertaken to assign Take pains; 
 be perfect; adieu to Quince instead of Bottom. " Plausible though 
 this present emendation be, it is doubtful if an assumption of the 
 manager's duty be not characteristic of Bottom." — Furness. 
 
116 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act II. 
 
 ACT II. — Scene I. 
 
 The initial stage-direction in the original texts reads : Enter a 
 Fairie at one doore, and Robin good-feUow at another. 
 
 3 and 5. Qi has thorough, — an Elizabethan spelling for 
 through. "Shakespeare uses either as suits the measure." — 
 RoLFE. Which gives the more musical effect here ? 
 
 7. Some editors, finding this verse unmusical to their ears, have 
 substituted for moon's the Anglo-Saxon genitive, vrhich prevailed 
 long in English poetry, moones. Cf. Spenser's "Faery Queene," 
 III. i. 15 : — 
 
 " And eke through fear as white as whales bone." 
 
 Compare, too, "Love's Labour's Lost," Y. ii. 332, where the original 
 texts read : — 
 
 "To shew his teeth as white as whales bone." 
 
 Other editors of unsatisfied ear read moony, an allowable Eliza- 
 bethan phrase, used in Sidney's " Arcadia." But many editors find 
 a charm in the fairy freedom of the cadence. How should the verse, 
 as printed in the present text, be read ? — Abbott, § 484. 
 
 33. Here the folio reading spirit is discarded for the sprite of 
 the first quarto. Why ? 
 
 34. Qi has not you. Which is better ? 
 
 35. Qi has villageree, usually adopted by modern editors in the 
 slightly modified form villagery. Either word is unique. Which 
 is the more musical here ? 
 
 35-39. Modern editors have ventured changes in the verb-forms 
 here, either dropping the s from frights or adding an s to each of 
 the five verbs in like construction following. (See Abbott, §§ 224, 
 415.) 
 
 42. Scan the line. To fill out the measure, it has been variously 
 suggested that Puck's reply open with I am, The same, Indeed, the 
 only endurable one of these suggestions being the word Fairy. But 
 the pause was probably intentional on the poet's part, to give Puck 
 time to strike an impressive attitude. — Abbott, § 506. 
 
 46. Qi has fiUy, which most modem editors adopt. But Halli- 
 well and Fumess hold to silly, " in the sense of simple." Why not ? 
 
Scene I. TEXTUAL NOTES. 117 
 
 58. Some modem editors read room now and others make room. 
 How should the verse, as it stands, be read ? 
 
 61. The original texts have Fairy, changed by Theobald to 
 Fairies. Why? 
 
 65. Here the reading of the quartos, hast, is preferred to the wast 
 of the folio. Why? 
 
 91. Qq read pelting=paltry. Cf . : — 
 
 " Like to a tenement or pelting farm." 
 
 Richard II., II. i. 60. 
 "Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and. mills." 
 
 King Lear, II. iy. 18. 
 
 " Every pelting, petty officer." 
 
 Measure for Measure, II. ii. 112. 
 
 101. This verse is a standing puzzle to the commentators. The 
 time is apparently hard on Mayday. The King and Queen of the 
 fairies had their quarrel in " middle Summer's spring." If the quar- 
 rel was in the year of these events which make up our play, one is 
 tempted to adopt Keightley's guess and read summer for w^inter, 
 understanding want in the sense of lack. If the quarrel was of the 
 year preceding, or even earlier date, the lines require no emendation, 
 supposing that by winter is meant the normal winter, whose nights 
 are blessed with Christmas carol or with grateful hymn for garnered 
 harvest, and that by here is meant in this region. If emendation 
 is desired, ^he following suggestions might be considered : — 
 
 " I once suspected it should be w^ant their winter chear." 
 
 Theobald. 
 
 " It is barely possible that w^ant is a misprint for chant, and that 
 Titania, wishing to contrast the gloom of the spurious, with the mer- 
 riment of the real, Winter, says, 'when their Winter is here, the 
 human mortals chant ; but now no night is blessed with hymn or 
 carol ' ; and that we should read : — 
 
 The hviman mortals chant, — their winter here." — White. 
 
 109. Original texts have chinne, for which Tyrwhitt happily con- 
 jectured thin. 
 133. Qq have doe I. Which is better ? 
 
 141. Pope changed Fairies to Elves. Is such change necessary? 
 172. round is supplied from Qi. Why? 
 
118 TEXTUAL JSrOTES. Act III. 
 
 180. Qi kas from of = from off. Which reading is the "better ? 
 
 187. The original texts have stay and stayeth. How would such a 
 reading be interpreted ? The present emendation, made by Thirlby, 
 has been criticised as giving too bloodthirsty a spirit to Demetrius. 
 Is there justification elsewhere in the play for the amended reading ? 
 
 199. Qi has you. Which is better ? 
 
 217. The original texts change the meaning here by a different 
 punctuation, putting a colon after privilege and connecting for that 
 (= because) with what follows. Which reading is the better ? 
 
 235. Qi reads the field. Which is better? 
 
 240. Here the folio reading, I, is rejected for the reading of the 
 quartos, He. Which is better ? 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 2. Theobald proposed 'fore instead of for. Warburton would 
 substitute the midnight for a minute. Would fairy commentators 
 find these emendations necessary ? 
 
 14. Here the reading of the first quarto in. our is substituted for 
 that of the folio in your. Why ? 
 
 48. Qi reads Avee can for can you. Which is better ? 
 
 49. Qq read interchained. Which is better ? 
 67. Qi has found. Which is better? 
 
 77. Various emendations have been proposed to render this verse 
 smoother. Is the feeling it expresses smooth ? How should it be 
 read? 
 
 104. Fi reads her, corrected in later folios to here. Some editors 
 have understood this reading her shewes art as an error of the prin- 
 ter for shewes her art. How does this affect the meaning of the 
 passage ? The quartos read : — 
 
 Transparent Helena, nature shewes art. 
 
 113. Qi omits the noTV. Is this necessary for musical effect ? 
 
 ACT HI. — Scene I. 
 
 12. By'r lakin = By our ladykin, referring with a touch of affec- 
 tionate familiarity to the Virgin Mary. Ff . and Q2 spell Berlaken. 
 Qx spells Berlakin. 
 
 65. And let him is emended from the or let him of the original 
 texts. Why ? 
 
Scene II. TEXTUAL NOTES. 119 
 
 80-83. For the obvious deficiencies in sense and rhyme of this 
 quatrain, various emendations have been proposed, but the wisest in- 
 terpreter of Bottom is Puck, with his emendation of an ass's head. 
 Bottom might well be likened to Dogberry, especially in this pas- 
 sage, were it not that " Comparisons are odorous." — Much Ado about 
 Nothing, III. v. 18. 
 
 99. Malone proposed the following punctuation : — 
 
 If I were, fair Thisbe, I -were only thine. 
 
 This is doubtless what the author of the interlude should be sup- 
 posed to have written, but it was not in Bottom, any more than in 
 the Prologue (Act V. Scene I), to "stand upon points." Consider, 
 too. Bottom's transformation, comically emphasized by this his first 
 utterance. 
 
 124. The folio reading Wren and is rejected for the Wren ■with 
 of the quartos. Why ? 
 
 134-137. The arrangement of lines here is that of the first quarto. 
 In the folios and the second quarto verse 137 follows verse 134. How 
 does the sense differ in the two readings ? 
 
 199. The folio reading weepe everie must give place here to the 
 weepes of the first quarto. What is the meaning of the verse ? 
 
 201. The original texts read lovers tongue. Justify the emenda- 
 tion. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 48. The emendation knee-deep for the deep has been proposed. 
 With which reading is the word plunge more appropriate ? Cf . : — 
 
 " Proteus. That's a deep story of a deeper love ; 
 For he was more than over shoes in love. 
 
 Valentine. 'Tis true ; for you are over boots in love, 
 And yet you never swum the Hellespont." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. i. 24-27. 
 
 " I am in blood 
 Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more. 
 Returning were as tedious as go o'er." 
 
 Macbeth, III. iv. 136-138. 
 
 57. Pope proposed dread for dead. But cf. : — 
 
 " Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, 
 So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone. 
 Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night." 
 
 2 Henry IV., lA. 11. 
 
120 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act III. 
 
 64. Qi reads I had. Is there any choice ? 
 
 69. The reading of the folio alookt is here rejected for the have 
 lookt of the quartos. Yet can anything he said in support of the 
 folio text ? 
 
 80-81. The original texts are confused here, reading : — 
 
 And from thy hated presence part I ; see me no more. 
 Whether he he dead or no. 
 
 The emendation is Pope's. Who suggests a hetter ? 
 
 145. The all are of the quartos is substituted here for the are all 
 of the folio. Why ? 
 
 151. The were men of the quartos is substituted here for the are 
 men of the folio. Why ? 
 
 172. Qi has is it. Which is better ? 
 
 173. Helen, which does not occur in the folio text, is here sup- 
 plied from that of the first quarto. But consider the following note : 
 ** If one likes the pronunciation of ' Helen ' with the accent on the 
 last syllable, there can be no objection to following the Q^ here. 
 But where a line is divided between two speakers, the inevitable 
 pause is, I think, to be preferred in scansion to the stop-gag of an ill- 
 accented word . " — FuRNESS . 
 
 175. Aby is the reading of the first quarto, but appears to be cor- 
 rect, signifying pay for. The folio has abide. Cf . : — 
 
 " Yet thou, false squire, his fault shalt deare aby." 
 
 Spenser, Faery Queene, IV. i. 53. 
 
 182. The reading of the first folio that sound gives place here to 
 the quarto reading thy sound. Why ? 
 
 201. Various emendations have been suggested for filling out the 
 line, as O and is all, O, is all now, O, now, is all. Oh, is this all, 
 
 etc. Consider the following note : "The break in the line gives 
 ample pause for supplying a lost syllable. Moreover, the emotion 
 expressed by ' O ' can easily prolong the sound enough to fill the 
 
 gap." — FURNESS, 
 
 213. The original texts read first life, an obvious error, " Helen 
 exemplifies her position by a simile, — ' we had two of the first, i.e. 
 bodies, like the double coats in heraldry that belong to man and 
 wife as one person, but which, like our single heart, have but one 
 crest.' " — Douce. 
 
Scene II. TEXTUAL NOTES. 121 
 
 243. Qi has my. Wliifch is better ? 
 
 250. The original texts have praise, for whicli, at Theobald's in- 
 stance, prayers has been generally substituted. " Capell, at Theo- 
 bald's suggestion, read ' prays,' a noun formed from the verb in 
 accordance with Shakespeare's usage. So ' entreats ' for ' entreaties,' 
 ' exclaims ' for ' exclamations.' " — Wkigkt. 
 
 257-258" This is the reading of the folio, save that the verses are 
 differently divded there : — 
 
 No, no, Sir, seeme to breake loose; 
 Take on as you would follow, 
 But yet come not : 
 
 Lettsom, retaining the folio reading, supplies you after Sir, and 
 Hudson supplies do. 
 The text of the quartos, modernized, reads : — 
 
 No, no, he'll 
 Seeme to breake loose ; take on as you -would follow^, 
 
 unless, indeed, the word heele (Qi) or hee'l (Qg) allow the interpre- 
 tation, proposed by Wilson : — 
 
 beU 
 Seems to break loose ; take on as you w^ould, fellow^ ! 
 
 " With the majority of editors I think the whole line is addressed 
 to Lysander, but I do not think that ' No, no. Sir ' has any reference to 
 Hermia's having been called an ' Ethiop.' Demetrius shows no such 
 zeal when Lysander afterward showers opprobrious epithets on the 
 damsel. To my ears * No, no, Sir ' is a taunting sneer, in modem 
 street -language, ' No you don't! You can't come that game over 
 me! ' and Lettsom's emendation follows well : " You merely seem to 
 break loose,* etc." — Furness. 
 
 204 Qi reads : O hated potion hence. Is potion or poison more 
 in keeping with the general sense of the passage ? Is it a necessary 
 emendation, — made by modern editors, — to omit the O? 
 
 279. Is emendation desirable here ? If so, what ? What omission 
 is possible ? What transposition ? 
 
 282. Is emendation desirable here ? If so, what ? 
 
 289. The original texts read w^hy so ? What is the difference in 
 meaning ? 
 
122 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act IV. 
 
 335. The folio has abide, but both quartos read aby. See note 
 on line 175 of this scene. 
 
 346. Here for the reading of the folio willingly is substituted the 
 •wilfully of the quartos. Why ? 
 
 374. The folio reads imply. How is it evident that the first 
 quarto, reading imploy, is right ? 
 
 414. Folio reading he's rejected for he is of the first quarto. 
 Why ? 
 
 425. The nOTV is supplied from the first quarto. Why ? 
 
 ACT IV. — Scene I. 
 
 22-23. Is it Cavalery Cobweb to whom Bottom means to allude ? 
 How is Cavalery Cobweb already occupied? " Unless you will solve 
 it this way, that Cobweb laughs and goes out, but joins the other in 
 scratching; and this, indeed, is the likeliest, for Peaseblossom would 
 stand but sorrily there." — Capell. 
 
 36. The word thence is an addition of the commentators to fill 
 out the line. 
 
 49. The first folio reads savors, apparently less appropriate here 
 than favours, the reading of the first quarto. Why so ? 
 
 60. Dyce, followed by Hudson and others, prints fairies for the 
 original reading Fairy. Is this change necessary ? 
 
 71. The quartos omit the first thou. AVhich is better ? 
 
 80. Here the folio his head is rejected for the this head of the 
 first quarto. Why ? 
 
 82. The first two folios and the quartos read : — 
 
 Then common sleepe ; of all these, fine the sense. 
 
 If this be correct, fine is used either as signifying lay a fine on and 
 therefore diminish their consciousness, or in the sense of refine, 
 which must mean make more acute. The later folios printed find 
 the sense. But is it the mission of the music to waken the sleepers 
 or in any way sharpen their sense ? Thirlby and Theobald suggested 
 the reading now generally accepted, omitting the semicolon and sub- 
 stituting for fine or find the word five. Who are the five sleepers ? 
 
 84. The word Novjt is here supplied from the first quarto. Why ? 
 
 90. Qi reads prosperity. Which is better ? 
 
 107. Pope and other editors would omit let them. Is this change 
 necessary ? 
 
Scene I. TEXTUAL NOTES. 123 
 
 113. ** Hanmer substituted ' boar ' for * bear ' ; but the references to 
 * bear ' and ' bear-hunting ' in Shakespeare are sufficiently numerous 
 to justify the old reading, without going into the naturalist's question 
 whether there are bears in Crete. See, for instance, ' Venus and 
 Adonis,' 884 : — 
 
 * For now she knows it is no gentle chase, 
 But the blind boar, rough bear, or lion proud.' 
 
 " Besides, according to Pliny (YIII. 83) there were neither bears nor 
 boars in the island. We may therefore leave the natural history to 
 adjust itself, as well as the chronology which brings Cadmus with 
 Hercules and Hippoljrfca into the hunting field together." — Wright. 
 
 131. The folio reading of this is here rejected for the first quarto 
 text of their. Why ? 
 -152-153. The first quarto suggests an interrupted sentence : — 
 
 Was to be gon from Athens : where we might 
 Without the perill of the Athenian la^i^e. 
 
 Which is better ? 
 
 163. Here the reading of the folio followed is rejected for the 
 follow^ing of the first quarto. Why ? 
 
 166. Various emendations, is nielted as, all melted as, melted as 
 melts, haye been suggested. Why ? Is emendation necessary ? — • 
 Abbott, § 486. 
 
 174. Here Now is substituted, on the suggestion of Dr. Furness, 
 for the But of the original texts. Why ? 
 
 175. Qi reads I doe. Which is better ? 
 
 178. Qi reads we more will here and Qg we will heare more. 
 Which of the three original readings is the best ? 
 186. Several modem editors insert my before Hippolyta. Why? 
 192-193. The question : — 
 
 Are you sure 
 That w^e are aw^ake ? 
 
 is supplied from the quartos. Capell and others read : — 
 
 But are you sure 
 That w^e are well awake ? 
 
 216. Here Walker's emendation of a play to our play has been 
 adopted. Why ? 
 
124 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act V. 
 
 218. Here Theobald's emendation of at her death to after death 
 
 has been adopted. 
 
 " At her death ? At whose? In all Bottom's speech there is not 
 the least mention of any she-creature to whom this relative can be 
 coupled. I make not the least scruple, but Bottom, for the sake of a 
 jest and to render his Voluntary, as we may call it, the more gra- 
 cious and extraordinary, said, 'I shall sing it after death.' He, as 
 Pyramus, is killed upon the scene, and so might promise to rise 
 again at the conclusion of the Interlude and give the duke his 
 dream by way of a song. The source of the corruption of the text is 
 very obvious. The f in after being sunk by the vulgar pronuncia- 
 tion, the copyist might write it from the sound, a'ter, which, the 
 wise editors not understanding, concluded two words were erroneously 
 got together ; so splitting them, and clapping in an h, produced the 
 present reading, * at her.' " — Theobald. 
 
 Scene II. 
 31. The word right is supplied from the quartos. Why ? 
 
 ACT v. — Scene I. 
 
 42. The reading of the first quarto ripe is substituted here for 
 the folio reading rife. Why ? 
 
 44-58. The quartos differ from the folio in giving both reading 
 and comments to Theseus. 
 
 59. Is this verse satisfactory in cadence ? Scan. Abbott, § 477. 
 Is it satisfactory in sense ? What is the antithesis between strange 
 and snow? Examine these few of the proposed emendations, — 
 w^ondrous scorching snow^, w^ondrous strange black snow, 
 w^ondrous seething snoTV^, w^ondrous s\\jarthy snow, wondrous 
 sable snow, w^ondrous sooty snow, wondrous strange ! jet 
 snow. 
 
 91-92. Abbott proposed the reading (§ 510) : — 
 
 " And what poor duty cannot do, but vrould, 
 Noble respect takes not in might but merit." 
 
 Although distinguished critics, including Johnson, Coleridge, and 
 Halliwell, inciine toward this interpretation, the latest editors hold 
 by the original text. 
 
Scene I. TEXTUAL NOTES. 125 
 
 "There is no need for change ; the sense being, nohle respect or 
 consideration accepts the effort to please without regard to the merit 
 of the performance. Compare ' Love's Labour's Lost, V. ii. 517 : — 
 
 ' That sport best pleases that doth least know how.' " — "Wright. 
 
 "The difficulty here has arisen, I think, in taking might in the 
 sense of poioer, ability, rather than in the sense of will; Kenrick 
 states the meaning concisely when he says it is about the same as 
 taking ' the will for the deed.' " — Furness. 
 
 Re-enter Prologvie. F. has here a direction which has long puz- 
 zled the commentators : Tawyer with a Trumpet before them ; 
 but the researches of Halliwell have made it clear that Tawyer is a 
 proper name. " William Tawier " was " Mr. Hemnige's man; " i.e., 
 a subordinate in the pay of John Heminge, one of Shakespeare's fel- 
 low-players in the theatrical company known first as the Lord Cham- 
 berlain's Servants, and, after the accession of James, as the King's 
 Servants. It will be remembered that Heminge, with another of 
 Shakespeare's fellow-actors, Henry Condell, brought out, seven years 
 after the poet's death, the first folio edition of his collected plays, 
 " onely to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend, & Fellow, alive." 
 That this Tawyer spoke the argument of the interlude is not proof 
 positive that he had consistently played the part of Peter Quince 
 throughout the play. The value of Halliwell's discovery is the addi- 
 tion of another link to the chain of indications that the first folio 
 was printed from a stage-copy. 
 
 156. Qq have Flute. Which is right ? 
 
 161. Hudson prints loam, comparing this passage with Wall's 
 speech a little further on, and with Bottom's suggestion in III. i. 64. 
 White thinks that in both these cases the word should be lime. 
 Notice the question of Theseus after Wall's recitation and Thisbe's 
 address to Wall. Which is it, lime or loam, that Wall would nat- 
 urally " have about him " ? 
 
 163-164:. What is amiss with Wall's rhymes? Cf. 159-160. 
 
 " We believe that the defective rhyming was intentional, to denote 
 the slipshod style of the doggerel that forms the dialogue in the In- 
 terlude, which we have always cherished a conviction Shakespeare 
 intended to be taken as written by Peter Quince himself." — The 
 Cowden-Clarkes. 
 
 174. Qq read 6 sweete, 6 lovely wall. Which is better ? 
 
126 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act V. 
 
 185. Qq read enter now. Which is better ? 
 
 206. F. reads morall. Qq read Moon used. Commentators have 
 loyally striven to see in the one reading a reference to the restraint 
 imposed by Wall upon the lovers, and in the other an indication that 
 Moonshine is about to take part in the dialogue. But Pope's emen- 
 dation, mural, is doubly supported by the reply of Demetrius and 
 the opportunity for a pun. " Moral was then pronounced mo-ral, 
 and mural, as I am inclined to think, moo-ral." — White. 
 
 " I am inclined to accept White's explanation that in the old pro- 
 nunciation lay a pun, now lost, and for a pun, as Johnson said, Shake- 
 speare would lose the world, and be content to lose it." — Furness. 
 
 218. The original texts read two noble beasts, in a man and a 
 Lion. Have the emendators improved the passage ? As to punctua- 
 tion, Wright says: " This is the punctuation of the quartos and folios 
 which has been altered in modern editions by putting the comma 
 after 'in,' but as I think unnecessarily. 'In' here signifies 'in the 
 character of ; ' see IV. ii. 23." As to the choice between man and 
 moon, Furness says : " Harness has the shrewd remark, which almost 
 settles the question in favour of ' man,' to the effect that Theseus 
 saw merely a man with a lantern, and could not possibly conceive 
 that he was intended to ' disfigure Moonshine.' " But had not 
 the Prologue already introduced Moonshine to Theseus and the 
 rest ? 
 
 224. The emendation of the folio text here consists merely in the 
 addition of a comma after joiner and of a hyphen between lion and 
 fell, thus making the word lion-fell, equivalent to lion's fell or 
 lion's skin. Another emendation is to substitute No lion for A lion. 
 But consider this note by Furness : "Barron Field's high deserving 
 lies in his discerning that ' fell ' is a noun and not an adjective ; and 
 that by this interpretation point is given to ' lion's dam.' For Snug 
 to say that he is ' neither a lion nor a lioness ' is, to me, pointless, 
 but all is changed if we suppose him to say that he is a lion's skin, 
 and only because, as such, he encloses a lion, can he be a lioness." 
 
 251. Qi has aw^eary. Which is better ? 
 
 261. Qi has for all these. Which is better ? 
 
 270-271. Spedding would transpose these lines. Why ? Is such 
 emendation necessary ? 
 
 274. The original texts read beames. The later folios emend, 
 probably by conjecture, to stream es. Knight suggested gleams. 
 
Scene I. TEXTUAL NOTES. 127 
 
 "Vrhich is, however, not elsewhere used by Shakespeare. But for 
 what reason would it he the most effective word here ? 
 
 275. Qi reads take of truest Thlsby sight. Which, because 
 worse, is better ? 
 
 284. Qq have ye. Which is better ? 
 
 304. Instead of Tongue, which Halliwell thinks " too absurd to be 
 humorous," Capell conjectures Sun, and Elze, Moon. 
 
 319. It appears that moth was an old spelling for mote; but few 
 of the modern editors, who print mote here, are so consistent as to 
 transform Moth the fairy into Mote. 
 
 320-321. This passage, he for . . . bless us, is taken from the 
 quartos, with the change of warnd to warrant. Wright calls atten- 
 tion to these two words as similarly used in " As You Like It." 
 "And for lovers lacking — God warn us! — matter, the cleanliest 
 shift is to kiss." IV. i. 77. "Your features ! Lord warrant us ! 
 what features ?" III. iii. 5. The omission of this passage in the 
 folios is probably due to the decree of 1605, which imposed a fine 
 of ten pounds on any player who should "jestingly or prophanely" 
 speak the divine name on the stage. [For full text of this decree 
 see my edition of "The Merchant of Venice," textual notes, I. ii.\ 
 106-107.] 
 
 324. The original texts have meanes. Theobald emended to 
 moans. It is true, however, that there was an old word mene or 
 meane, signifying to complain or lament : — 
 
 " If you should die for me, sii* knight. 
 There's few for you will meane ; 
 For mony a better has died for me, 
 "Whose graves are growing green." 
 
 Border Minstrelsy, III. 276. 
 
 359. Here the reading of the quartos hangd is substituted for the 
 folio reading hung. Why ? 
 
 372. The original texts have beholds. Cf. " 'Tis like the howl- 
 ing of Irish wolves against the moon." — " As You Like It," V. ii. 119. 
 It is quite possible, however, for Shakespeare to say something that 
 he has not said before ; but what argument is there in the context for 
 a word expressive of sound ? 
 
 391. There is a temptation to accept here White's emendation of 
 Though for Through. Unembarrassed by the faintness of that 
 
128 TEXTUAL NOTES. Act V, 
 
 glimmering light cast by the smouldering fire, the fairies are to trij? 
 with sure footing and direction through the shadowy chambers: — 
 
 " Though the house give (but) glimmering light 
 By (means of) the dead and drowsy tire, 
 (Yet do you) every elf and fairy sprite, 
 Hop as light as bird from brier." 
 
 But Instinct rebels against reason. It is not a fairy construction, 
 not a lyric construction, hardly a Shakesperian construction. The 
 two crisp imperatives of the original text are more in the style of 
 Oberon. The picture is of dusky chambers, the dull, red glow shed 
 from the drowsy hearth-fires contrasting with the bright, silvery moon- 
 light glimmer of the dancing fairy forms, as they pass with song and 
 charm before each bridal bed. By must then be taken in its simple 
 sense of beside. 
 
 397. Qi has your song. Which is better? 
 
 419-420. The critics have effected a transposition here. The 
 original text reads : — 
 
 Ever shall in safety rest, 
 And the owner of it blest. 
 
 Understanding the subject to be the palace, and reading, with 
 Malone, E'er shall it in safety,. or, better, with Rowe, Ever shall 
 it safely, or, best, with Dyce, Ever shall't in safety, one escapes 
 the transposition, but is obliged to read the next line either as ellip- 
 tical, or as loosely and almost awkwardly connected with its prede- 
 cessor. 
 
GRAMMATICAL NOTES. 
 
 ACT I. — Scene I. 
 
 4. lingers. What peculiarity in this use of the verb ? — 
 Abbott, § 291. 
 
 39. Be't so she will not. Expand the expression. — Abbott, 
 §133. 
 
 50. and within his power. Expand. 
 
 65. die the death. Used by Shakespeare of a judicial execu- 
 tion. Cf, Matthew xv. 4. What is the figure of speech ? 
 
 81. w^hose unwished yoke. Expand the ellipsis. — Abbott. 
 § 201. 
 
 86. either. Is this word in right position ? 
 
 104. of. What preposition would occur here in modern use ? — 
 Abbott, § 170. 
 
 111. so much. What would be the modern equivalent ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 275. 
 
 112. spoke. Modem equivalent ? — Abbott, § 343. 
 
 113. self-aflFairs. Does Shakespeare's use of self differ from 
 ours ? — Abbott, § 20. 
 
 117. For you. Modern equivalent ? — Abbott, § 149. 
 123. go along. Modern equivalent ? — Abbott, § 30. 
 
 125. nuptial. Cf . : — 
 
 " His funerals shall not be in our camp." 
 
 Julius Csesar, V. iii. 105. 
 
 126. nearly. Is this the natural position of the adverb ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 421. 
 
 129. How chance. Expand the ellipsis. — Abbott, § 37. 
 
 130. Belike. "The word is unusual if not singular in form." — 
 Wright. What is the meaning ? 
 
 164. forth. Modern equivalent ? Cf. : — 
 
 129 
 
130 GRAMMATICAL NOTES. Act I. 
 
 •' Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun 
 Peer'd forth the golden window of the east." 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, I. i. 126. 
 Abbott, § 156. 
 
 175-176. broke: spoke. Why were the Elizabethans so prone to 
 use the curtailed form of the past participle ? — Abbott, § 343. 
 181-182. fair. What part of speech is it in each of these four uses? 
 188. My : my. Why not Mine : mine ? — Abbott, § 237. 
 212. still. What is the meaning ? — Abbott, § 69. 
 
 225. dote. See textual notes. 
 
 226. other some. What is the modern equivalent ? 
 
 231. admiring of. Which of the following attempts to explain 
 the construction is the better ? 
 
 "In this construction 'admiring' is a verbal noun, originally gov- 
 erned by a preposition ' in ' or ' on,' which has disappeared, but which 
 exists sometimes in the degraded form 'a,' in such words as ' a hunt- 
 ing,' ' a building.' " — Wright. 
 
 "I take ' admiring' as a present participle, and 'of as the redun- 
 dant prej)osition found in Elizabethan English with many verbs." — 
 Verity. 
 
 242. eyne. Why does Shakespeare use this form ? Is it allow- 
 able in modern English ? Are kindred forms still allowable ? " Not- 
 withstanding the great changes which took place in the language 
 during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, many traces, though 
 generally in a corrupted shape, still remained of the older forms and 
 constructions." — Halliwell. 
 
 245. So. What is the modern equivalent ? — Abbott, § 66. 
 
 246. go tell. What is the modern equivalent ? 
 
 251. To have. What use of the infinitive ? — Abbott, § 349. 
 " We still retain," etc. Abbott, § 356. 
 his sight. Expand the expression. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 2. You were best. What is the case of You ? — Abbott, § 230. 
 67. giv^e it me. Expand. 
 
 slow of study. Is this a modern construction ? 
 70. roar, that. Supply the ellipsis. — Abbott, § 283. 
 81-82. roar you. What is the construction of you? — Abbott, 
 §220. 
 
Scene II. GRAMMATICAL NOTES. 131 
 
 82. an 'twere. What is the meaning ? Cf. : — 
 
 " He will weep you, an 'twere a man born in April." 
 
 Troilus and Cressicla, I, ii. 189. 
 
 ACT II. — Scene I. 
 
 9. To dew. What use of the infinitive is this? — Abbott, 
 §356. 
 
 10-12. be. Why not are?— Abbott, § 300. 
 
 14. go seek. Expand. Cf. I. 1. 246 above. 
 
 24. would. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 329. 
 
 30. square, that. What is the ellipsis ? — Abbott, § 283. 
 
 35-39. sometimes: sometime. "Both forms of the word were 
 used indifferently ; and in the present case the instinctive perception 
 of euphony, which was so constant a guide of Shakespeare's pen, and 
 in this play, perhaps more so than in any other, seems to have deter- 
 mined the choice." — White. 
 For the verbs, see Abbott, §§ 224, 415. 
 
 56. waxen. Students of Chaucer will recognize the East Mid- 
 land plural. — Abbott, § 332. 
 
 72. must be. Is there any idea of compulsion here ? — Abbott, 
 § 314. 
 
 83-87. Met: hast disturb'd. What of this sequence of tenses ? 
 — Abbott, § 347. 
 
 91. Hath. Is this in accordance with modern rules of gram- 
 mar ? With Elizabethan usage ? 
 
 "A distinguished modern philologist is of opinion that although 
 Shakespeare may have used this inaccurate construction both in 
 speaking and writing, yet that the circumstance may be attributed 
 to the influence of custom, and that, had the question been asked, he 
 would have readily admitted that the phraseology was erroneous. 
 But a careful examination of a large number of writings of the six- 
 teenth century has convinced me that this idiom . . . was really in 
 serious use by cultivated authors." — Halliwell. — Abbott, § 247. 
 
 95. his. What was the Elizabethan usage as regards its and 
 it?— Abbott, §228. 
 
 117. original. " Used by Shakespeare as a noun here and in 
 *I. Hen. VI.,' IV. ii. 47 ; nowhere as an adjective." — Rolfe. 
 
132 GBAMMATICAL NOTES. Act I. 
 
 135, intend you stay. "What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 349. 
 
 143. thou shalt not from this grove. How is the ellipsis here 
 to be explained ? — Abbott, § 405. 
 
 144. Look back for the use of you and thee in the elfin quarrel. 
 146. Since. What is the modern equivalent ? — Abbott, § 132. 
 
 155. by. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 145. 
 
 156. smartly. " Used by Shakespeare only here." — Rolfe. 
 
 157. As it. What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 107. 
 
 158. might. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 312. 
 
 168. or man or woman. Modern equivalent ? — Abbott, § 136. 
 
 169. it sees. What is Shakespeare's difficulty here ? Has our 
 modern English found any better solution ? 
 
 176, What is missed from this clause ? — Abbott, § 244. 
 179. it. What is the construction ? — Abbott, § 242. 
 
 191. get thee gone. What use of the verb have we here, and how 
 may such use be explained ? — Abbott, § 296. 
 
 192, You. " If Shakespeare indicated shades of meaning by the 
 use of thou and you (and sometimes I am inclined, so difficult or so 
 fanciful is the analysis, to think he did not always so indicate them) 
 it would be interesting to note in this dialogue the varying emotions 
 of love, contempt, respect, and anger that flit over the speakers and 
 find expression in these personal pronouns," — Furness, — Abbott, 
 §§ 231-235. 
 
 196. fair. What part of speech here ? 
 
 198. nor I cannot. Students of early English will recognize the 
 double negative in its natural use as giving emphasis. — Abbott, 
 §406. 
 
 " This idiom was even used by Bentley in his letter on Phalai'is, 
 and is still retained in many of the provincial dialects, as well as in 
 the vulgar phraseology of the metropolis.". — Halliwell. 
 
 Cf. : — 
 
 " O horror ! horror ! horror ! Tongue nor heart 
 " Cannot conceive, nor name thee." — Macbeth, II. iii. 61-62. 
 
 205. worser. This happily irregular form is used by Shakespeare 
 both as adjective and adverb. Cf . : — 
 
 "O, throw away the worser part of it." — Hamlet, III. iv. 157. 
 
 *' I cannot hate thee worser than I do." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, II. v. 90. 
 
Scene II. GRAMMATICAL NOTES. 133 
 
 234. But I shall. Meaning what ? 
 
 241. To die. What use of the infinitive is this? — Abbott, 
 § 356. 
 
 242. Fare thee well. Is this absolutely grammatical ? What 
 relation does it hear to the modern equivalent ? — Abbott, § 212. 
 
 263. fond on her. " Nearly all the particles were formerly em- 
 ployed in senses and positions altogether different from what would 
 now he considered accurate. Even as late as the last century, many 
 of them were very licentiously used by some of the best writers ; but, 
 in works of Shakespeare's time, there is scarcely a preposition, con- 
 junction, or adverb, that is not to be found iu almost every possible 
 variety of meaning and situation." — Halliwell. — Abbott, §§ 180, 
 181. 
 
 264. look thou meet. What use of the Subjunctive ? — Abbott, 
 § 369. 
 
 265. shall. Would this be correct in modern usage ? — Abbott, 
 §315. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 35. Tvith. What is the meaning here ? — Abbott, § 103. 
 
 61. alter. What use of the Subjunctive ? — Abbott, §§ 364,365. 
 What similar uses in the lines following ? 
 
 67. find. See textual notes. 
 
 73. Despised. What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 244. 
 
 87. I alone will go. Is this the natural order ? Would it be 
 allowable in modern English ? — Abbott, §§ 420, 421. 
 
 89. lesser. Used by Shakespeare both as adjective and adverb. 
 Cf. with this, — 
 
 " Some say he's mad ; others, that lesser liate liim, 
 Do call it valiant fury." — Macbeth, V. ii. 13-14. 
 
 118. ripe not. What part of speech is ripe here ? 
 
 What reason or reasons for the position of not ? 
 
 126. nor never. Why the double negative here ? 
 
 133-134. of: of. How may this use of of be explained ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 170. 
 
 What similar instances in Lysander's following speech ? 
 
 149. eat. " The same form as here of the verb, and the same 
 orthography is given elsewhere, which not only forbids us to read 
 
134 GRAMMATICAL NOTES. Act III. 
 
 ate, but accords with the supposition that the present and preterite 
 tenses were not distinguished even in pronunciation, but both had 
 the pure sound of e. And yet the strong preterite — ate, is, of course, 
 the older form." — White. 
 
 153. and if. "This is, I think, equivalent to something more 
 than simply if; it is, at least, a strongly emphasized if. See Abbott, 
 § 105, which assuredly applies to the present passage." — Furness. 
 
 154. of all loves. What is the force of of here ? — Abbott, § 169. 
 I s"woon almost. Is this transposition common in Shakespeare ? 
 
 Is it allowable in modern English ?-^ Abbott, § 29. 
 
 ACT III. — Scene I. 
 
 12. parlous. " A very common contracted form of perilous, used 
 in the generic sense of excessive, and sometimes with the signific;.- 
 tion of wonderful." — Halliwell. 
 
 18. more better. "This pleonasm is common in many writers 
 contemporary with Shakespeare. 
 
 ' Yet were Phrebe's locks more whiter.' 
 
 Lily's Euphues Golden Legacie, 1590." 
 
 Halliwell,. 
 
 25. afeard. " Though here used as a provincialism appropriate to 
 rustics, the word was otherwise in good use. Compare ' The Mer- 
 chant of Venice,' II. vii. 29-30 : — 
 
 ' And yet to be afeard of my deserving, 
 ■ Were but a weak disabling of myself.' '^ 
 
 Wkight. 
 
 40. pity of my life. What force has of here ? — Abbott, § 174. 
 44. there is two. How does the position of the subject here in- 
 fluence the number of the verb ? — Abbott, § 335. 
 
 75. a play to'ward. "To^vard, here, is at hand, in hand, or 
 forthcoming. Very often used so by the Poet. Nor is the usage 
 altogether out of date now." — Hudson. 
 
 119. that they shall hear. Is this a modem construction ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 348. 
 130. set his Avit to. What is the modern idiom ? 
 132. never so. What is the modern idiom ? 
 
Scene II. GRAMMATICAL NOTES. 135 
 
 144-145. if I had, I have. Is Bottom correct as to liis conditional 
 verbs? — Abbott, § 371. 
 181. desire you of more acquaintance. An early idiom. Cf. : — 
 
 " I humbly do desire your grace of pardon." 
 
 The Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 400. 
 
 Notice, however, that Bottom varies his expression in addressing 
 good Master Peaseblossom (wliere the quartos read you of more), 
 and good Master Mustard-seed. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 15. in. Would this use of in be correct in modem English ? — 
 Abbott, § 159. 
 
 26. He. Who ?— Abbott, § 217. Cf. : — 
 
 " Wishing me like to one more rich in hope 
 Featur'd like him, like him Avith friends possess'd." 
 
 Sonnet XXIX. G-7. 
 
 Chaucer makes a vigorous use of this idiom in his descriptions of a 
 tournament and a sea-fight : — 
 
 " He thurgh the thikkeste of the throng gan threste. 
 Ther stomblen steedes stronge, and doun goth alle. 
 He rolleth under foot as doth a balle. 
 He foyneth on his feet with his tronchoun, 
 And he him hurtleth with his hors adoun. 
 He thurgh the body is hurt, and sithen take, 
 Maugree his heed, and broght unto the stake." 
 
 The Kniyhtes Tale, 1754-17G0. 
 
 " In with the polax presseth he and he ; 
 Behynd the mast beginneth he to fle, 
 And o\it agayn, and dryveth him over-borde ; 
 He stingeth him upon his speres orde ; 
 He rent the sail with hokes lyke a sythe ; 
 He bringeth the cuppe, and biddeth hem be blythe ; 
 He poureth jjesen upon the hacches slider ; 
 With pottes full of lyra they goon togider." 
 
 The Legend of Cleopatra, G3-70. 
 
 80. thou. What is the significance in Oberon's use of the pro- 
 noun ? Study, too, the use of pronouns in the following dialogue 
 between Hermia and Demetrius. 
 
136 GRAMMATICAL NOTES. Act III. 
 
 40. of force. "Of necessity; used only in connection with 
 
 must." — ROLFE. . 
 
 45. sliould. What is the force here ? — Abbott, § 323, 
 
 90, Of. Is this a modern use of the preposition? — Abbott, 
 § 168. 
 
 92, that. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 284. 
 
 97, sighs of love, that costs. Is any explanation offered of this 
 Elizabethan idiom ? — Abbott, § 247, Does this particular case 
 admit of a particular explanation ? 
 
 99. Is this use of against allowable in modern English ? By 
 what modes and tenses does Shakespeare follow it ? (The text here 
 is that of the first folio. The quartos have doe.) Cf . : — 
 
 " Against my love shall be as I am now." 
 
 Sonnet LXIII. 1. 
 
 *' 'Gainst that season comes." — Hamlet, I. i. 158. 
 
 112. mistoolf. Why is not the curtailed form of the regular past 
 participle used here, as in broke and spoke, I. i. 175-176 ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 343. 
 
 119. needs. Explain the formation of this adverb. — Abbott, 
 §25. 
 
 alone. What is the meaning here ? — Abbott, § 18. 
 
 122. should woo. " Abbott, § 328, thinks that there is no other 
 reason for the use of ' should ' here than that it denotes, like sollen in 
 German, a statement not made by the speaker. It may be so, and 
 yet the idea of ought to, equally with sollen, may be imputed to it 
 here. * Why should you think that I ought to woo in scorn ? ' As 
 was said in ' The Tempest ' on the phrase ' where should he learn our 
 language ? ' the use of ' should ' in Shakespeare is of the subtlest." — 
 
 FURNESS. 
 
 123. comes. What instances of this Elizabethan usage earlier in 
 the play ? 
 
 124-125. " Walker thinks that there is here * an instinctive striving 
 after a natural arrangement of words inconsistent with modern Eng- 
 lish grammar ; ' and Abbott, §§ 376, 417, classes, * vows so born ' either 
 as a 'noun absolute' or as a 'participle used with the Nominative 
 Absolute.' I cannot but think that both critics, misled by the singu- 
 lar ' appears,' have mistaken the construction. * Appears ' should be, 
 
Scene II. GRAMMATICAL NOTES. 137 
 
 according to modem grammar, in the plural ; its subject is * vows,' it 
 is singular merely by attraction ; ' all truth. ' is the predicate, not the 
 subject. My paraphrase, therefore, is ; ' vows, thus born, appear, 
 from their very nativity, to be all pure truth.' The next lines seem 
 to confirm it. It can hardly be supposed that Lysander means to 
 assert that ' all truth,' universal truth, is to be found in such vows." 
 
 — FURNESS. 
 
 Does the construction in line 123 have any bearing on the question ? 
 Does the phrase all truth admit of interpretation other than that of 
 Dr. Furness ? 
 
 153. superpraise. '* Used by Shakespeare nowhere else." — 
 
 IlOLFE. 
 
 1(59. none. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 53. 
 
 171. to her. "May not this be like a familiar Greek construc- 
 tion ? My heart (went away from its proper home) to her, and 
 sojourned (with her) merely as a guest. Confirmed by : Now it has 
 returned to me." — Allen. 
 
 200. chid. "Shakespeare uses both chid and chidden as the 
 participle ; the latter always before a noun." — Rolfe. 
 
 202. childhood. What is the construction ? — Abbott, § 430. 
 
 206. of. What is the construction ? — Abbott, § 178. 
 
 Cf. note under I. i. 231. 
 
 225. even but now. Does this differ at all in meaning from the 
 phrase even now^ ? — Abbott, § 38. 
 
 " Our last king, 
 Whose image even but now appear'd to us." 
 
 Hamlet, I. i. 81. 
 
 239. each at other. What part of speech is other here ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 12. 
 
 241-242. have : w^ould. Does the consequent answer to the ante- 
 cedent here ? Why not ? — Abbott, § 371. 
 
 275. since night you loved me. Explain the tense. — Abbott, 
 §132. 
 
 302. right. Meaning what ? Is this a modern use of the word ? 
 
 — Abbott, § 19. 
 
 312. chid. See note on verse 200 above. 
 
 314. so. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 133. 
 
 331. that. What is the antecedent ? — Abbott, § 218. 
 
138 GRAMMATICAL NOTES. Act IV. 
 
 337. Of thine or mine, is most. Explain the construction. — 
 Abbott, § 409. 
 359. As. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 275. 
 ♦' Compare ' Hamlet,' II. i. 95-96: — 
 
 ' He raised a sigh so piteous and profound 
 As it did seem to shatter all his bulk ; ' 
 
 where the quartos read ' As,' the folios ' That.' " — "Wright. 
 
 365. batty. " Used hy Shakespeare only here." — Rolfb. 
 
 368. his might. What was the Elizabethan use of its?— Ab- 
 bott, §'228. 
 
 417. That. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 283. 
 
 432. comforts. "This may be an accusative, the object of 
 ' shine ; ' it may be a Tocative, like ' night ; ' or it may be a nomina- 
 tive, with * shine ' as its verb ; whichever the reader may think the 
 most pathetic." — Furness. 
 
 435^36. sleep — Steal. What would be the modern equivalent ? 
 Which is the more vigorous ? — Abbott, §§ 364-365. 
 
 438. makes. Account for the form. — Abbott, § 333. 
 
 ACT IV. — Scene I. 
 
 11. me. What is the case ? The reason for the case ? 
 36. thee. Why this pronoun ? Notice the pronouns used hith- 
 erto by the different speakers in this scene. 
 38. you. Why this pronoun ? 
 
 66, other. What is the number ? — Abbott, § 12. 
 
 67. May all. What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 399. 
 
 69. But. Would this be allowable in modern English ? — Ab- 
 bott, § 127. 
 
 71. thou. Why this pronoun ? 
 
 75. you. Why this pronoun ? 
 
 84, thine. Why this pronoun ? 
 
 131. of. Explain this use of the preposition. — Abbott, § 174. 
 136. That. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 284, 
 140. but. Modifying what ? — Abbott, § 129. 
 145. To sleep. What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 281. 
 147 . Halt" sleep, half waking. ' ' Some editors regard ' sleep ' and 
 ' waking ' as adjectives, and print the former ' 'sleep ' = asleep. Dr. 
 
Scene I. GBAMMATICAL NOTES. 139 
 
 Schmidt, in his Shakespeare Lexicon, p. 1419, col. I., gives this as an 
 instance of the same termination applying to two words, so that 
 ' sleep and waking ' = sleeping and waking. ... I am inclined to 
 think that both ' sleep ' and ' waking ' are here substantives, and are 
 loosely connected with the verb ' reply.' " — Wright. 
 182. for. Meaning what ? 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 9-10. the best wit of any handicraft man. How is this a con- 
 fusion of two constructions ? — Abbott, § 409. 
 
 14. naught. " So the second and later folios. The quartos and 
 first folio have ' a thing of nought.' The two words ' naught,' signify- 
 ing worthlessness, good-for-nothingness, and 'nought' nothing, are 
 etymologically the same, but the different senses they have acquired 
 are distinguished in the spelling." — Wright. 
 
 16. is two or three. What explanation may be offered for this 
 construction ? — Abbott, § 335. 
 
 29. I am to discourse. What is the ellipsis ? — Abbott, § 405. 
 
 34. of me. Meaning what ? — Abbott, §§ 165, 166. 
 
 ACT v. — Scene I. 
 
 1. that. What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 244. 
 
 2. may. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 307. 
 
 21. imagining. Construction? — Abbott, § 378. 
 27. howsoever. Expand the expression. — Abbott, § 47. 
 43. of. Is the preposition needed here ? — Abbott, § 179. 
 69. What is the ellipsis ? — Abbott, § 399. 
 
 73. Which. Would the pronoun who here convey any different 
 shade of meaning ? — Abbott, § 266. 
 
 76. And. Of what force in passages like this ? — Abbott, § 97. 
 98. have Tbrolte. What is omitted ? — Abbott, § 399. 
 What explanation is given of such a form as broke ? — Abbott, 
 § 343. 
 
 142. fall. How is this use of the verb to be explained ? — Abbott, 
 §291. 
 
 208-209. so wilful to hear. What is the ellipsis ? — Abbott, 
 §281. 
 
140 GRAMMATICAL NOTES. Act V. 
 
 246. the greatest error of all the rest. What is amiss with this 
 construction ? — Abbott, § 409. 
 313. How chance. See note on I. i. 129. 
 319-320. which Pyramus, Tt^hich Thisbe. How is w^hlch to be 
 
 understood in this connection ? — Abbott, § 273. 
 
 341. shore. Better poets than Peter Quince have been known to 
 sacrifice grammar to rhyme. Shore is used by Shakespeare, how- 
 ever, in serious tragedy. 
 
 " Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief 
 Shore his old thread in twain." 
 
 Othello, Y. ii. 205-206. 
 
 359. writ. " The common form of the preterite in Shakespeare, 
 who seldom uses ' wrote.' " — Wright. 
 
 367. palpable-gross. What is the relation of the first adjective 
 to the second ? — Abbott, § 2. 
 
 374. fordone. What is the force of the prefix here ? " 'For,' 
 like the German ver, has a negative sense in composition, as * forget,' 
 'forgo,' 'forbear,' 'forbid,' 'forswear.' Sometimes also, like ver, it 
 is intensive, as in ' forgive,' ' forwearied,' ' forspent.' " — Wright. 
 
 380. That. Meaning what ? — Abbott, § 284. 
 
 graves. What is the construction ? 
 
 396. dance it. What is the construction of it? — Abbott, § 226. 
 
 405. create. " This form of participle in words derived from the 
 Latin is of frequent occurrence." — Wright. 
 
 What second example may be found in Oberon's address ? For 
 further examples see Abbott, § 342. 
 
LITERARY NOTES. 
 
 ACT I. — Scene I. 
 
 Athens. Why did Shakespeare lay the scene of a fairy play at 
 
 Athens ? 
 
 Theseus. What is the classic story of Theseus ? How does his 
 opening speech strike the keynote of the drama ? What word does 
 he use that is to recur again and again ? What word also prophetic 
 of the play is found in the first speech of Hippolyta ? 
 
 5-6. Explain this passage by reference to the two following : — 
 
 " I keep but three men and a boy yet, till my mother be dead." — Merry 
 Wives of Windsor, I. 1. 284. 
 
 " Ut piget annus 
 Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum, 
 Sic mlM tarda fluunt ingrataque tempora." 
 
 Horace, Epist. I. i. 21. 
 
 " Slow seames the yeare unto the.warde 
 Which houlden downe must be. 
 In custodie of stepdame straite, — 
 Slowe slydes the time to me." 
 
 Dkant's translation (1567) of the above. 
 
 11. solemnities. What is the meaning here ? Cf. IV. i. 185. 
 
 13, pert. What is the meaning here ? 
 
 " ' Pert ' is still a common word in New England, used exactly in the 
 Shakesperian sense and pronounced as it is spelled in the Qq, peart, 
 i.e., peert." — Furness. 
 
 15. Compare, in Ij'iVllegro and II Penseroso, Milton's companion 
 figures of Mirth and Melancholy. What picture does this line sug- 
 gest ? What is here, and in line 19 below, the meaning of pomp ? 
 What is the meaning of triumph in line 19 ? 
 
 16-17. Cf. Chaucer's " Knightes Tale," 1-26. 
 
 141 
 
142 LITER ABY NOTES. Act I. 
 
 20. Scan the verse. What is the literal meaning of the word 
 Duke ? Why is it amusing to find this title applied to Theseus ? 
 Cf . Skelton : — 
 
 " Not like Duke Hamilcar, 
 Not like Duke Hasdrubal." 
 
 Cf., too, Stanyhurst's mention of "Duke ^neas" and Haywood's 
 of "Duke Ajax" and "Duke Nestor." It is probable that Shake- 
 speare caught the term from Chaucer : — 
 
 " Wtyloin, as olde stories tellen us, 
 Ther was aduk that highte Theseus." 
 
 Knightes Tale, 1-2. 
 
 21. Scan the verse for the pronunciation of Egcus. Does he 
 seem to be a loving and lovable father ? 
 
 27. Scan the verse and, relative to the scansion, see textual 
 notes. 
 
 28. Thou. Why thrice spoken in this one verse ? 
 
 29. love-tolcens. As enumerated in the lines below, how far 
 are these in modern use ? 
 
 my child. How often iterated in this speech ? What similar ex- 
 pression is iterated ? 
 
 31. feigning. What other words used by the angry father ac- 
 cuse Lysander of false dealing ? 
 
 32. Paraphrase the line. 
 
 33. With bracelets of thy hair. Cf. : — 
 
 " Once wo are I bracelets made of hayre, 
 
 And collers did approve ; 
 . Once wore my clothes made out of waxe, 
 And then I was in love." 
 
 MS. Poems. About 1600. 
 Halliwell. 
 
 gauds. " Trifling ornaments, toys. Both * gaud ' and jewel are 
 derived from the Latin gaudium ; the latter coming to us immedi- 
 ately from the Old French Joel, which is itself gaudiale." — Wright. 
 
 35. Paraphrase the line. 
 
 38. stubborn harshness. Is it possible that Hermia inherited 
 this quality ? 
 
 41. " By a law of Solon's, parents had an absolute power of life and 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 143 
 
 death over their children . So it suited the poet's purpose well enough 
 to .suppose the Athenians had it before- Or perhaps he neither 
 thought nor knew anything of the matter." — Warbubton. 
 
 43. this gentleman. Is this an Athenian expression, consonant 
 here with the paternal threat of violent death ? 
 
 45. Immediately. Expressly. 
 
 47-51. How pleasing would these sentiments naturally he to the 
 Queen of the Amazons ? 
 
 53. What characteristic of Hermia appears in this reply ? 
 
 5;3-55. What characteristic of Theseus is made evident here ? 
 Paraphrase his answer. 
 
 56-57. Is this playful, or half-playful, or fully serious ? 
 
 58-64. What characteristics of Hermia are manifest in this ad- 
 dress ? Does she stand or kneel ? 
 
 65, See grammatical notes. 
 
 68. KnoTV of your youth. What is the meaning ? Cf. : — 
 
 " Know of the duke if his last purpose hold." 
 
 King Lear, Y. i. 1. 
 
 your blood. What is the meaning ? Cf . : — 
 
 'Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled," 
 
 Hamlet, III. ii, 74, 
 
 69, Scan the verse, — Abbott, § 466, 
 
 70, liv^ery. What is the present meaning of the word ? Deter- 
 mine from this passage, II, i. 113, the passage from Milton cited 
 under III. ii. 391 below, and those passages quoted here, the Eliza- 
 bethan meaning : — 
 
 " One twelve moons more she'll wear Diana's livery." 
 
 Pericles, II, v. 10. 
 
 " When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, 
 And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, 
 Thy youth's proud livery, so gaz'd on now, 
 Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held," 
 
 Sonnets, n. 1-4. 
 
 Has the meaning of the word widened or narrowed during the past 
 three centuries ? 
 nun. What did the ancient Athenians know about nuns ? 
 
 71. Where did Theseus ever hear of a cloister ? 
 
144 LITERARY NOTES. Act I. 
 
 Why is tlie cloister called shady? Wliat is the meaning of 
 mew'd ? Cf . : — 
 
 " More pity that the eagle shonld he mew'd, 
 While kites and buzzai'ds prey at liberty." 
 
 Mchard III., I. i. 132-133. 
 
 73. Note the alternate alliteration in the verse. Why are the 
 hymns called faint ? Why is the moon called cold ? What picture 
 from the mediseval world does the line hring to mind ? Cf. Tenny- 
 son's " St. Agnes." Cf . also Shirley's " Song of Nuns : " — 
 
 " O fly, my soul I what hangs upon 
 Thy drooping wings, 
 And weighs them down 
 "With love of gaudy mortal things ? 
 
 The Sun is now i' the east ; each shade, 
 
 As he doth rise, 
 
 Is shorter made, 
 That earth may lessen to our eyes." 
 
 74. Scan the verse. Is the ascetic feeling of this passage classic 
 or mediaeval ? 
 
 76-78. " Thesens's meaning is clear, however much we may dis- 
 agree with the sentiment, that in an earthly sense the married 
 woman is happier than the spinster." — Furness. 
 
 81. See grammatical notes. Scan the verse. 
 
 84-85. What letter does much toward making these verses so 
 musical ? What is the figure ? What is the beauty of thought and 
 feeling ? 
 
 86-90. Is Theseus in earnest ? What word in the passage is out 
 of harmony Avitli the conception of a mediseval n\in ? What is the 
 finest word in poetic effect ? 
 
 92. Scan the verse. 
 
 crazed title. "A title with a flaw in it. Compare Lyly's 
 * Euphues ' (ed. Arber) p. 58 : ' Yes, yes, Lucilla, well doth he knowe 
 that the glasse once erased, will with the least clappe be cracked.' " 
 — Wright. 
 
 94. Scan the verse. On what words is the emphasis thrown ? 
 What word, that takes the emphasis of sense, appears to lack the 
 metrical em]3hasis ? 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 145 
 
 95. Scornful Lysander. Can this be called libel ? 
 
 99-110. Paraphrase Lysander's plea. What does he tell us of 
 
 Helena and of her feeling for Demetrius ? Notice that we have at 
 
 the outset this charge, which is not cleared away, against Demetrius. 
 
 Apparently the fairies were not responsible for his first inconstancy. 
 
 Ill-IM. Is Theseus influenced by Lysander's plea ? 
 
 What "self-affairs" have absorbed his attention ? 
 
 116. What "private schooling" would be most to the point in 
 these two cases ? 
 
 117-118. What alliteration ? 
 
 119-121. Who makes the choice, Theseus, Egeus, or Hermia ? 
 
 122. Is it possible that the captive Queen of the Amazons has not 
 approved of these proceedings and that her " cheer " is less sprightly 
 than Theseus expects ? 
 
 123. See grammatical notes. 
 
 124. Scan the verse. 
 
 127. Is it by accident or design that the Duke and his Hippolyta, 
 the irate father and the rival lover all troop out, leaving Lysander 
 and Hermia alone ? 
 
 128-129. Does Lysander seem extremely g,gitated over Hermia's 
 impending doom ? 
 
 130-131 What characteristic of Hermia is displayed in her reply? 
 
 Beteem. " Give in streaming abundance." — Dyce. 
 
 132-135. Is Lysander of a practical turn of mind ? 
 
 136-140. Is there climax in Hermia's exclamations ? 
 
 Scan verse 137. 
 
 in respect of years. 
 
 " We have discovered recurrent traces of special features of style 
 marking certain plays by Shakespeare, which lead us to fancy that 
 he thought in that particular mode while he was writing that partic- 
 ular drama. Sometimes it is a peculiar word, sometimes a peculiar 
 manner of construction, sometimes a peculiar fashion of employing 
 epithets or terms in an unusual sense. Throughout the play of 'A 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream' the word 'respect' is used somewhat 
 peculiarly ; so as to convey the idea of 'regard' or 'consideration,' 
 rather than the more usually assigned one of ' reverence ' or ' defer- 
 ence.' " — The Cowden-Claekes. 
 
 Cf. 160 below ; II. i. 206 (doubtful instance) ; II. i. 221 ; V. i. 91. 
 
 141-149. How does this speech of Lysander's compare in point of 
 
146 LITERARY NOTES. Act I. 
 
 poetic excellence with the preceding portion of the dialogue ? Enu- 
 merate the figures and select the best. Scan the last verse. Has 
 this verse poetic value ? 
 
 collied. What is the meaning ? Cf. collier and colliery. 
 
 spleen. "In a swift, sudden fit, as of passion or caprice." — 
 Wright. Cf . : — 
 
 " With swifter spleen than powder can enforce, 
 The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope." 
 
 King John, II. i. 448-449. 
 " O, I am scalded with my violent motion, 
 And spleen of speed to see your majesty ! " 
 
 King John, V. vii. 50-51. 
 Compare also : — 
 
 " Too like the lightning, Avhich doth cease to be, 
 Ere one can say ' It lightens.' " 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, II. ii. 119-120. 
 
 151. Scan the verse. — Abbott, § 490. 
 
 152. Scan the verse. Note the alliteration. 
 
 153. Note the alliteration. 
 
 155. Note the alliteration. What is the meaning of fancy? And 
 why is fancy called poor? Cf. "fancy-free," II. i. 161 ; "fancy- 
 sick," III. ii. 96; and " Fair Helena in fancy following me." — IV. i. 
 163. 
 
 See also " The Merchant of Venice," III. ii. 63-71. 
 
 158. Scan the verse for the pronunciation of revenue, and com- 
 pare verse 6 above. — Abbott, § 490. 
 
 167. Merry England has not even in these sober times quite aban- 
 doned her beautiful old custom of welcoming in the May. At Oxford, 
 for instance, the chorister boys, too high to be heard from below, 
 chant from the top of Magdalen tower at five o'clock on Mayday 
 morning, and the great throng assembled in the street beneath to 
 assist by their presence at this inaudible rite follow it up by walking 
 to the village of Iffley, two miles distant, for the gathering of those 
 "pujple fritillaries," 
 
 " The grassy harvest of the river-fields, 
 Above by Ensham, do^vn by Sandford, yields." 
 
 The early fashion was for the boys and girls to rise soon after mid- 
 night and take their way, with carols and blowing of horns, to some 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. . 147 
 
 neighboring woodland, whence they returned at dawn laden with 
 hlossomed boughs of hawthorn, pink and white, — popularly known 
 as " the May," — and green branches of the forest trees. These were 
 placed above the doors and windows of the houses, within and with- 
 out, giving a festive look to all the town. The song of these home- 
 coming revellers ran as follows : — 
 
 " Remember us poor Mayers all, 
 And thus we do begin 
 To lead our lives in righteousness, 
 Or else we die in sin. 
 
 "We have been rambling all this night. 
 
 And almost all this day, 
 And now returning back again 
 
 We have brought you a branch of May. 
 
 A branch of May we have brought you, 
 
 And at your door it stands : 
 It is but a sprout, but it's well budded out 
 
 By the work of our Lord's hands. 
 
 The heavenly gates are open wide, 
 
 Our paths are beaten plain, 
 And, if a man be not too far gone. 
 
 He may return again. 
 
 The moon shines bright and the stars give light, 
 
 A little before it is day ; 
 So God bless you all, both great and small, 
 
 And send you a joyful May ! " 
 
 This blending of religious feeling with the mirth and frolic of the 
 season is reflected in the words of the old chronicler, Stowe, who tells 
 us how on Mayday, young and old, high and low, were wont to go out 
 into " the sweet meadows and green woods, there to rejoice their 
 spirits with the beauty and savour of sweet flowers, and with the 
 harmony of birds praising God in their kind." The wisest Shake- 
 speare class mijht well pause here for recitations or readings from 
 some of the mcny English poems on the May, as Chaucer's "Pro- 
 logue to the Legende of Goode Women," Herrick's " Corinna's Going 
 a Maying," and Wordsworth's "Odes to May." But, after all, what 
 has an English Mayday to do with this surprising pair of Athenian 
 lovers ? 
 
148 LITERARY NOTES. Act I. 
 
 168-178. Is it perhaps a little over enthusiastic for Hermia — con- 
 sidering the doom that awaits her if she does not run away — to 
 reply to Lysander's proposition by this rain of oaths ? Note how she 
 fits to the subject of her promise these various emblems by which she 
 swears. Cf . : — 
 
 " Bring an oath most sylvan holy, 
 And upon it swear me true — 
 By the wind-bells swinging slowly 
 Their mute curfews In the dew, 
 
 By the advent of the snow-drop, by the rosemary and rue " 
 Mrs. Browning's The Lost Boicer. 
 
 Did all Cupid's arrows have golden heads ? To what use did 
 Venus put her doves ? How is the date of ^neas and Dido related 
 to the date of Theseus and Hippolyta ? What characteristic touch 
 of sharpness in Hermia's words ? 
 
 183. lode-stars. Polar-stars and, therefore, guiding stars — there- 
 fore, again, stars of a strong attractive influence. 
 
 184-185. Note the poetic charm of these lines so in harmony with 
 a drama of May time and of youth. 
 
 186. favour. Aspect, personal graces. 
 
 190. bated. Excepted. 
 
 191. translated. Meaning what ? 
 
 193. How is this last line more poetic than the seven lines preced- 
 ing ? 
 
 194-201. Is the conduct of Demetrius, under these circumstances, 
 unnatural ? 
 
 207. Are heaven and hell Athenian expressions ? 
 
 209-211. What relation is assumed here between the moon and the 
 dew ? Wherein does the poetic beauty of this passage chiefly lie ? 
 
 215. faint primrose-beds. To what does faint refer, — the color 
 of the primroses, their fragrance, or the weariness of those who rest 
 upon the primrose-beds ? What is the color and what is the season 
 of the English primrose ? 
 
 220-221. Does Hermia appear at advantage in this farewell ? Is 
 her devotional mood sustained through the two lines ? 
 
 226. Is there anything of the altruist in Helena ? 
 
 230-231. Cf . : — 
 
 " Thou blind fool. Love, what dost thou to mine eyes. 
 That they behold, and see not what they see ? " 
 
 Sonnets, CXXXVII. 1-2. 
 
Scene II. LITERARY NOTES. 14^ 
 
 232. holding no quantity. Bearing no right proportion to love's 
 estimate of them. 
 
 235. Cupid painted blind. "This is a modern idea, no trace 
 of it being found in the old Greek or Latin poets. Douce says 
 that the earliest English writer who gives it is Chaucer, in his trans- 
 lation of the ' Roman de la Rose : ' — 
 
 ' The god of love, blind as stone,' 
 
 but the line is not in the French original." — Rolfe. 
 
 242-245. Is the figure a good one ? 
 
 246. " I am convinced that Shakespeare availed himself of the 
 title of this play in his own mind, and worked upon it as a dream 
 throughout, hut especially, and perhaps unpleasingly, in this broad 
 determination of ungrateful treachery in Helena, so undisguisedly 
 avowed to herself, and this, too, after the witty, cool philosophising 
 that precedes." — Coleridge. 
 
 248. intelligence. Meaning what ? 
 
 249. dear expense. " Helena assuredly means that she purchases 
 even the thanks of Demetrius at a high price, namely, at the price 
 of fostering and furthering Demetrius's love for Hermia, and there- 
 fore of her own harm." — Delius. 
 
 250-251. Is the discretion of Helena equal to her dignity ? Are 
 these Athenian manners ? 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Quince. What sort of man does the name Peter Quince suggest? 
 What is his trade ? 
 
 Bottom . Is Nick Bottom , ' ' Bully Bottom, ' ' a natural contemporary 
 of Theseus and Hippolyta? What is his trade? How far is he a 
 just representative of his trade? Halliwell suggests that he may 
 take his name from a " bottom " of thread : — 
 
 " A bottome for your silke it seemes 
 My letters are become, 
 Whicbe, with oft winding off and on. 
 Are wasted whole and some." 
 
 Grange's Garden, 1577. 
 Cf.: — 
 
 " Beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread." 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, IV. iii. 138. 
 
 Snug. What sort of man does the name Snug suggest ? What is 
 his trade ? 
 
150 LITERARY NOTES. Act I. 
 
 Flute. What is the trade of Francis Flute ? "Was that a better 
 trade in the sixteenth century than in the nineteentli ? Why did 
 Shakespeare dub this actor Flute? 
 
 Snout. What sort of man does the name Tom Snout suggest ? 
 Wliat is his trade ? 
 
 Starveling. What is the trade of Robin Starveling ? Has his 
 trade anything to do with his name ? 
 
 1. our company. " Staunton suggests the possibility that 'in 
 the rude dramatic performance of these handicraftsmen of Athens, 
 Shakespeare was referring to the plays and pageants exhibited by 
 the trading companies of Coventry, which were celebrated down to 
 his own time, and which he might very probably have witnessed.' 
 This is not impossible, especially in view of the fact, which I do not 
 remember to have seen noticed in connection with the present play, 
 that midsummer eve was especially chosen as the occasion for a 
 ' showe ' or ' watche,' performed by various companies of handicrafts- 
 men." — FURNESS. 
 
 2. generally. Meaning what, in Bottom's language ? Note 
 the context. 
 
 3. scrip. Meaning what ? See just below. 
 
 6. interlude. Meaning what ? See dictionary. 
 How does Quince display the pride of the author and stage-man' 
 ager ? How the ignorance of the " rude mechanical " ? 
 How many suggestions does Bottom make during the scene ? 
 11-12. Marry. Meaning what? Cf. "By'r lakin," III. i. 12. 
 Note the saucy fling at the titles of the old-fashioned plays, as "A la- 
 mentable Tragedie, mixed full of pleasant Mirth, containing the Life 
 of Cambises," or " A new Tragicall Comedie of Apius and Virginia." 
 
 13-14. Is praise from Bottom commendation ? Yet we may suppose 
 that the sallow countenance of Peter Quince flushes with pleasure. 
 
 15. spread yourselves. Meaning what ? 
 
 27. condole. " Bottom, of course, blunders, but it is impossible 
 to say what word he intended to employ. Shakespeare uses ' condole ' 
 only once besides, and he then puts it into the mouth of Ancient Pistol, 
 who in such matters is as little of an authority as Bottom. See 
 ' Henry V.' II. i. 133 : ' Let us condole the knight,' that is, mourn for 
 him. In * Hamlet,' I. ii. 93, ' condolement ' signifies the expression of 
 grief." — Wright. 
 
 28-29. What is Bottom's conception of high tragedy ? Has he 
 given any indication that his " chief humour is for a tyrant " ? 
 
Scene II. * LITERARY NOTES. 151 
 
 28. To the rest. Meaning what ? 
 
 29. ** Ercles is Bottom's version of Hercules. Hercules was one 
 of the ranters and roarers of the old moral-plays ; and his Twelve 
 Labours formed a popular subject of entertainment. In Greene's 
 ' Groats worth of Wit,' 1592, a player tells how he had 'terribly- 
 thundered ' the Twelve Labours of Hercules. In 'Histriomastix,' 
 1610, some soldiers drag in a company of players ; and the captain 
 says to one of them, ' Sirrah, this is you that would rend and tear a 
 cat upon the stage.' And in "The Roaring Girl," 1611, one of the per- 
 sons is called Tear-cat. The phrase to make all split is met with 
 repeatedly. So in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Scornful Lady,' II. 3: 
 'Two roaring boys of Rome, that made all split.' Also in 'The 
 Widow's Tears,' by Chapman, I. 4 : 'Her wit I must employ upon this 
 business to prepare my next encounter, but in such a fashion as shall 
 make all split.' " — Hudson. 
 
 31-38. Show that this is nonsense — that it is rant — that it is bur- 
 lesque. What are raging rocks ? 
 
 39. This was lofty I Where does the emphasis fall ? 
 
 45. Flute's guess is worse than Bottom's. 
 
 47. play a womian. " Previously to the Restoration, the parts of 
 women were usually performed by boys or young men. ' In stage playes, 
 for a boy to put on the attyre, the gesture, the passions of a woman ; 
 for a meane person to take upon him the title of a Prince with coun- 
 terfeit porte and traine, is by outwarde signes to shewe themselves 
 otherwise then they are.' — Gosson's Plays Confuted in Five Ac- 
 tions, n. d. Occasional instances, however, of women appearing on 
 the London stage occurred early in the seventeenth century. . . . 
 According to Prynne, some women acted at the ' Blackfriars ' in the 
 year 1629, and one in the previous year. It appears from the passage in 
 the text, and from what follows, that the actor's beard was concealed 
 by a mask, when it was sufficiently prominent to render the personi- 
 fication incongruous ; but a story is told of Davenant stating as a 
 reason why the play did not commence, that they were engaged in 
 ' shaving the Queen.' " — Halliwell. 
 
 52-53. Thisne. See textual notes. 
 
 55-65. Compare the list of dramatis personse as here made out 
 with the parts finally taken in the interlude. (Act. V. Scene I.) 
 
 Why is the part of Thisbe's mother given to Starveling ? Why 
 the lion's part to Snug ? " Not only does Bottom propose to play 
 
152 LITERARY NOTES. Act I. 
 
 every part himself, "but he anticipates the applause, and encores his 
 own roar." — Cowden-Clarke. 
 
 80. aggravate. "The verb aggravate was, in all probability, 
 considered one of the affected words of the day, and, in that case, 
 would have a very ludicrous effect when thus misapplied by 
 Bottom." — Halliwell. 
 
 81-82. sucking dove. Oratory has its dangers for Bottom. 
 What is the method of Quince in managing his star actor? How 
 does it succeed? 
 
 84. proper. Comely. 
 
 90-97. Bottom is ready to draw freely from his stock of false 
 beards, or, perhaps, to die his own any shade of red or yellow, even to 
 the golden brightness of the French coin called a crown. This gives 
 Quince a chance for a quibble, which comes somewhat too nimbly from 
 the plain carpenter. Such prompt allusion to the baldness induced by 
 what was known as " the French disease " would have seemed more 
 in keeping from Mercutio or Benedict. The double meaning in 
 barefaced was perhaps not intentional on the part of the harassed 
 manager, but there are signs that his temper was giving way. What 
 example of anti-climax in Quince's address to the actors ? 
 101-102. a bill of properties. A list of stage-requisites. Cf . : — 
 
 " He has got into our tyring-house amongst us, 
 And tane a strict survey of all our properties ; 
 Our statues and our images of gods. 
 Our planets and our constellations, 
 Our giants, monsters, furies, beasts, and bugbeares, 
 Our helmets, shields and vizors, haires and beards. 
 Our pastbord marchpaines, and our wooden pies.". 
 
 Bbome'S Antipodes, 1640. 
 
 105. obscenely. Perhaps Bottom means obscurely. 
 
 108. hold, or cut bow-strings. " This phrase is of the proverbial 
 kind, and was born in the days of archery : when a party was made 
 at butts, assurance of meeting was given in the words of that phrase ; 
 the sense of the person using them being that he would ' hold ' or 
 keep promise, or they might * cut his bOTV-strings,' demolish him 
 for an archer." — Capell. 
 
 With how many of these " hempen home-spuns " does Bottom pass 
 for a genius ? Of what time and country is the atmosphere of the 
 scene ? Of what time and country is Bottom's type of character ? 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 153 
 
 ACT II. — Scene I. 
 
 Scene I. Is it day or night ? 
 
 Fairy. How does tlie fairy look ? Wliat is the dress, the motion, 
 and the manner ? 
 
 Puck. This name, *' known," says Grant White, " to all Teutonic 
 and Scandinavian dialects," was apparently pronounced Pook in 
 Shakespeare's day. Our word spook comes from it, a "pouke," or 
 pixy, being in the fourteenth century an unearthly creature of dis- 
 reputable sort, little better than a devil. By Shakespeare's time Puck 
 was a partially reformed character; no longer a demon, but a mis- 
 chievous, clumsy hobgoblin, with a freakish fashion of doing kind- 
 nesses to mortals one minute and playing tricks on them the next, 
 Cowden-Clarke well describes him as "the patron saint of sky- 
 larking." Grant White sees him in this drama as " a rough, knurly- 
 limbed, fawn-faced, shock-pated little fellow, — a very Shetlander 
 among the gossamer- winged, dainty-limbed shapes around him; and 
 strong enough to knock their heads together for his elvish sport." 
 2-17. Does the fairy speak or sing ? What instances of allitera- 
 tion ? Why is the fairy's alliteration better than Bottom's ? See 
 textual notes for the scansion of verse 7. 
 
 dcTV her orbs. Remember, in reading the following, that Stratford 
 was full of grandmothers. 
 
 " My grandmother has often told me of fairies dancing upon our 
 green, and that they were very little creatures clothed in green ; they 
 would do good to the industrious j)eople, but they pinch the sluts ; 
 they would steal children, and give one of their own in the room, and 
 the moment any one saw them they were struck blind of one eye. All 
 this I have heard, and my grandmother, who was a very tall woman, 
 said she had seen several of them, which I believe, because she said 
 so; she said, moreover, that they lived underground, and that they 
 generally came out of a mole-hill ; they had fine music always among 
 themselves, and danced in a moonshiny night around, or in a ring, as 
 one may see at this day upon every common in England where mush- 
 rooms grow." — Round ahoat our Coal-Fire, 1734. [Hallfwell.] 
 
 Cf. the Irish fairy-lore so charmingly set forth in W. B. Yeats' 
 "Celtic Twilight" (Macmillan, 1894). 
 
 " In olde dayes of the King Artour, 
 Of which the Bretons speken gret honour, 
 All was this lend fulfilled of faerie ; 
 The elf-quene, with hire joly companie. 
 
154 LITEEAEY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 Danced ful oft in many a grene mede. 
 This was the old opinion as I rede ; 
 I speke of many hundred yeres ago ; 
 But now can no man see non elves mo." 
 
 Chaucek's Wife of Bath's Tale. 
 
 " Pynkie wals the lyttilest bairne, 
 That ever dancit on the greinne ; 
 And Pynkie wals the bonnyest thynge 
 That evir on yirthe wals seinne. 
 
 "Were I to telle Lyttil Pynkie's song, 
 
 It might doo muckle ill ; 
 For it wals not fraimit of yirthly wordis, 
 
 Though it soundit sweitte and shrill. 
 
 But aye the OAverworde of the song 
 
 Which ladyis lernit to syng, 
 Wals, ' Rounde and rounde, and sevin tymis rounde, 
 
 The elfyins fairye ryng ! ' 
 
 The flrste moove that Lyttil Pynkie maide, 
 
 Wals gentil, softe, and sweitte ; 
 But the seconde rounde Lyttil Pynkie maide, 
 
 Theye colde not kenne hir feitte. 
 
 The thrydde rounde that Lyttil Pynkie maide, 
 
 Sho shymmerit als lycht and gaye 
 Als danncyng of the wiry lychtis 
 
 On warme and sonnye daye. 
 
 And aye sho sang, with twyrle and spang, 
 
 Arounde them on the playne, 
 Quhille hir feitte theye shymmerit above theyre hedis, 
 
 Then kissit the swairde agayne." 
 
 Hogg's Lyttil Pynkie. 
 
 cowslips tall. Does the fairy look iip or down at tlie cowslips ? 
 
 pensioners. Shakesj)eare has in mind Queen Elizabeth's hand 
 of military courtiers styled Gentleman Pensioners. They were the 
 flower of the young nobility, tall and handsome, rich and elaborate 
 in dress ; yet for all their gold-laced coats, studded with jewels, 
 Queen Titania's cowslips formed the brighter company. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 155 
 
 spots. The Warwickshire boy had looked long and deep into the 
 meadow blossoms. We hear again in " Cymbeline " of — 
 
 " the crimson drops 
 I' th' bottom of a cowslip ; " 
 
 but no botanist taught him this explanation of the "rubies, fairy 
 favours." 
 lob of spirits. Even so Milton 
 
 " Tells how the drudging goblin sweat 
 To earn his cream-bowl duly set, 
 "When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, 
 His shadowy ilail hath thresh'd the corn, 
 That ten day-labourers could not end : 
 Then lies him down the lubbar fiend, 
 And, stretch'd out all the chimney's length. 
 Basks at the fire his hairy strength." 
 
 20. Oberon. " Oberon the fairy king first appears in the old 
 French romance of Huon of Bourdeaux, and is identical with Elbe- 
 rich, the dwarf king of the German story of Otnit in the Helden- 
 buch. The name Elberich, or, as it appears in the ISTibelungenlied, 
 Albrich, was changed in passing into French first into Auberich, 
 then into Auberon, and finally became our Oberon. He is introduced 
 by Spenser in the Fairy Queen (bk. II. cant. I. st. 6), where he de- 
 scribes Sir Guyon : — 
 
 * "Well could he tournay, and in lists debate. 
 And knighthood tooke of good Sir Huon's hand, 
 "When with King Oberon he came to Faery land.' " 
 
 Wright. 
 
 22. an Indian king. "The Oberon of the great poet's fairy- 
 comedy, although he is set in a butterfly environment, still possesses 
 some features very similar to those of the romantic fairy king [in 
 "Huon of Bourdeaux"]. . . , The mediseval fairy dwells in the 
 East ; his kingdom is situated somewhere to the east of Jerusalem, 
 in the far-reaching district that was known to mediaeval writers 
 under the generic name of India. Shakespeare's fairy is similarly a 
 foreigner to the Western world. He is totally unlike Puck, his lieu- 
 tenant, ' the merry wanderer of the night,' who springs from purely 
 English superstition, and it is stated in the comedy that he has come 
 
156 LITERARY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 to Greece * from the farthest steep of India.' Titania, further, tells 
 her husband how the mother of her page-hoy gossipped at her side in 
 their home, 'in the spiced Indian air by night-fall.' And it will be 
 remembered that an Indian boy causes the jealousy of Oberon." — 
 Lee. 
 23. Changelmg. What is the meaning ? Scan the verse. 
 
 " By wells and rills, in meadowes greene, 
 We nightly dance our hey-day guise ; 
 And to our fairye king, and queene, 
 We chant our moon-light harmonies. 
 When larks gin sing, 
 Away we fling ; 
 And babes new-borne steal as we go, 
 An elfe in bed 
 We leave instead, 
 And wend us laughing, ho, ho, ho ! " 
 
 The Franks of Fuck (Possibly by Jonson). 
 
 " From thence a Faery thee un wee ting reft. 
 There as thou slepst in tender swadling band ; 
 And her base eltin brood there for thee left : 
 Such, men do Chaungelings call, so chaung'd by Faeries theft." 
 Spensek's Faery Queene, I. x. 65-68. 
 
 In the second Shepherd's Pageant of the Towneley Miracle Cycle, 
 in reality a rude, realistic sketch of Northumbrian rustic life in the 
 time of the early Edwards, there is an amusing allusion to this pop- 
 ular belief. One of the shepherds, Mak, has stolen a sheep from the 
 others. Having killed it, for concealment he tucks it up in the 
 cradle and tries, when the suspicious shepherds follow him home, to 
 pass it off for a baby. They insist on looking at the child, whereupon 
 Mak's wife, no less tricky than he, insists that the " hornyd lad " is 
 a changeling. 
 
 " He was taken with an elfe ; 
 I saw it myself. 
 When the clok stroke twelf 
 Was he forshapyn." 
 
 The fairies, who were obliged on every seventh year to yield up a 
 tenth of their train to the devil, were supposed to steal human chil- 
 dren for the purpose of making up this tribute. 
 
Scene I. LITER AEY NOTES. 157 
 
 " Wlien I was a boy just turned of nine, 
 My uncle sent for me, 
 To hunt, and hawk, and ride with him, 
 And keep him companie. 
 
 There came a wind out of the north, 
 A sharp wind and a snell, 
 
 And a dead sleep came over me. 
 And frae my horse I fell. 
 
 The Queen of Fairies she was there. 
 And took me to hersell. 
 
 And never would I tire, Janet, 
 
 In fairy-land to dwell, 
 But aye, at every seven years. 
 
 They pay the teind to hell ; 
 And I'm sae fat and fair of flesh, 
 
 I fear 'twill be mysell ! " 
 
 Ballad of Tamlane. 
 
 It would appear, however, that sometimes the fairies dealt more 
 kindly with their mortal charges. We hear of — 
 
 " A virtuous well, about whose flow'ry banks 
 The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds. 
 By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes 
 Their stolen children, so to make them free 
 From dying flesh and dull mortality." 
 
 Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess. 
 
 The belief in changelings lived on to the days of the New England 
 witchcraft. See Whittier's poem " The Changeling." 
 25. Knight of his train. 
 
 SiLENUs. " These are nights 
 
 Solemn to the shining rites 
 Of the Fairy Prince, and knights ; 
 While the moon their orgies lights. 
 
 2 Satye. Will they come abroad, anon ? 
 
 3 Satyk. Shall we see young Oberon ? 
 
 4 Satyr. Is he such a princely one, 
 
 As you spake him long agon ? 
 
158 LITERABY NOTES, Act II. 
 
 SiLEKUS. Satyrs, lie doth fill with grace 
 Every season, every place ; 
 Beauty dwells but in his face : 
 He's the height of all our race." 
 
 JoNSON's Masqtie of Oberon. 
 Trace. Meaning what ? 
 26. Scan the verse. 
 28-29. Note the alliteration. 
 
 30. square. Quarrel. 
 
 31. Picture the scene, — the wood, the starlight, the defiant pos- 
 tures of the two tiny sovereigns, and the wee, frightened faces of the 
 elves peeping out from the covert of the acorn-cups. 
 
 " Fairy places, fairy things. 
 Fairy woods where the wild bee wings. 
 Tiny trees for tiny dames — 
 These must all be fairy names. 
 
 Tiny woods below whose boughs 
 Shady fairies weave a house ; 
 Tiny tree-tops, rose or thj^me, 
 Where the braver fairies climb ! " 
 
 Stevenson's Garden of Verses. 
 
 34. Robin Goodfellow. What does the name indicate as to the 
 feeling of the English rustics for Puck ? 
 
 " Keightley was of opinion that Shakespeare was the first to con- 
 found Puck with the house-spirit or Robin Goodfellow, hut it is evi- 
 dent that in popular belief the same mischief-loving qualities which 
 belong to Puck were attributed to Robin Goodfellow long before the 
 time of Shakespeare." — "Wright. 
 
 "Tales of Robin Goodfellow are mentioned, more than once, in 
 Scot's 'Discoverie of Witchcraft,' first published in 1584. Nash, in 
 his ' Terrors of the Night,' 1594, observes that ' the Robin Goodfellowes, 
 elfes, fairies, hobgoblins of our latter age, did most of their merry 
 pranks in the night : then ground they malt, and had hempen shirts 
 for their labours, daunst in greene meadows, pincht maids in their 
 sleep that swept not their houses cleane, and led poor travellers out 
 of their way notoriously.' In Tarlton's ' Newes out of Purgatorie,' 
 published a few years previously, we are told that Robin Goodfellow 
 was ' famoyed in every old wives chronicle for his mad merrye 
 prankes.' " — Halliwell. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. ' 159 
 
 " Ask not my master, Oberon, wliy still 
 He keeps among his train this freakish sprite : 
 For sooth to say, the elf intends no ill ; 
 He never changed a word with Goblin Spite, 
 Else Oberon had banished him outright. 
 Not his to flee at cockcrow ; he was born 
 Of blameless Mirth, and looks upon the morn. 
 ' Goodfellow, and sweet Puck,' some folk do name him ; 
 I pray you of your kindness not to blame him." 
 
 Helen Gray Cone's Oberon and Puck. 
 
 35. villagree. See textual notes. 
 
 36. Skim mUk. Cf . : — 
 
 " I know no haunts I have but to the dairy, 
 To skim the milk-bowls like a liquorish fairy." 
 
 Randolph's Amyntas, 1638. 
 
 quern. A hand-mill for grinding com. 
 
 ." Yet now and then, the maids to please. 
 At midnight I card up their wooll ; 
 And while they sleepe, and take their ease, 
 With wheel to threads their flax I pull. 
 I grind at mill 
 Their malt up still ; 
 I dress their hemp, I spin their tow ; 
 If any wake. 
 And would me take, 
 I wend me laughing, ho, ho, ho ! " — The Pranks of Puck. 
 
 " Your grandame's maids were wont to set a bowl of milk for him, 
 for his pains in grinding malt and mustard, and sweeping the house 
 at midnight." — Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584. 
 38. barm. Yeast. 
 
 " Now the froth or barm, that risetli from these ales or beers, have 
 a property to keep the skin fair and clear in women's faces." 
 
 Holland's Pliny. 
 
 " And if that the bowle of curds and creame were not duly set out 
 for Robin Good-fellow, the frier, and Sisse the dairymaid, why then 
 either the pottage was burnt to next day in the pot, or the cheeses 
 would not curdle, or the butter would not come, or the ale in the vat 
 never would have good head." — Harsenet's Declaration of Popish 
 Impostures, 1603. 
 
160 LITERARY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 39. " Whene'er such wanderers I meete, 
 
 As from their night-sports they trudge home ; 
 With counterfeiting voice I greete 
 And call them on, with me to roame 
 Thro' woods, thro' lakes, 
 Thro' bogs, thro' brakes, 
 Or else, unseene, with them I go, 
 All in the nicke, 
 To play some tricke, 
 And frolicke it, with ho, ho, ho ! " 
 
 The Pranks of Puck. 
 
 [ 42. See textual notes. 
 46. See textual notes. 
 48. crab. Crab-apple. 
 
 " I love no rost but a nut-brown toste, 
 And a crab layde in the fyre." 
 
 Gammer Chirton's Needle. 
 
 50. dewlap. Meaning what ? 
 
 51. aunt. Aunt and uncle are neighborly titles for good-humored 
 elders, apparently less in use in the Old England than the New ; yet 
 the "bitter-sweet fool" calls Lear "nuncle." 
 
 52-53. " Elsewhere I have compared these tales with all that spirit- 
 ualism has of scratch and rap and flying chair and errant table. It 
 is all the same story. Our fathers told of Puck and brownie, our weak 
 brethren tell of ' spirits,' but, whatever it is, it is always the same thing, 
 a mocking, fugitive, impertinent ' agency,' whom no philosopher can 
 ' arrest.' It is amusing to find how little Diabolus changes his ways. 
 Increase Mather, in his ' Remarkable Providences in New England,' 
 has many anecdotes of Puck's doings, only he does not call him Puck. 
 From Saint Colette, about 1430, the ' agency ' would often snatch her 
 chair, upsetting the holy sister among the wondering nuns. ' This is 
 how he often uses me,' said the saint, by ' he ' meaning Diabolus — no 
 one else ! But it was only Puck ; ' down topples she,' 
 
 ' And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,' 
 
 whereas the nuns of Saint Colette took the matter seriously." — An- 
 drew Lang, Harper's Monthly Magazine, August, 1895. 
 
 54. tailor. The point of the jest has been lost, — or perhaps 
 
Scene I. LITERABT NOTES. 161 
 
 Puck used the word simply to lead off the commentators on one of 
 his darkling chases. 
 
 55. quire. A suggestion that the noisy company acts in concert. 
 
 56. neeze. Sneeze. 
 58. See textual notes. 
 
 The King and Queen of Fairies. " The idea of a fairy king 
 and queen is derived from the classic realm- of the dead, from Hades 
 and Persephone, Pluto and Proserpine. Chaucer tells of ' Proserpine 
 and all her fayrie ' in ' The Merchant's Tale.' Campion sings very 
 sweetly of ' the fairy queen Proserpina.' That queen whom Thomas 
 the Rhymer loved dwelt in a shadowy land beyond the river of slain 
 men's blood : — 
 
 ' For a' the bluid that's shed in earth 
 Flows through the streams of this countrie.' 
 
 "In the Scottish fairyland Alison Pearson met Maitland of Leth- 
 ington, who had ' died a Roman death,' as men believed, by his own 
 act. Thus mediaeval fairies, in Scotland at least, were neighbors and 
 feudatories of the dead, and thus spirits and fairies blend, the latter, 
 as some deem, thus going back to their original. But there is none 
 of this funereal color about Shakespeare's elfin court, and no touch of 
 the tomb in Oberon and Titania." — Andrew Lang. 
 
 The Fairy Train. 
 
 ** They come from beds of lichen green, 
 They creep from mullens' velvet screen ; 
 Some on the backs of beetles fly 
 From the silver tops of moon-touched trees. 
 Where they swung in their cobweb hammocks high, 
 And rock'd about in the evening breeze ; 
 Some from the hum-bird's downy nest — 
 They had driven him out by elfin power. 
 And pillowed on plumes of his rainbow breast, 
 Had slumbered there till the charmed hour ; 
 Some had lain in the scoop of the rock. 
 With glittering ising-stars inlaid ; 
 And some had opened the four o'clock. 
 And stole within its purple shade. 
 And now they throng the moonlight glade, 
 Above — below — on every side, 
 Their little minim forms arrayed 
 In the tricksy pomp of fairy pride ! " 
 
 Drake's Culprit Fay. 
 
162 LITERARY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 60. Note, for all its pique, the fairy grace of the greeting. 
 
 Titania. From Ben Jonson's day to the present Shakespeare's 
 Latin scholarship has not been highly rated, but it would appear that 
 he took this name from the original text of his Ovid, where it is used 
 more than once to designate a goddess of Titan descent. Golding's 
 translation does not keep the term. It may seem a trifle absurd to 
 look upon her tiny Majesty as a daughter of the giant race, one may 
 suspect that the mere music of the name, with its elfin trip of sylla- 
 bles, was what appealed to Shakespeare, but remembering that the 
 Queene of Faery was actually confused with Proserpina, we submit 
 to the learning of the commentators. 
 
 " It was the belief of those days that the Fairies were the same as 
 the classic Nymphs, the attendants of Diana : ' That fourth kind of 
 spiritis,' says King James, ' quhilk be the gentilis was called Diana, 
 and her wandering court, and amongs us, called the Phairie.' The 
 Fairy-queen was therefore the same as Diana, whom Ovid frequently 
 styles Titania." — Keightley. 
 
 "Diana, Latona, and Circe are each styled by Ovid 'Titania.' . . . 
 Thus used [the name] embodies rich and complex associations con- 
 nected with the silver bow, the magic cup, and the triple crown. . . . 
 Diana, Latona, Hecate, are all goddesses of night, queens of the shad- 
 owy world, ruling over its mystic elements and spectral powers. The 
 common name thus awakens recollections of gleaming huntresses in 
 dim and dewy woods, of dark rites and potent incantations under 
 moonlit skies, of strange aerial voyages, and ghostly apparitions of 
 the under-world. It was, therefore, of all possible names, the one 
 best fitted to designate the queen of the same shadowy empire, with 
 its phantom troops and activities, in the Northern mythology. And 
 since Shakespeare, with prescient inspiration, selected it for this pur- 
 pose, it has naturally come to represent the whole world of fairy 
 beauty, elfin adventure, and goblin sport connected with lunar in- 
 fluences, with enchanted herbs, and muttered spells." — Baynes. 
 65. Fairy-land. — 
 
 " None that breatheth living aire does know 
 Where is that happy land of Faery." 
 
 69. "The kingdom of the fairy beings is placed in the aromatic 
 flower-scented Indies, in the land where mortals live in a half dreamy 
 state." — Gervinus. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 163 
 
 70. bouncing Amazon. Is Hippolyta belied ? 
 
 79-80. Scan the verses. 
 
 81. " One cf the strokes of humour in this whole scene, between 
 atomies who c.n creep into acorn-cups, and for whom the waxen 
 thigh of a bee r„ffords an ample torch, lies in the assumption by them 
 of human powers and of superhuman importance. Not only is 
 Titania jealous of the bouncing Amazon, but this their quarrel in- 
 fluences the moon in the sky, changes the seasons, and affects disas- 
 trously the whole human race." — Furkess. 
 
 84-85. Scan the verses. 
 
 86. " The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, 
 
 !^Tow to the moon in wavering morrice move ; 
 And on the tawny sands and shelves, 
 Trip the pert faeries and the dapper elves, 
 By dimpled brook and fountain-brim 
 The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim, 
 Their merry wakes and pastimes keep — 
 Y7hat hath night to do with sleep?" 
 
 Milton's Comus, 
 
 92. contiE ^nts. Meaning what here ? 
 94-95. Cf. : — 
 
 " And summer's green all girded up in sheaves 
 Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard." 
 
 Sonnets, XII. 7-8. 
 
 96. Scan the verse. 
 
 97. murrain flock. Dead of the cattle plague. 
 
 98. nlne-men's-morris. A favorite game in "Warwickshire 
 during Shakespeare's boyhood, and still extant under the name of 
 Mill or Shepherd's Mill. A group of Stratford boys, for instance, 
 would go out from the town to an open field, where they would dig 
 up the turf with their knives until they had shaped three rectangles, 
 one within another, and connected these by certain lines. The 
 players on one side would be furnished with stones, on the other with 
 pieces of wooJ. The game was somewhat after the fashion of 
 checkers, the ambition of either side being to move its "nine men" 
 along the straight lines so skilfully as to pen the nine opposing 
 merelles, as they were termed in France, in the innermost square, 
 
164 LITERARY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 known as " the pound." See for fuller description, with diagram, 
 Halliwell's note on this passage, or Strutt's " Sports and Pastimes," 
 IV. 2, § 13. 
 
 99. Mazes. " This alludes to a sport still followed by boys ; 
 that is, what is now called running the figure of eight." — 
 Steevens. 
 
 "Several mazes of the kind here alluded to are still preserved, 
 having been kept up from time immemorial. On the top of Cathe- 
 rine Hill, Winchester, the usual play-place of the school, observes 
 Percy, was a very perplexed and winding path running in a very 
 small space over a great deal of ground, called a Miz-Maze. The 
 senior boys obliged the juniors to tread it, to prevent the figure from 
 being lost." — Halliwell. 
 
 See, for interesting diagram, Halliwell's note on this passage. 
 
 101. See textual notes. 
 
 103. Therefore. Referring to what ? Cf . lines 88 and 93. 
 
 105. Scan the verse. 
 
 Rheumatic. Signifying rather catarrhal. 
 
 107-111. Wherein is the passage poetical ? 
 
 112. childlng. Fruitful. 
 
 113. Scan the verse. 
 
 114. increase. Produce. 
 
 116. Scan the verse. 
 
 117. For this unpleasant weather, on which the royal mites so pride 
 themselves, see introduction. 
 
 119.. "The only pain which agitates these beings is jealousy, the 
 desire of possessing the beautiful sooner than others ; they shun the 
 distorting quarrel ; their steadfast aim and longing is for undisturbed 
 enjoyment." — Gervinus. 
 
 121. Set your heart at rest. How uttered ? 
 
 122. And yet, judging from the report of an old-time singer who 
 had spied on the fairy king and queen in a happier hour, fairy-land 
 was of precious worth : — 
 
 " I spied Kinge Oberon and his beuteous Queene, 
 Attended by a nimble footed trayne 
 Of fayeryes trippinge ore the medows greene, 
 And to meewards (metliought) they came amayne. 
 
 I coucht myselfe behinde a bnshe to spye, 
 
 "What would betide the noble company. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 165 
 
 It gann to rayne, the Kinge and Queene tliey runne, 
 Under a mushroom fretted over head, 
 With glowwormes artificially donne, 
 Eesemblinge much the canopy of a bedd, 
 
 Of cloth of silver, and such glimmeringe light 
 
 It gave, as stars doe in a frosty night. 
 
 The Kinge perceivinge it grew night apace, 
 
 And that faint light was hut for show alone. 
 
 Out of a box made of a fayre topace, 
 
 Hee toke a blasinge carbuncle that shoAvne 
 Like to a flameinge barre of iron, and 
 Stucke it among the glowwormes with his hand. 
 
 The floor Avhereon they trode, it was of jett 
 
 And mother of pearle, pollished and cutt, 
 
 Chequerd, and in most decent order sett, 
 
 A table dyamond was theire table, butt 
 
 To see th' reflection from the roofe to the table, 
 'Twas choyce meethought and showed admirable." 
 
 Printed in Halliwell's Introduction. 
 
 123-134. Is there any cTiaracteristic of fairy nature, rather than 
 human nature, in the way the little queen speaks of her lost friend ? 
 Scan verses 123, 127, and 131. What color, fragrance, and movement 
 may he found in the passage ? What repetitions ? 
 
 135. Is his angry inch of majesty at all moved hy Titania's expla- 
 nation ? 
 
 137. " Round about, round about, in a flne ring-a ; 
 
 Thus we dance, thus we dance, and thus we sing-a ; 
 Trip and go, to and fro, over this green-a, 
 , All about, in and out, for our brave queen-a." 
 
 Maydes Metamorpliosis , 1600. 
 
 " I'll charm the air to give a sound, 
 While you perform your antic roimd." 
 
 Macbeth, IV. i. 130-131. 
 
 141. Fairies, away ! 
 
 " This way, this way come, and hear. 
 You that hold these pleasures dear ; 
 Fill your ears with our sweet sound. 
 Whilst we melt the frozen ground. 
 
166 LITEEABY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 This way come ; make haste, oh, fair ! 
 
 Let your clear eyes gild the air ; 
 
 Come, and bless us with your sight ; 
 
 This way, this way, seek delight ! " — Fletchek. 
 
 144. What are the fairy meanings of torment and injury? 
 
 145. What is Puck's expression as he comes liither ? 
 
 145-151. Examine the musical variety of verse-structure, note the 
 alliterations, the personifications, and the choice words of the passage. 
 See, for mermaids, the German lyric of "Die Lorelei ;" for their 
 classic equivalent, sirens, William Morris's " Life and Death of 
 Jason ; " and for the possible reminiscence of the Kenilworth 
 pageants, 1575, Scott's "Kenilworth." For graver authorities, see 
 Smith ( Classical Dictionary), Baring-Gould, and Laneham (fully 
 quoted in Halli well's notes). The discussion inaugurated by War- 
 burton, as to whether by the mermaid is figured poor Mary Stuart, is 
 thoroughly reviewed in the Furness "Variorum," pp. 75-82. 
 
 152. thou couldst not. Why not ? 
 
 154. Cupid all arm'd. 
 
 " He doth bear a golden bow, 
 And a quiver hanging low, 
 Full of arrows, that out-brave 
 Dian's shafts, where if he have 
 Any head more sharp than other. 
 With that first he strikes his mother." — JoifSON. 
 
 155. Scan the verse. Shakespeare's one splendid compliment to 
 Queen Elizabeth has outshone all the gilded hyperboles of his fellow- 
 poets save Spenser's title to an immortal epic, " The Faery Queene." 
 
 156-161. What constitutes the chief beauty of the passage ? Note 
 the change in movement, the epithets, the alliterations. Scan verse 
 160. 
 
 163. a little western flower. For a discussion of Halpin's hy- 
 pothesis (in his essay " Oberon's Vision," etc., printed by the Shake- 
 speare Society, 1843), see the Furness "Variorum," pp. 83-91. 
 
 Halpin would put into little King Oberon's mouth a riddling refer- 
 ence to the Earl of Leicester's intrigues a score of years past. This 
 glorious fairy-vision is, however, amply accounted for if it is regarded 
 as an impressive introduction to the magic flower which is to work 
 the confusions of the play. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 167 
 
 165. love-in-idleness. English maidens also call it heartsease, 
 pansy, cuddle-me-to-you, jump-up-and-kiss-me, kiss-me-at-the-gar- 
 den-gate, and tickle-my-fancy. American maidens call it Johnny- 
 jump-up. And what else ? 
 
 171. Note the alliteration. " The margins of the Bibles in Shake- 
 speare's day explained leviathan as a whale, and so no doubt he 
 thought it." — Wright. 
 
 172. Probably an expression in general use, "derived," says Hal- 
 liwell, " from the old plans of the world, in which the Zodiac is rep- 
 resented as ' a girdle round about the Earth.' " 
 
 173. Note Puck's accuracy and see him run. 
 173-182. What of the poetic value of this passage ? 
 
 183. I am invisible. "Among the 'properties' enumerated in 
 Henslowe's 'Diary' is ' a robe for to go invisible.' Possibly Oberon 
 wore, or put on, such a robe, by which it was understood that he was 
 not to be seen." — Collier. 
 
 Cf . : — • 
 
 " No blood nor bones in him should be, 
 In shape and being such. 
 That men should heare him speake, but not 
 His wandering shadow touch." 
 
 Ballad of Tom Thumb. 
 
 188-189. What is the quibble ? 
 
 192. adamant. " There is now a dayes a kind of adamant which 
 draweth unto it fleshe, and the same so strongly, that it hath power 
 to knit and tie together two naouthes of contrary persons, and drawe 
 the heart of a man out of his bodie without offending any part of 
 him." — Fenton's Wonders of Nature, 1569. 
 
 201. " Love is a sickness full of Avoes, 
 
 All remedies refusing ; 
 A plant that with most cutting grows, 
 
 Most barren with best using." — Daniel. 
 
 207. Scan the verse. 
 
 232. Which has been shown the more adroit in dialogue ? AYhich 
 oiTght to be shame-faced ? 
 
 242-213. Oberon's touch of sympathy here (or is it mere fairy 
 freakishness ?) would almost justify, for the moment, Helen Gray 
 Cone's conception of — 
 
168 LITER ahy notes. Act II. 
 
 " Oberon, Elferon, 
 Pleasant Prince of Faery ! 
 
 Blood of Pan is in his veins, 
 And oft he goes in great Pan's guise ; 
 But not of Pan is all his mood, 
 Godlike-careless, dreamy- wise ; 
 Conscious he of mortal pains ! 
 He hath shadows in his eyes 
 Such as under hemlocks brood ; 
 In his voice he hath a tone 
 Like unto the dark pine's moan ; 
 Northland bore him, not the South ! 
 Yet rare laughters hath his mouth, 
 Birch-leaf laughters, rippling light." 
 
 244-245. Note the two instances of fairy courtesy. 
 
 246-264, "What constitutes the beauty of the passage ? Examine 
 it for color, fragrance, motion, picture, and fairy suggestion. Note 
 the music of certain verses and the alliterations. What are the finest 
 epithets ? Make vivid to thought the various flowers and the fairy 
 scene. 
 
 dances and delight : — 
 
 " Shake off your heavy trance ! 
 
 And leap into a dance 
 Such as no mortals use to tread : 
 
 Fit only for Apollo 
 To play to, for the moon to lead, 
 
 And all the stars to follow ! " — Beaitmont. 
 
 enamell'd skin. Such were the tapestries of Oberon's cham- 
 ber, — 
 
 " where within 
 The roome is hving with the blue skin 
 Of shifted Snake : enfreez'd throughout 
 "With eyes of Peacocks' Trains." 
 
 Herrick's Oberon's Palace. 
 
 streak:. " Stroke, touch gently." — Wright. 
 
Scene II. LITERARY NOTES. 169 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 " Heere is the queene of Fairye, 
 With harpe, and pipe, and symphonye, 
 Dwellynge in this place." — Chaucer's Sir Thopas. 
 
 1. roundel. Meaning what ? Cf . : — 
 
 "To shew your pomp, you'd have your daughters and maids 
 Dance o'er the fields like faies to church, this frost. 
 I'll have no rondels, I, in the queen's paths." 
 
 Jo^soN's Tale of a Tub. 
 
 " In airie rankes 
 Tread Roundelayes upon the silver sands." 
 
 Bkowke's Pastorals. 
 
 2. Fairy moasures of time as well as space. See textual notes. 
 
 3. cankers. Canker-worms. Cf. : — 
 
 " As killing as the canker to the rose." 
 
 Milton's Lycidas. 
 " No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done : 
 Koses have thorns, and silver fountains mud ; 
 Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun. 
 And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud." 
 
 Sonnets, XXXV. 1-4. 
 
 4. rere-mice. *' Bats ; A. S. lirere-mus, from hreran to stir, 
 agitate, and so equivalent to the old name ' flittermouse.' " — 
 Wright. 
 
 " Once a bat and ever a bat, — a rere-mouse, 
 And bird of twilight." — JONSOX's A^ew Inn. 
 
 7. quaint. Meaning what ? 
 
 8. Fairy discipline has sadly fallen away since the days of 
 Shakespeare. Cf. 
 
 " FiKST Fairy. ' Tit, my queen, must it be so ? 
 
 Wherefore, wherefore, should we go ? '* 
 TiTAKiA. ' I, Titania, bid you flit. 
 
 And you dare to call me Tit.' 
 First Fairy. ' TiL, for love and brevity. 
 
 Not for love of levity.' 
 Titania. ' Pertest of our flickering mob, 
 
 Wouldst thou call my Oberon Ob?' 
 
170 LITERAEY NOTES. Act II. 
 
 First Fairy. ' Nay, an please your Elfin Grace, 
 
 Never Ob before his face.' 
 TiTANiA. ' Fairy realm is breaking down 
 
 Wlien the fairy slights the croAvn.' " 
 
 Tennyso^t's TJie Foresters. 
 9-24. What constitutes the charm of the song? Why is the 
 name Philomel better here than nightingale? What " spell " threat- 
 ens the Fairy Queen, even while her tiny subjects sing? What are 
 the objects of fairy aversion, and why? What are the most graphic 
 epithets ? The latest envoy from fairyland suggests a special reason 
 for the elfin dread of spiders : — 
 
 " A spider sewed at night 
 Without a light 
 Upon an arc of white. 
 If ruff it was of dame 
 Or shroud of gnome, 
 
 Himself, himself inform." — Emily DiCKiNSOiNT. 
 27-34. Picture in mind the fairy scene, not forgetting the sentinel 
 aloof. What are ounce and pard ? 
 
 35-65. Notice the grace of the opening quatrain. What allitera- 
 tions? What expression of peculiar beauty in this first stanza? 
 How does this scene between the lovers compare for poetic charm 
 with that in Act I.? What courtesies are interchanged? What is 
 the meaning of line 40 ? 
 
 66-83. What is the musical effect when a fairy takes up the 
 strain ? Is Puck naturally a blunderer ? What words of his now 
 bring the scene vividly to mind ? What would be the form and color 
 of Athenian garments ? Where has the word vreed, in the sense of 
 clothing, been used in this act before ? What is the modern survival ? 
 Scan verse 73. See textual notes for verse 77. Paraphrase versss 
 80-81. 
 
 88. Fond chase — 
 
 " Art thou gone in haste? 
 
 I'll not forsake thee ; 
 Kunnest thou ne'er so fast, 
 
 I'll overtake thee : 
 Over the dales, over the downs. 
 
 Through the green meadows, 
 From the fields through the towns 
 
 To the dim shadows. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. Ill 
 
 All along the plain, 
 
 To the low fountains, 
 Up and down again 
 
 From the high mountains ; 
 Echo then shall again 
 
 Tell her I follow. 
 And the floods to the woods 
 
 Carry my hullo, hullo." — Webster. 
 
 91. Scan the verse. 
 
 97. To what does the phrase, as a monster, refer ? 
 99. Spliery. Meaning what ? 
 104. See textual notes. 
 
 108-110. What of the poetic values here ? Is there any touch of 
 high poetry in the remainder of the scene ? 
 115. Note the fairy irony of the situation. 
 119. Meaning what ? 
 
 123. Is Helena perhaps aware of having fairly exposed herself to 
 mockery ? 
 
 129. Is Helena sohhing here, or is this resort to repetition a trait 
 of character ? What instances of such repetition earlier in the scene ? 
 What moods or what characteristics are so hinted ? 
 
 142. " Sweet love, I see, changing his property, 
 
 Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate." 
 
 Richard II., III. ii. 135-136. 
 
 145-156. How is Hermia's dream approjpriate and her action char- 
 acteristic ? 
 
 ACT III. — Scene I. 
 
 " Turn we now to the second group. . . , These are types of a class 
 ever ready to our hand. Bottom sat at a Stratford loom, Starveling on 
 a Stratford tailoring-board; between them they perhaps made the 
 doublet which captivated the eyes of Richard Hathaway's daughter, 
 or the hose that were torn in the park of the Lucys." — Edinburgh 
 Review, April, 1848. 
 
 7. buUy. *' A term of familiarity addressed by his companions 
 to a jolly blustering fellow." — Wright. 
 
 What modern survival ? 
 
 8-11. Bottom is now posing in the role of literary critic. Not 
 even Quince can answer him ; the courage of the other actors gives 
 
172 LITEBABY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 way at once, and then he brings forward his fine device of a prologue. 
 Why does Bottom insist upon the prologue ? 
 
 12. By'r lakin. See textual notes. 
 parlous. See grammatical notes. 
 
 13. Starveling. " Starveling, the tailor, keeps the peace, and 
 objects to the lion and the drawn sword. Starveling does not start the 
 objections himself, but seconds them when made by others, as if he had 
 not spirit to express his fears without encouragement." — Hazlitt. 
 
 23-24. What does Bottom know or care about metre? Does 
 Quince act upon either of Bottom's suggestions as to the prologue ? 
 
 26. I fear it. Where is the emphasis ? 
 
 32-33. Snout, having followed Bottom's lead, and started a diffi- 
 culty, attempts to meet it by Bottom's own device; but in both in- 
 stances Bottom's ready volubility bears the slow-spoken tinker down. 
 
 44-45. Are the difficulties proposed by Quince any less absurd 
 than the others ? 
 
 61. Snug. Look up this character carefully to see if justification 
 can be found for either of the following opinions : — 
 
 " Snug, the joiner, who can board and lodge only one idea at a time, 
 and that tardily." — Cowden-Clarke. 
 
 " Snug, the joiner, is the moral man of the piece, who proceeds by 
 measurement and discretion in all things." — Hazlitt. 
 
 From this single speech, what characteristics of Snug may be 
 gathered ? 
 
 69. Is there any evidence of excitement on the part of Quince 
 when he sees his play actually in rehearsal ? 
 
 78. See textual notes. 
 
 89-90. What are we to infer as to the complexion of Pyramus ? 
 
 91. Juvenal. This word seems to have been an affectation of the 
 day. Could the pun be worse ? 
 
 99. See textual notes. 
 
 " Sometimes I meete tliem like a man ; 
 Sometimes an ox ; sometimes a hound ; 
 And to a horse I turn me can ; 
 To trip and trot about them round. 
 But if, to ride, my back they stride, 
 More swift than wind away I go. 
 O'er hedge and lands. 
 Thro' pools and ponds, 
 I whirry, laughing, ho, ho, ho ! "— The Pranks of Puck. 
 
Scene I. LITEBABY NOTES. 173 
 
 107. "Note the pelting, rattling staccato, which sounds like the 
 explosion of a pack of Chinese firecrackers at the heels of the flying 
 
 clowns." — FURNBSS. 
 
 112-113. " Bottom indulges in what appears to have been a piece of 
 familiar banter of the time, without knowing how much it affected 
 himself. Compare Mrs. Quickly's speech in ' The Merry Wives of 
 Windsor,' I. iv. 134: -You shall have an fool's head of your own.' " 
 — Wright. 
 
 121. ousel-cock. Blackbird. 
 
 123. throstle. Thrush. 
 
 124. quill. Pipe or note. 
 
 125. " Perhaps a parody on a line in the Spanish Tragedy, often 
 ridiculed by the poets of our author's time : ' What outcry calls me 
 from my naked bed ? ' " — Halliwell. 
 
 127. plain-song. Meaning what ? Cf . : — 
 
 " Meanetime Dan Cuckow, knowing that his voice 
 Had no variety, no change, no choice : 
 But through the wesand pipe of Ms harsh throate, 
 Cri'd only Cuckow, that prodigious note ! " 
 
 NiccoLS's The Cuckow, 1607. 
 135. Scan the verse. 
 
 138. "Bottom, during the time that he attracts the attentions of 
 Titania, never for a moment thinks there is anything extraordinary 
 in the matter. He takes the love of the Queen of the Fairies as a 
 thing of course, orders about her tiny attendants as if they were so 
 many apprentices at his loom, and dwells in Fairy Land, unobservant 
 of its wonders, as quietly as if he were still in his workshop. Great 
 is the courage and self-possession of an ass-head." — Maginn. 
 142. Gleek. Jest. 
 
 147-157. Why is it tliat this passage falls with so dulcet an effect 
 upon the ear ? Which are the verses of peculiar beauty ? Scan 
 verse 154. 
 
 158. Peaseblossom. 
 
 " "Whose woven wings the summer dyes 
 Of many colours." 
 
 159. Cobweb. " His hat made of an oaken leafe, 
 
 His shirt a spider's web 
 Both light and soft for those his limbes 
 That were so smally bred. 
 
174 LITERARY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 His liose and doublet thistledown, 
 
 Togeath.er weav'd full fine ; 
 His stockins of an apple greene, 
 
 Made of the outward rine." 
 
 160. Moth. " A rich mantle he did wear 
 
 Made of tinsel gossamere. 
 Be-starred over with a few 
 Dyamond drops of morning dew." 
 
 161. Mustard-seed. " His feet are shod with gauze, 
 
 His helmet is of gold." 
 
 163-173. "What peculiarity of rliyming imparts such clinging sweet- 
 ness to this passage ? What are the finest touches of fairy fancy ? 
 What colors are named or suggested ? Visualize the picture. For 
 fairy viands compare : — 
 
 " The dancing fairies when they left to play 
 Then hacke did pull them, and in holes of trees 
 Stole the sweet honey from the painful bees, 
 Which in the flowre to put they oft were seene 
 And for a banquet brought it to their queene." 
 
 Browxe's Pastorals. 
 
 " A little mushroome-table spred, 
 After short prayers, they set on bread ; 
 A Moon-parcht grain of purest wheat, 
 With some small glit'ring gritt, to eate 
 His choyce bitts with ; then in a trice 
 They make a feast lesse great then nice. 
 But all this while his eye is serv'd, 
 We must not thinke his eare was sterv'd : 
 But that there was in place to stir 
 His Spleen, the chirring Grasshopper ; 
 The merry Cricket, puling Flie, 
 The piping Gnat for minstralcy, 
 And now, we must imagine first. 
 The Elves present to quench his thirst 
 A pure seed-Pearle of Infant dew, 
 Brought and besweetned in a blew 
 And pregnant violet ; which done, 
 His kithing eyes begin to runne 
 Quite through the table, where he spies 
 The hornes of paperie Butterfiies : 
 Of which he eates, . , . 
 
 [and] Mandrakes ea'res ; 
 
Scene II. LITERARY NOTES. 175 
 
 Moles eyes ; to these, the slain Stag's teares : 
 The unctuous dewlaps of a Snaile, 
 The broke heart of a Nightingale 
 Ore-come in niusicke." 
 
 Heerick's Oberon's Feast. 
 
 178-196. "He sits down among the fairies as one of themselves 
 without any astonishment ; but so far from assuming, like Ahou 
 Hassan, the manners of the court where he has been so strangely 
 intruded, he brings the language and bearing of the booth into the 
 glittering circle of Queen Titania." — Maginn. 
 
 Which one of the elfin courtiers is very much afraid of Bottom and 
 why ? What is the force of Bottom's compliment to Cobweb ? Of 
 his "gleek upon occasion" of meeting Mustard-seed ? Is Bottom, 
 outside of fairyland, capable of such a pretty bit of irony ? 
 
 198. " Alluding to the supposed origin of dew in the moon," — 
 Walker. 
 
 200. But is Titania perhaps wrong as to the reason why the little 
 flowers weep ? Cf. IV. i. 
 
 Scene II. ■ 
 
 2. in her eye. Meaning what ? Compare, in the preceding 
 scene, line 164. 
 
 3. in extremity. Meaning what ? 
 
 5. night-rule. Perhaps a corruption of night-revel. Perhaps 
 
 meaning simply such fashion of behavior as prevails at night. 
 
 6. Picture the glee of the " mad spirit " in giving his report. 
 What is the expression of the listening Fairy-King ? 
 
 7. close. Meaning what ? Note the alliteration. 
 
 8. dull. Meaning what ? Cf. : — 
 
 "Unless some dull and favourable hand will whisper music." — 
 2 Henry IV., IV. v. 2. 
 
 9. patches. " This use of patch is said to have grown from 
 the motley or patch-work dress worn by the ' allowed Fool.' At all 
 events, it came to be used generally as a term of contempt for a sim- 
 pleton or a clown." — Hudson. 
 
 What modern survival ? 
 13. barren sort. Witless crew. 
 
 16. What advantage ? 
 
 17. nole. " A grotesque word for head, like pate, noddle. The 
 
176 LITEEABY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 A. S. hnoll, knoll, the top of anything, is the same word." — 
 Wright. 
 
 Scan the verse. 
 
 18. Scan the verse. 
 
 19. mimic. Actor. Perhaps a harlequin. Cf . : — 
 
 " Draw what troop you can from the stage after you ; the mimicks 
 are beholden to you for allowing them elbow room." — Decker's 
 Guls Hornebooke, 1609. 
 
 " Morris-dancers thou shalt see, 
 Marian too in Pagentrie : 
 And a mimick to devise 
 Many grinning properties." 
 
 Herrick's The Wake. 
 
 21. russet-pated chouglis. Gray-headed jackdaws. 
 
 25. our stamp. " At hearing the footsteps of the fairies, which 
 were powerful enough to rock the ground. See IV. i. 85." — Wright. 
 
 " The stamp of a fairy might be efficacious though not loud." — 
 Steevens. 
 
 " In-deede your grandams maides were woont to set a boll of milke 
 before him and his cousine Robin Goodfellow, for grinding of malt or 
 mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight ; and you have also 
 heard that he would chafe exceedingly, if the maid or good-wife of the 
 house, having compassion of his nakedness, laid aine clothes for him, 
 besides his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing 
 fee ; for in that case he saith : What have we here ? Hemton 
 hamten, here will I nevermore tread nor stampen." — Scot's Dis- 
 coveries of Witchcraft, 1584. 
 
 26. See grammatical notes. 
 
 30. ylelders. Meaning what ? Cf . : — 
 
 *' I was not born a yielder." 
 
 1 Henry IV., Y. iii. 11. 
 
 34. What are the finer verses and phrases in Puck's speech con- 
 cluded here ? What the weaker ? How far is the narrative Athe- 
 nian ? How far English ? 
 
 36. latch'd. Anointed. (For summary of etymological discus- 
 sion see the Fumess "Variorum," pp. 136-137.) 
 
 41. close. Meaning what ? Cf . line 7 above. 
 
Scene II. LITEBARY NOTES. 177 
 
 48. See textual notes. 
 
 53. whole. Solid. Cf . : — 
 
 " I had else been perfect, 
 Wliole as the marble, founded as the rock." 
 
 Macbeth, III. iv. 22-23. 
 
 55. Paraphrase. 
 57. See textual notes. 
 
 59. It serves the troth-hreaker right. Helena and Demetrius 
 might both profit from the old song : — 
 
 " -^iNOifE. Fair and fair, and twice so fair, 
 
 As fair as any may be ; 
 The fairest shepherd on our green, 
 
 A love for any lady. 
 Paris. Fair and fair, and twice so fair, 
 
 As fair as any may be ; 
 Thy love is fair for thee alone, 
 
 And for no other lady. 
 .ffiNOS'E. My love is fair, my love is gay. 
 
 As fresh as bin the flowers in May, 
 And of my love my roundelay, 
 My merry, merry, merry roundelay. 
 
 Concludes with Cupid's curse, — 
 They that do change old love for new, 
 
 Pray gods they change for worse." 
 
 Peele in The Arraignment of Paris. 
 
 68. Why the repetition ? 
 
 73. '* She was a vixen when she went to school." 
 
 74. mispris'd mood. Meaning what ? Cf . misprision in line 
 90 below. 
 
 81. Scan the verse. — Abbott, § 466. 
 
 84-87. " Marshall thinks that the ' prosaic and legal character ' of 
 these words ' smells ' of an attorney's office. The fondness of Shake- 
 speare for similes drawn from bankruptcy, even in the most impas- 
 sioned passages, may be learned from Mrs. Cowden-Clarke's and Mrs. 
 Furness's ' Concordances.' " — Furness. 
 
 92-93. " Puck's excuse for his carelessness does not seem to be very 
 logical." — Deighton. 
 
 94. Note the alliteration and the suggestion of speed. 
 
 96- fancy-sick. Meaning what ? 
 
178 LITERARY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 pale of cheer. Meaning what ? 
 
 97. So Shakespeare tells of " hlood-consuming sighs," "blood- 
 sucking sighs," " mortifying groans," and " dry sorrow " that " drinks 
 our blood." " All alluding to the ancient supposition that every sigh 
 was indulged at the expense of a drop of blood." — Steevens. 
 
 100-101. What is the suggestion of movement here ? Why " the 
 Tartar's bow " ? 
 103. Cupid's archery. 
 
 ' Oh, turn thy how ! 
 Thy power we feel and know ; 
 Fair Cupid, turn away thy#how ! 
 They he those golden arrows, 
 Brhig ladies all their sorrows ; 
 And till there be more truth in men, 
 Never shoot at maid again ! " — Fletcher. 
 
 110. Captain of our fairy band. 
 
 " His belt was made of mirtle leaves, 
 Plaited in small curious threaves, 
 Beset with amber cowslip studds, ' 
 
 And fring'd about with daizy budds ; 
 In v/hich his bugle home was hung, 
 Made of the babbling eccho's tongue ; 
 Which set unto his moon-burn'd lip, 
 He wiudes, and then his faeries skip : 
 At that, the lazy dawn 'gan sound. 
 And each did trip a faery round." 
 
 Quoted by Halliwell from the Musarum Deliciae. 
 
 113. a lover's fee. 
 
 " Three kisses were properly a lover's fee. ' How many ' sales Batt ; 
 why, three, sales Matt, for that's a mayden's fee.' " — Halliwell. 
 
 114. fond pageant. Meaning what ? 
 
 115. " The poet further depicts his fairies as beings of no high 
 intellectual development. Whoever attentively reads their parts will 
 find that nowhere is reflection imparted to them. Only in one excep- 
 tion does Puck make a sententious remark upon the infidelity of 
 man," ^ Gebvinus. Cf. 92-93. 
 
 116-121. Which has the wilder love of mischief, Oberon or Puck? 
 sport alone. See grammatical notes. 
 122. Why, indeed ? 
 
Scene II. LITEBARY NOTES. 179 
 
 124-125. See grammatical notes. 
 
 140. " Love for such a cl^arry lip 
 
 Would be glad to pawn his arrows ; 
 Venus here to take a sip 
 
 Would sell her doves and teams of sparrows. 
 But they shall not so ; 
 
 Hey nonny, nonny no ! 
 None but I this lip must owe, 
 
 Hey nonny, nonny no ! " — Middleton. 
 
 141. Scan the ^ erse. 
 
 Taurus. A mountain-range in Asia Minor. 
 142-143, Wliat is the figure of speech ? 
 144. Compare ; — 
 
 " I take thy hand, this hand, 
 As soft as dove's down and as white as it, 
 Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd snow that's bolted 
 By the northern blasts twice o'er." 
 
 Winter's Tale, IV. iv. 375-378. 
 
 145-161. What changes are there in Helena's tone ? 
 extort. Meaning what ? 
 169. See grammatical notes. 
 
 171. See grammatical notes. 
 
 172. " O, never say that I was false of heart, 
 
 Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify. 
 As easy might I from myself depart 
 As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie : 
 That is my home of love ; if I have rang'd, 
 Like him that travels I return again." 
 
 Sonnets, CIX. 1-6. 
 188. What is Lysander's gesture ? 
 
 197. bait. Set upon from all sides, as at a hear-baiting the dogs 
 worry the bear, 
 
 200. hasty-footed time. Cf . : — 
 
 "Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets, 
 And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time, 
 To the wide world and all her fading sweets." 
 
 Sonnets, XIX. 5-7. 
 
 201. For the scansion see textual notes. 
 
 203. two artificial gods. " Two gods exercising their creative 
 skill in art ; in this case the art of embroidery." -^Wright. 
 
180 LITERARY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 204. Scan the verse. 
 
 208. So we grew together. Compare : — 
 
 Emilia. " I was acquainted 
 
 Once with a time wlien I enjoy'd a playfellow ; 
 You were at wars when she the grave enrich'd, 
 Who made too proud the hed, took leave o' the moon — 
 Which then look'd pale at parting — when our count 
 Was each eleven. 
 
 HiPPOLYTA. 'Twas Flavina. 
 
 Emilia. Yes. 
 
 You talk of Pirithous' and Theseus' love : 
 
 Theirs has more ground, is more maturely season'd, 
 
 More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs 
 
 The one of th' other may be said to water 
 
 Their intertangled roots of love ; but I 
 
 And she I sighed and spoke of were things innocent, 
 
 Lov'd for we did, and, like the elements 
 
 That know not what nor why, yet do effect 
 
 Kare issues by their operance, our souls 
 
 Did so to one another. What she lik'd, 
 
 Was then of me approv'd ; what not, condemn'd. 
 
 No more arraigment. The flower that I would pluck 
 
 And put within my bosom, she would long 
 
 Till she had such another, and commit it 
 
 To the like innocent cradle, where phcEnix-like 
 
 They died in perfume. On my head no toy 
 
 But was her pattern ; her affections — pretty, 
 
 Though happily her careless wear — I f ollow'd 
 
 For my most serious decking. Had mine ear 
 
 Stol'n some new air, or at adventure humm'd one 
 
 From musical coinage, why, it was a note 
 
 Whereon her spirits would sojourn — rather dwell on — 
 
 And sing it in her slumbers." 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen, I. iii. 49-78. 
 
 213-214. See textual notes. 
 
 219. How does the speech concluded here compare in poetic values 
 with Helena's other utterances ? What are the figures of speech ? 
 At what points does the metre hetray emotion ? Wherein is the 
 picture of childish friendship charming ? How does it compare, in 
 grace and force of expression, with the similar passage quoted from 
 " The Two Nohle Kinsmen " ? And how does all tliis tender remem- 
 
Scene II. LITERARY NOTES. 181 
 
 brance and indignant remonstrance accord with Helena's late inten- 
 tion of betraying Hermia to the " sharp Athenian law" ? 
 
 220. Scan tlie verse. What change of tone is perceptible in this 
 fresh outbreak of Helena's ? 
 
 2t37. Scan the verse. 
 
 240. Scan the verse. 
 
 241. What alteration here in Helena's manner ? 
 
 242. argument. Subject for jest. 
 
 243. What significant touch is here ? 
 
 244. " Weep eyes, break heart ! 
 
 My love and I must part. 
 Cruel fates true love do soonest sever ; 
 O, I shall see thee never, never, never ! 
 O, happy is the maid whose life takes end 
 Ere it knows parent's frown or loss of friend ! 
 
 Weep eyes, break heart ! 
 
 My love and I must part." — Middleton. 
 
 257. Of what complexion is Hermia ? What other evidence as 
 to this is soon furnished by Lysander ? 
 257-258. See textual notes. 
 264. Scan the verse. See textual notes. 
 267-268. What is the sneer ? 
 272. Where does the emphasis fall ? 
 279. For the scansion see textual notes. 
 
 282. juggler. " Malone, Walker, Abbott, § 477, all pronounce this 
 word juggeler, — a needless deformity, when an exclamation-mark 
 can take the place of a syllable." — Furness. 
 283-284. " You stole my love ; fy upon you, fy ! 
 You stole my love, fy, fy a ; 
 Guessed you but what a pain it is to prove, 
 You for your love Avould die a ; 
 
 And henceforth never longer 
 Be such a crafty wronger ; 
 But when deceit takes such a fall, 
 Then farewell sly device and all. 
 You stole my love ; fy upon you, fy ! 
 
 You stole my love, fy, fy a." — Mukday. 
 
 288. What is the taunt ? 
 
 292. Scan the verse. 
 
 296. painted. Is Hermia expressing her spite against the red 
 
182 LITERARY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 and white of Helena's fair complexion, or is her taunt to be taken 
 literally ? 
 
 maypole. See frontispiece to volume V. of Halliwell's edition of 
 Shakespeare. " The plate represents a Maypole of very great height 
 still existing in the village of Welford, Gloucestershire, about five 
 miles from Stratford-on-Avon. It stands in the centre of the village, 
 where three roads meet, and is fixed in a raised circular mound of 
 earth to which there is an ascent by three stone steps. The mound 
 is planted round with a low bush. The pole is painted in continuous 
 vertical [?] stripes of white, red, and blue. It was anciently the 
 custom thus to paint the pole." — Fairholt. 
 
 300. curst. Meaning what ? Cf. the following line. 
 
 302. right. Meaning what ? 
 
 305. Is this quarrel in any way inconsistent with our previous im- 
 pressions of Helena and Hermia ? 
 
 30G-317. What characteristics of Helena appear here ? 
 
 321. Scan the verse. 
 
 324. vixen. " Properly a she-fox ; hence applied to an ill-tem- 
 pered, spiteful woman. The form of the word is especially interesting 
 as being the only instance in which the feminine termination -en — 
 has been preserved." — "Wright, 
 
 327. Whom does Hermia address ? 
 
 328-330. What is Lysander's action ? What is his chivalry ? 
 
 minimus. *' The word came into use probably from the musical 
 term minim, which, in the very old notation, was the shortest note, 
 though now one of the longest." — Nares. 
 
 hindering knot-grass. "It appears that 'knot-grass' was an- 
 ciently supposed to prevent the growth of any animal or child." — 
 Steevens. 
 
 " We want a boy extremely for this function. 
 Kept under for a year with milk and knot-grass." 
 
 Beaumoitt and Fletcher's The Coxcomb, II. ii. 
 
 You bead, you acorn. It should be remembered that Elizabethan 
 beads were usually black and that acorns are broWn. 
 
 335. Had Hermia been holding Lysander, at last accounts, or 
 Lysander Hermia ? 
 
 338. cheek by jole. Meaning what ? 
 
 339. . coil. Meaning what ? 
 
Scene II. LITEBABY NOTJES. 183 
 
 'long of you. Meaning what ? 
 340. "What is the action here ? 
 
 342-343. What of the tragic dignity and poetic heauty of this 
 couplet ? 
 
 346. Is the King of Fairyland guilty of tautology ? 
 
 347. King of shadows. 
 
 " Are they shadows that we see ? 
 And can shadows pleasure give? 
 Pleasures only shadows he, 
 Cast hy hodies we conceive, 
 And are made the things we deem 
 In those figures which they seem." — DANIEL. 
 
 356. starry welkin. Meaning what ? 
 
 357. What constitutes the excellence of the line ? Has there been 
 a change in poetic effect since Oberon and Puck began to speak ? 
 Should we expect the fairies to use the hexameter ? 
 
 364. death-counterfeiting sleep. Cf. : — 
 
 " O, sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her." 
 
 Cymheline, II. ii. 
 
 365. leaden legs. Cf. for a more poetic use of the epithet : — 
 
 " O murderous slumber, 
 Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my hoy ? " 
 
 Julius Csesar, IV. iii. 268-269. 
 370-371. Scan these verses. 
 373. date. Meaning what ? Cf. : — 
 
 *' Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 
 Thou art more lovely and more temperate : 
 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 
 And summer's lease hath all too short a date." 
 
 SonneU, XVIII. 1-4. 
 
 375. What commendable characteristic does the " fairy lord " dis- 
 play here ? 
 
 376. Scan the verse. 
 
 379. Night's swift dragons. Cf . : — 
 
 " 'Less Philomel will deign a song. 
 In her sweetest, saddest plight, 
 Smoothing the rugged brow of night. 
 While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke, 
 Gently o'er the accustom'd oak." 
 
 Milton's II Penseroso. 
 
184 LITER ABY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 380. Aurora's harbinger. Cf . : — 
 
 " Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger, 
 Conies dancing from the east, and leads with her 
 The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 
 The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 
 Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire 
 Mirth, and youth, and warm desire ; 
 Woods and groves are of thy dressing ; 
 Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing ! 
 Thus we salute thee with our early song, 
 And welcome thee, and wish thee long." 
 
 Milton's Song on May Morning. 
 381-382. Scan verse 382. Cf . : — 
 
 "I have heard, 
 The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 
 Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 
 Awake the god of day ; and at his warning, 
 "Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, 
 The extravagant and erring spirit hies 
 To his confine." —Hamlet, I. i. 149-155. 
 
 " Up then crew the red red cock, 
 And up and crew the gray ; 
 The eldest to the youngest said, 
 ' 'Tis time we were away. 
 
 ' The cock doth craw, the day doth daw, 
 
 The channerin ' worm doth chide ; 
 Gin we be miss'd out o' our place, 
 
 A sair pain we maun bide.' " 
 
 Ballad of The Wife of Usher's Well. 
 
 383. It was the ignorant and cruel custom to bury the bodies of sui- 
 cides in the crossways, where many passers-by might trample over 
 them. 
 
 386. Scan the verse. Is the tone of this line and the following 
 more appropriate to Puck or to Oberon ? Is it appropriate to the 
 fairies at all ? 
 
 387. black-brow'd night. Cf . : — 
 
 " Why, here walk I in the black brow of night, 
 To find you out." — King John, V. vi. 17-18. 
 
 389. " Oberon merely means to say metaphorically that he has 
 sported with Aurora, the morning's love, the first blush of morning ; 
 
Scene II. LITERARY NOTES. 185 
 
 and that he is not, like a ghost, compelled to vanish at the dawn of 
 day." — Halliwell. 
 
 391. '* Right against the eastern gate, 
 
 Where the great sun begins his state, 
 Robed in flames and amber light, 
 The clouds in thousand liveries dight." 
 
 Milton's U Allegro, 
 
 392-393. Scan verse 392. The Cowden-Clarkes note, " how gor- 
 geously" Shakespeare "floods" these lines ** with blended rosy, 
 golden, and sea-green hues." 
 
 402. drawn. Meaning what ? 
 
 412. try no manhood. Meaning what ? 
 
 419. gray light. Cf.: — 
 
 ** But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, 
 Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill." 
 
 Hamlet, I. i. 166-167. 
 
 421. Puck's characteristic hurst of mocking laughter, "Ho, ho, 
 ho ! " betrays his origin. The shaggy Devil of the Miracle Plays was 
 known by that very ejaculation. (See note upon "Puck," Act II. 
 Scene I. beginning.) But how is this shout of goblin glee to be ex- 
 plained here,. — as a dramatic aside, or a momentary self-forgetfulness, 
 or an outcry intended at once to give vent to Puck's merriment and 
 to goad Demetrius to more frantic rage as a supposed mockery from 
 Lysander ? 
 
 422. Abide me. Meaning what ? 
 432. See grammatical notes. 
 
 435-436. " Come, Sleep, and with thy sweet deceiving 
 Lock me in delight awhile ; 
 Let some pleasing dreams beguile 
 All my fancies ; that from thence 
 I may feel an influence 
 All my powers of care bereaving ! 
 
 v Though but a shadow, but a sliding, 
 Let me know some little joy ! 
 We that suffer long annoy 
 Are contented with a thought, 
 Through an idle fancy wrought : 
 Oh, let my joy3 have some abiding ! " 
 
 Beaumont anb Pxetcher. 
 
186 LITERARY NOTES. Act III. 
 
 438. We are ready now to consider how far E. "W. Latimer's dis- 
 crimination of tlieir characters is true : "The tall, fair, spiteful, 
 cowardly, exasperated Helena ; the petite, sprightly, dark, confiding, 
 outraged Hermia — brave, but with a will and temper of her own ; 
 Lysander, the true gentleman [! ] and loyer ; Demetrius, who was no 
 gentleman, but at once hot-tempered and a sneak." 
 
 439. curst. Is the meaning here the same as in line 300 below ? 
 
 440. " O yes, O yes ! if any maid 
 
 "Whom leering Cupid has betrayed 
 
 To frowns of spite, to eyes of scorn, 
 
 And would in madness now see torn 
 
 The boy in pieces, let lier come 
 
 Hither, and lay on him her doom." — Lyly. 
 
 442-443, Note the alliterations. 
 
 446. " "Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan, 
 
 Sorrow calls no time that's gone ; 
 Violets plucked the sweetest rain 
 Makes not fresh nor grow again ; 
 Trim thy locks, look cheerfully ; 
 Fate's hid ends eyes cannot see : 
 Joys as winged dreams fly fast, 
 "Why should sadness longer last ? 
 Grief is but a wound to woe ; 
 Gentlest fair, mom-n, mourn no mo." 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
 448-451. "A section of two accents is rarely met with as an in- 
 dependent Terse. The cause was evidently its shortness. Shake- 
 speare, however, has adopted it into that peculiar rhythm in which 
 are expressed the wants and wishes of his fairy-land. Under Shake- 
 speare's sanction it has become classical, and must now be considered 
 as the fairy-dialect of English literature." — Guest. 
 
 461. Compare : — 
 
 " Our wooing doth not end like an old play ; 
 Jack hath not Jill." — Xove's Labour's Lost, Y. ii. 805-806. 
 
 463. Compare : — 
 
 " Fredekic. How now? How goes it? 
 JoHK. "Why, the man has his mare again, and all's well, Frederic." 
 
 Fletcher's The Chances, III. iv. 
 
Scene I, LITERARY NOTES. 187 
 
 ACT IV. — Scene I. 
 
 " This act opens with the court of Titania, who is enamoured of 
 her Bottom. Oberon is watching them, invisible. Observe that 
 Titania's infatuation for Bottom is all purity." — E. \y. Latimer. 
 
 " Faery elves, 
 Whose midnight revels, by a forest side 
 Or fountain, some belated peasant sees. 
 Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon 
 Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 
 Wheels her pale course : they, on their mirth and dance 
 Intent, with jocund music charm his ear." 
 
 MiLTOif's Paradise Lost, I. 781-787. 
 
 2. amiable. Meaning what here ? 
 coy. Meaning what as a verb ? 
 11. What weapons ? 
 Is Bottom's observation of nature accurate ? What does he want 
 of a "red-hipp'd humble-bee" ? 
 
 13-16. Is Bottom making fun of Monsieur Cobweb ? 
 
 19. neif. Meaning what ? Cf. : — 
 
 " Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif." — 2 Henry IV., II. iv. 
 
 20. leave your courtesy. Why does little Monsieur Mustard- 
 seed bow and bow at a distance, instead of boldly presenting his wee 
 "neif" ? As to Cavalery Cobweb's scratching, see textual notes. 
 How is it that Bottom, who but recently was addressing the fairy 
 courtiers as Good Masters, now uses foreign titles ?* 
 
 23. I must to the barber's. Halliwell notes "the exquisite 
 humour of this dialogue. Bottom's discovery of his long hairs, and the 
 singular dexterity with which his new condition is revealed without 
 the discovery of his own transformation to himself." 
 
 25. ass. In what sense does Bottom use the term ? 
 
 28. reasonable good ear. " Schmidt remarks that weavers were 
 supposed to be good singers, and particularly given to singing psalms, 
 being most of them Calvinists and refugees from the Netherlands. 
 Cf. 'Twelfth Night,' II. iii. 61 : 'a catch that will draw three souls 
 out of one weaver ; ' '1 Henry IV.,' II. iv. 147 : 'I would I were a 
 weaver ; I could sing psalms or anything.' " — Rolfe. 
 
 29. the tongs and the bones. 
 
188 LITER ABY NOTES. Act IV. 
 
 "In the original sketches of Inigo Jones, preserved in the library 
 of the Duke of Devonshire, are two figures illustrative of the rural 
 music here alluded to. ' Knackers ' is written hy Inigo Jones under 
 the first figure, and * Tonges and Key ' under the second ; the 
 ' knackers ' were usually made of bone or hard wood, and were played 
 between the fingers, in the same way as we still hear them every day 
 among boys in the streets, and it is a very ancient and popular kind 
 of music ; the ' tongs ' were struck by the ' key,' and in this way the 
 discordant sounds were produced that were so grateful to the ear of 
 the entranced Weaver." — Planche. 
 33. a Tbottle of hay. A truss of hay. 
 
 " It is also a suggestion of the subtlest humor when Titania sum- 
 mons her fairies to wait upon Bottom ; for the fact is that the soul's 
 airy and nimble fancies are constantly detailed to serve the donkey- 
 ism of this world. ' Be kind and courteous to this gentleman.' 
 Divine gifts stick musk-roses in his sleek, smooth head. The world 
 is a peg that keeps all spiritual being tethered. John Watt agonises 
 to teach this vis inertise to drag itself by the car-load ; Palissy starves 
 for twenty years to enamel its platter ; Franklin charms its house 
 against thunder ; Raphael contributes halos to glorify its ignorance 
 of divinity ; all the poets gather for its beguilement, hop in its walk, 
 and gambol before it, scratch its head, bring honey-bags, and light 
 its farthing dip at glow-worms' eyes. Bottom's want of insight is 
 circled round by fulness of insight, his clumsiness by dexterity. In 
 matter of eating, he really prefers provender ; ' good hay, sweet hay, 
 hath no fellow.' But how shrewdly Bottom manages this holding of 
 genius to his service ! He knows how to send it to be Oriental with 
 the blossoms and the sweets, giving it the characteristic counsel not 
 to fret itself too much in the action." — J. Weiss. 
 
 40. How shall we reconcile this with the fairy dimensions of 
 Titania ? 
 
 42. "The question, reduced to its simplest terms, is : Are there 
 here two plants referred to, or only one ? If there are two plants, 
 then either one or both of them bears a name which belonged to the 
 common speech of Shakespeare's day, and which we can now discover 
 only by a resort to literature, an unsure authority when it deals with 
 the popular names of wild flowers. To me it makes little difference 
 what specific flower Titania calls the ' woodbine ; ' she means herself 
 by it just as she designates the repulsive Bottom with two fairies 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 189 
 
 busy scratching his head, under the name of that sweet, lovely flower, 
 the honeysuckle ; and as these two distinct vines entwist each other, 
 so will she wind him in her arms." — Furness. 
 46-75. sweet sight. Sincere or ironical ? 
 
 hateful fool. Oheron's especial disgust at Bottom is natural enough. 
 orient. Meaning what ? 
 Scan verses 64 and 74. 
 
 Is the Fairy King an evenly good poet ? What is the most fanciful 
 passage here ? What is the most memorable line ? What careless 
 repetition of an epithet ? Has Oberon any reason to boast of his 
 magnanimity ? Could exception be taken to any of the words in 
 Skottowe's criticism ? "Knowledge, we have been gravely told, is 
 power, and the animating truth is exemplified by the issue of the 
 contest between Oberon and Titania ; his majesty's acquaintance 
 with the secret virtues of herbs and flowers compels the wayward 
 queen to yield what neither love nor duty could force from her." 
 my bower in Fairy-land. 
 
 " A house made all of Mother of Pearl ; 
 An ivory Tennis-court. 
 A Nutmeg Parlour. 
 A Saphire dining-room. 
 A Ginger Hall. 
 Chambers of Agate. 
 Kitchins all of Chrystal. 
 O admirable ! this is it for certain ! 
 The Jacks are Gold. 
 The Spits are Spanish-needles. 
 Then there he walks, 
 Of Amber. 
 Curious Orchards. 
 That bear as well in Winter as in Summer." 
 
 Randolph's Amyntas. 
 
 78, It is extremely doubtful whether Oberon ever replied to this 
 question. 
 
 81. Has the Fairy Queen more command over music than the 
 Fairy King ? 
 
 86. Compare with the use of supernatural music in "The Tem- 
 pest." 
 
 85-92. rock the ground. " Like a cradle." — Wright. 
 Note the fairy fashion of clinging to a rhyme. Compare III. i., 
 164-174. 
 
I 
 190 LITERARY NOTES. Act IV. 
 
 94. the morning lark. 
 
 " Shed no tear ! O shed no tear ! 
 The flower will bloom another year. 
 Weep no more ! O weep no more ! 
 Young buds sleep in the root's white core. 
 Dry your eyes ! O dry your eyes ! 
 For I was taught in Paradise 
 To ease my breast of melodies — 
 
 Shed no tear." 
 
 95. sad. Sober, as opposed to the sounds of fairy revelry. 
 99-102. But does Oberoii answer ? 
 
 Exeunt fairies. 
 
 *' So when the sun in bed, 
 Curtained with cloudy red, 
 Pillows his chin upon an orient wave. 
 The flocking shadows pale 
 Troop to the infernal jail ; 
 Each fetter'd ghost slips to his several grave ; 
 And the yellow-skirted fays 
 Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved maze." 
 
 Milton's Hymn on the Nativity. 
 
 Enter Theseus. Chaucer had already given Theseus the reputa- 
 tion of a keen hunter. 
 
 " This mene I now by mighty Theseus 
 That for to honte is so desirous, 
 And jaamely the grete hart in May, 
 That in his bed ther daweth him no day, 
 That he nys clad, and redy for to ryde 
 With hont and horn, and houndes him byside. 
 For in his hontyng hath he such delyt. 
 That it is al his joye and appetyt 
 To been himself the grete hertes bane. 
 For after Mars he serveth now Dyane." 
 
 Chaucer's Knightes Tale. 
 
 104. observation. " Observance to a morn of May." 
 
 105. vaward. Meaning what ? 
 
 106-107. "Even Titian never made a hunting-piece of a gusto so 
 fresh and lusty, and so near the first ages of the world, as this." — 
 Hazlitt. 
 
 For the scansion see textual notes. 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 191 
 
 112-114. " According to Pliny (VIII. 83) there were neither bears 
 nor boars in the island. We may therefore leave the natural history 
 to adjust itself, as well as the chronology w;hich brings Cadmus with 
 Hercules and Hiijpolyta into the hunting-field together." — Wright. 
 
 115. chiding. Meaning what ? 
 
 119. What is the emphasis ? 
 
 The hounds of Sparta were famous for speed and keenness of scent. 
 
 120. So fleAv'd, so sanded. "Having the same large hanging 
 chaps and the same sandy colour." — Rolfe. 
 
 122. dew-lapp'd. Meaning what ? 
 
 12.3. match'd in mouth like hells. Cf. : — 
 
 "If you would have your kennell for sweetnesse of cry, then you 
 must compound it of some large dogges, that have deepe solemne 
 mouthes, and are swift in spending, which must, as it were, beare 
 the base in the consort, then a double number of roaring, and loud 
 ringing mouthes, which must beare the counter tenour, then some 
 hollow, plaine, sweete mouthes, which must beare the meane or 
 middle part ; and soe with these three parts of musicke you shall 
 make your cry perfect." — Markham's Country Contentments. 
 
 "Sir Roger, being at present too old for fox-hunting, to keep him- 
 self in action, has disposed of his beagles, and got a pack of stop 
 hounds. What these want in speed, he endeavours to make amends 
 for by the deepness of their mouths and the variety of their notes, 
 which are suited in such manner to each other, that the whole cry 
 makes up a complete concert. He is so nice in this particular, that 
 a gentleman having made him a present of a very fine hound the 
 other day, the knight returned it by the servant with a great many 
 expressions of civility ; but desired him to tell his master that the 
 dog he had sent was indeed a most excellent bass, but that, at pres- 
 ent, he only wanted a counter tenour." — Addison. 
 
 "Dametas, were thine eares ever at a more mjusicall banquet? 
 How the hounds mouthes, like bells, are tuned one under another ! 
 Life o' slothfulness ! the speed of the cry outran my sense of hearing." 
 
 Day's lie of Guls. 
 
 Compare Shakespeare's description of the hounds with his earlier 
 description of a horse. 
 
 What is the difference in descriptive method ? 
 
 And which makes the more vivid picture ? 
 
192 LITERARY NOTES, Act IV. 
 
 " Round-Iioof' d, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long. 
 Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nosti'il wide, 
 High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong. 
 Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide : 
 Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, 
 Save a proud rider on so proud a back." 
 
 Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis. 
 
 131. Why should lie wonder ? He apparently had neither at- 
 tempted any guard over his daughter nor noticed her absence. 
 Theseus, too, judging from the explanation he offers with royal 
 confidence, counts it nothing remarkable that a woman with so grave 
 a doom impending over her should go a-Maying. 
 
 132-133. *' Trip and go ! heave and ho ! 
 
 Up and down, to and fro, 
 From the town to the grove, 
 Two and two, let us rove 
 A-maying, a-playing : 
 Love hath no gainsaying. 
 So merrily trip and go 1 " — jSTash. 
 
 138. wake them. 
 
 " Fly hence, shadows, that do keep 
 "Watchful sorrows charmed in sleep : 
 Tho' the eyes be overtaken, 
 Yet the heart doth ever waken 
 Thoughts, chained up in busy snares 
 Of continual woes and cares : 
 Love and griefs are so exprest ' 
 As they rather sigh than rest. 
 Fly hence, shadows, that do keep 
 "Watchful sorrows charmed in sleep !" — FOKD. 
 
 139. Good morrow. 
 
 " Pack, clouds, away, and welcome, day ! 
 "With night we banish sorrow. 
 Sweet air, blow soft ; mount, lark, aloft 
 To give my love good morrow. 
 "Wings from the wind to please her mind, 
 Notes from the lark I'll borrow : 
 Bird, prune thy Aving, nightingale, sing, 
 To give my love good morrow. 
 To give my love good morrow, 
 Notes from them all I'll borrow." — Heywood. 
 
 Saint Valentine. What is amiss in the Duke's chronology ? 
 
Scene II. LITER AEY NOTES. 193 
 
 141. stand up. What posture liave the lovers taken ? In each 
 case, why ? 
 
 150-153. Does Lysander tell the truth from bewilderment or nat- 
 ural frankness ? 
 
 151-159. Why the repetitions ? 
 
 163. fancy. Meaning what ? . 
 
 161. I wot not by what pow^er. 
 
 " It is worth while to observe how frequently our poet has this kind 
 of unpleasing effect — this dissonant consonance of repeated similar 
 sound — where the word ' wot ' occurs ; only to observe that it accords 
 well with the puzzled impression conveyed by the phrase itself." 
 
 C OWDEN-Cl, ARKES . 
 
 166. For the scansion see textual notes. 
 
 169. ISTot an overwhelming quantity, judging by the past. 
 
 174:-176. " Cupid, pardon Avhat is past, 
 
 And forgive our sins at last ! 
 Then we will be coy no more. 
 But thy deity adore," 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 188. Scan the verse. 
 
 191-192. It is obvious that the comparison is not between Demetrius 
 and a jewel, — unless, perhaps, an opal, — but between the finding of 
 Demetrius and the finding of a jewel. Helena's sense of ownership 
 is yet insecure. Dazed with delight, she doubts her own good for- 
 tune. Like the finder of a jewel, she is not sure but that a claimant 
 for her treasure may at any moment appear. 
 
 193. For the scansion see textual notes. 
 
 202. Heigh-ho. Signifying what ? 
 
 209. patch'd fool. " I have met with a remarkable proof of the 
 supposed connexion between the term patch, applied to a fool, and 
 the garb such a character sometimes wore, in a Flemish picture of 
 the sixteenth century. In this picture, which represents a grand al 
 fresco entertainment of the description given to Queen Elizabeth 
 during her ' Progresses,' there is a procession of masquers and mum- 
 mers, led by a fool or jester, whose dress is covered with many- 
 coloured coarse patches from head to heel." — Staunton. 
 
 210-213. Cf. : — 
 
 " I, Pegg Pudding, promise thee, William Cricket, 
 That I'le hold thee for mine own dear lilly. 
 While I have a head in mine eye, and a face on my nose, 
 
194 LITERARY NOTES. Act IV. 
 
 A mouth in my tongvie, and all that a woman should have, 
 From the croAvn of my foot, to the soal of my head," 
 
 JFily Beguiled. 
 
 213-214. It is a tliousand pities that Peter Quince did BOt comply 
 with this suggestion. 
 
 218. after death. See textual notes. 
 
 "What is the most humorous feature of this speech ? Was Bottom, 
 during his enchantment, aware that he wore an ass-head ? "Was Bot- 
 tom's language at all dignified by the influence of the fairy bower ? 
 Does he seem, by comparison with Titania's flower-crowned, donkey, 
 especially rude and clownish now ? 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 3-4. Is this prompt despair in accordance with Starveling's 
 character ? " Starveling's ' transported ' means Snout's ' translated,' 
 which means our transformed.' " — Furness. 
 
 9. the best -wit. How does Bottom's wit, in fact, compare With 
 that of his fellows ? 
 
 11-12. Is Quince probably right as to Bottom's person and voice ? 
 13-14. paramour. Is Quince too intellectual to blunder on a 
 word ? Is it inappropriate that the young and slender Flute should 
 be scandalized and eager to set the manager right ? 
 
 15-18. How is it well that Snug the Joiner should report the 
 weddings ? 
 had gone forward. Meaning what ? 
 made men. Meaning what ? 
 19-24. Is there anything magnanimous in Flute's emotion ? 
 sixpence a day. 
 
 "Preston acted a part in John Ritwise's play of 'Dido' before 
 Queen Elizabeth, at Cambridge, in 1564 ; and the Queen was so well 
 pleased that she bestowed on him a pension of twenty pounds a year, 
 which is little more than a shilling a day.'" — Steevens. 
 
 " Sixpence sterling, in Shakespeare's time, was equal to about 
 eighty-seven and a half cents now — no mean gratuitous addition 
 to the daily wages of a weaver during life." — White. 
 
 26. hearts. Meaning what ? Why this blustering entrance ? 
 
 27. courageous. " It is not worth while to guess what Quince 
 intended to say. He used the first long word that occurred to him, 
 without reference to its meaning ; a practice which is not yet alto- 
 gether extinct." — Wright. 
 
Scene I. LITER ABY NOTES. 195 
 
 29-35. What is the accompanying stage action ? 
 36-37. good strings to your beards. Explain. 
 new ribbons to your pumps. Explain. 
 39. preferred. Recomnaended to the Duke's notice. 
 44^5. " One part of Bottom's character is easily understood, and 
 is often well acted. Among his own companions he is the cock of the 
 walk." — Maginn. 
 
 " We never lose the cock-a-whoop yein in Bottom's character." — 
 Cowden-Clarke. 
 
 ACT V. — Scene I. 
 
 " The fifth act, like the finale of a finely- wrought composition, 
 placidly resumes the theme which was announced at its commence- 
 ment, and simply blends with it the counter-theme with which it has 
 been intricately worked up during the body of the piece. The poet 
 ends the fairy freaks which have harassed the human mortals through 
 this dream, by turning the tormentors into benefactors, and bringing 
 them into the house to bless the place and the children born of the 
 marriages celebrated on that night. After the grotesque fun and 
 broad humor of the interlude, the dream resumes its fanciful and 
 graceful form, and fades upon the mind, a troop of shadowy figures, 
 singing benisons." — White. 
 
 2-3. " In the attitude of Theseus towards the supernatural there 
 is something essentially modem. . . . And we feel at once how the 
 introduction of such an element enhances the power of the earlier 
 views ; the courteous, kindly, man-of-the-world scepticism some- 
 how brings out the sphere of magic against which it sets the shadow 
 of its demand. The belief of the peasant is emphasised and defined, 
 while it is also intensified by what we feel the inadequate confuta- 
 tion of the prince," — Julia Wedgwood. 
 
 4. seething. Meaning what ? Cf . " Would any but these boiled 
 brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty hunt this weather? " — Win- 
 ter's Tale, III. iii, 64. 
 
 5-6 apprehend. . . . comprehends. " That slightly catch at, 
 as it were, or conceive the idea of more than reason can ever fully 
 grasp or contain." — Wright. 
 Cf. the use of these words in lines 19 and 20 below. 
 
 8. compact. Firmly fashioned. 
 
196 LITERARY NOTES. Act V. 
 
 11. brow of Egypt. Gypsy's brow. Cf. Faustus's apostrophe 
 to the vision of Helen : — 
 
 " "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, 
 And hurnt the topless towers of Ilium?" 
 
 Marlowe's Faustus, Scene XTV. 
 
 2-22. This great utterance by Theseus — perhaps, after all, the 
 central poem of the play — is to my reading so marred by the anti- 
 climax of the last two lines that I must still doubt their Shake- 
 sperian authorship. The Cowden-Clarkes claim that the function of 
 this unhappy couplet is to bring the conversation back from abstract 
 discussion to the concrete case in hand. But what has a bear to do 
 with the adventures of the enchanted night ? To what faculty in 
 man does Theseus attribute " these antique fables " and " these fairy 
 toys" ? When he groups "lovers and madmen," is he not himself 
 a lover ? "What distinction is apparent between the love of Theseus 
 and the love, or loves, of Lysander and Demetrius ? Does Theseus 
 hold in higher esteem "shaping fantasies" or "cool reason"? 
 Wherein is his description of the poet true and beautiful ? Does 
 Theseus voice Shakespeare's estimate of poetry ? 
 
 " It is a delightful example of Shakspere's impartiality that he can 
 represent Theseus with so much genuine enthusiasm. Mr. Matthew 
 Arnold has named our aristocrats with their hardy, efficient man- 
 ners, their addiction to field sports, and their hatred of ideas, 'the 
 Barbarians.' Theseus is a splendid and gracious aristocrat, perhaps 
 not without a touch of the Barbarian in him. He would have found 
 Hamlet a wholly unintelligible person, who, in possession of his own 
 thoughts, could be contented in a nutshell. When Shakspere wrote 
 the 'Two Gentlemen of Verona,' in which, with little dramatic 
 propriety, the Duke of Milan celebrates 'the force of heaven-bred 
 poesy,' we may reasonably suppose that the poet might not have 
 been quite just to one who was indifferent to art. But now his self- 
 mastery has increased, and therefore with unfeigned satisfaction he 
 presents Theseus, the master of the world, who, having beauty and 
 heroic strength in actual possession, does not need to summon them 
 to occupy his imagination — the great chieftain to whom art is a very 
 small concern of life, fit for a leisure hour between battle and battle." 
 
 Dowden's Mind and Art of Shakspere. 
 26. constancy. Consistency. 
 
Scene I. LITERACY NOTES. 197 
 
 27. admirable. Meaning what here ? 
 
 28. Hippolyta is right, but Theseus does not take the trouble to 
 discover it. When she falls to logic, he lightly changes the subject. 
 
 29-31. Which is the more graceful, — Theseus' greeting or Ly- 
 sander's response ? 
 
 34. after-supper. " On ordinary occasions the gentlemen of 
 Shakespeare's age appear to have dined about eleven o'clock, and 
 then to have retired either to a garden-house or other suitable apart- 
 ment and enjoyed their rere-hanque} or dessert. Supper was usually 
 served between five and six ; and this, like the dinner, was frequently 
 followed by a collation consisting of fruits and sweetmeats, called the 
 rere-supper." — Staunton. 
 
 39. abridgement. Meaning what ? 
 
 40-41. Why are these two lines so melodious ? 
 
 42. brief. Meaning what ? Cf . : — 
 
 " This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels, 
 I am possessed of." — Antony and Cleopatra, V. ii. 138-139. 
 
 44-60. See Textual Notes. 
 
 The battle with the Centaurs. From the twelfth book of Ovid's 
 "Metamorphoses." 
 
 The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals. From the eleventh book of 
 Ovid's " Metamorphoses." Cf , : — 
 
 " What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore, 
 The Muse herself, for her enchanting son. 
 When by the rout that made the hideous roar 
 His gory visage down the stream was sent, 
 Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore?" 
 
 Milton's Lycidas. 
 The thrice-three Muses mourning. Note the alliteration 
 throughout the title. "Warton suggested 'that Shakespeare here, 
 perhaps, alluded to Spenser's poem, entitled "The Tears of the 
 Muses," on the neglect and contempt of learning. This piece first 
 appeared in quarto with others, 1591.' It was supposed by Knight 
 that the death of Greene may be here referred to, which t jok place 
 in 1592." —Wright. 
 On verse 59 see Textual Notes. 
 
 It is noteworthy that Theseus passes by battle-song, tragic play, 
 and literary satire, and fixes his choice, without consulting his 
 
198 LITERARY NOTES. Act V. 
 
 bride, on what to him is farce, whatever it is to the "hard-handed" 
 actors. 
 
 74. unbreath'd^ Unpractised. 
 
 79-80. " ' Intents ' here, as the subject of the two verbs ' stretch' d ' 
 and ' conn'd,' is used both for endeavour and for the object of 
 endeavour, by a license which other writers than Shakespeare have 
 assumed." — 'White. 
 
 82-83. What constitutes the beauty here ? 
 
 84-90. Might it have been cjourteous in "mighty Theseus" to 
 let Hippolyta choose her own bridal masque ? How does he meet 
 her protest ? And what, in fact, is Hippolyta's real objection to the 
 proposed play ? 
 
 91-92. See Textual Notes. 
 
 93. Scan the verse. 
 
 93-105. "An allusion, I think, to what happened at Warwick, 
 where the recorder, being to address the Queen, was so confounded 
 by the dignity of her presence as to be unable to proceed with his 
 speech. I think it was in Nichols's * Progresses of Queen Elizabeth ' 
 that I read this- circumstance, and I have also read that her Majesty 
 was very well pleased when such a thing happened." — Blakeway. 
 
 106. Prologue. " In the earlier period of our drama the prologue- 
 speaker was either the author in person or his representative, . . . 
 From the Prologue to Beaumont and Fletcher's * Woman Hater,' 1607, 
 we learn that it was, even at that date, customary for the person who 
 delivered that portion of the performance to be furnished with a gar- 
 land of bay, as well as with a black velvet cloak." — Collier. 
 
 107. Let him approach. We may believe that Master Peter 
 Quince, in his poet's garland and scholar's cloak, is badly frightened. 
 
 " Present not yourself e on the stage (especially at a new play) until 
 the quaking prologue hath (by rubbing) got cullor in his cheekes, and 
 is ready to give the trumpets their cue that bee's upon point to 
 enter." — Dekker's Guls Hornbook, 1609. 
 
 " Doe you not know that I am the Prologue ? Do you not see this 
 long black velvet cloke upon my backe ? Have you not sounded 
 thrice ? Do I not looke pale as fearing to bee out in my speech ? 
 Nay, have I not all the signes of a Prologue about me ?" — Het- 
 wood's Four Prentises of London, 1615. 
 
 108-117. If Master Quince had stood upon points, how would the 
 Prologue read ? 
 
Scene I. LITEEABY NOTES. 199 
 
 Cf. Ralph's letter to Dame Custance. — Ralph Roister Bolster, 1553, 
 III. ii. 
 
 119-120. How is Lysander's figure in keeping for him ? 
 
 122-124. How is Hippolyta's figure in keeping for her ? 
 
 recorder. "Recorders were wind-instruments of different sizes 
 and tones, usually played in sets of six." Cf. "Govern theso vent- 
 ages with your fingers and thumh." — Hamlet, III. ii. 372. 
 
 127-151. What characters in the original cast have dropped out ? 
 Who takes the part of Wall ? Who of Lion ? Who of Moonshine ? 
 
 How are we to account for the improvement in the Prologue's 
 second speech ? 
 
 In this first quatrain, what obvious devices for rhyme ? 
 
 lime. See Textual Notes. 
 
 For the stanza (139-141) see Textual Notes. 
 
 What does Shakespeare ridicule here ? 
 
 Select the best absurdities of the speech. 
 
 155-164. What does the movement of the verse indicate Tom 
 Snout's style of delivery to be ? ^ 
 
 sinister. Meaning what here ? and why used ? 
 
 167. partition. Perhaps an academic pun. "I believe the pas- 
 sage should be read. This is the wittiest partition that ever I heard 
 in discourse. Alluding to the many stupid partitions in the argu- 
 mentative writings of the time." — Farmer. 
 
 170-181. Poor Pyramus, with all his vehement exclamation and 
 apostrophe, his rant and roar, is yet a lover at whom Demetrius and 
 Lysander have no right to laugh. "When these gentlemen consider 
 Pyramus a bad lover, they forget that they had previously been no 
 better themselves ; they had then declaimed about love as unrear- 
 sonably as here Pyramus and Thisbe. Like the latter, they were 
 separated from their happiness by a wall which was no wall but a 
 delusion, they drew daggers which were as harmless as those of Pyra- 
 mus, and were, in spite of all their efforts, no better than the mechan- 
 ics, that is to say, they were the means of making others laugh, the 
 elves and ourselves. Nay, Puck makes the maddest game of these 
 good citizens, for Bottom is more comfortable in the enchanted wood 
 than they." — Scholl. 
 
 182. sensible. Meaning what here? Cf. "I would your cambric 
 were sensible as your finger." — Coriolanus, I. iii. 95. 
 
 184-187. How is Bottom true to his character here? 
 
200 LITERARY NOTES. Act V. 
 
 191. How is tills for climax ? 
 
 193. Has Bottom been taken with this verbal disorder before ? 
 
 196. Limander. Leander. 
 
 197. Helen. Hero. 
 
 198. Shafalus. Cephalus. 
 Procrus. Procris. 
 
 206. mural. See Textual Notes. 
 
 209. hear without \varning. " Walls have ears," and therefore 
 Wall, having learned from the dialogue between Pyramus and Thisbe 
 that his part is discharged, coolly walks away. 
 
 210-211. Is Hippolyta lacking in a sense of humor ? 
 
 Is the sense of humor supposed to be uppermost in a bride ? 
 
 212-213. In this deep-toned utterance, what feeling of the poet's 
 own islet slip, and what thought of the dramatist's and actor's art ? 
 The tolerance of Theseus is rooted in what ? 
 
 214-215. What is Hippolyta's tone in answer ? 
 
 216-218. What change in the mood of Theseus ? 
 
 219. And one of these ladies has been the Queen of the Amazons. 
 
 221. A lion-fell. A lion-skin. See Textual Notes. 
 
 230. What is the bad pun of Demetrius ? It is to be hoped that 
 the jocular efforts of Demetrius and Lysander filled Helena and 
 Hermia with delighted admiration. 
 
 239. Scan the verse. The unconscious jest of poor Robin's be- 
 ginning lies in the fact that Elizabethan lanterns were made of 
 horn. 
 
 219. Demetrius, adding to his former ill repute the odium of a 
 punster, is quibbling again. "To be in snuff" is an old phrase sig- 
 nifying to be angry. 
 
 256. The timid tailor's embarrassment at the Duke's criticism 
 and the mirth of the gentles makes him forget his lines. 
 
 257. Starveling rises to the occasion at last, though his delivery 
 is perhaps curt and sulky. This is not the only instance where pa- 
 trician discourtesy has bred plebeian rudeness. 
 
 258. The Man-in- the-Moon. According to one legend, this per- 
 sonage was Isaac, bearing the wood for his own sacrifice ; according 
 to another, Cain, carrying the most worthless product of the soil, 
 thorns, to lay upon the altar ; and according to a third, the man who, 
 for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day, was stoned to death by 
 the children of Israel. {Numbers, xv. 32-36.) 
 
Scene I. LITERARY NOTES. 201 
 
 " Next after Mm come lady Cynthia, 
 
 And on her brest a chorle painted ful even 
 
 Bering a bushe of tbornis on his bake, 
 
 Which for his theft might clime no ner the heven." 
 
 The Testament of Creseide. 
 
 It is only the dog that is left unaccounted for. 
 
 267-268. A gracious touch of amends, in keeping with womanly- 
 character, to poor derided Moonshine. 
 
 269. mous'd. Meaning what ? 
 
 272-275. What peculiarities of Bottom are reflected in this qua- 
 train ? 
 
 276-287. " A part to tear a cat in, to make all split." 
 
 thread and thrum. "An expression borrowed from weaving; 
 the thread being the substance of the warp ; the thrum, the small 
 tuft beyond, where it is tied." — Nares. 
 
 The Cowden-Clarkes have shown that Shakespeare is familiar with 
 the technical terms not only of weaving, but of other industries, as 
 cutlery and inlaying ; the sports of falconry, hawking, hunting, 
 archery, wrestling, fencing, tilting, bowling, tennis, gaming, and 
 bear-baiting ; the sterner pursuits of gunnery, soldiery, horseman- 
 ship, and seamanship ; and the fine arts of music and painting ; 
 while he uses with no less ease the especial vocabularies of heraldry 
 and medicine, court, church, bar, and university. 
 
 290. Is Hippolyta ironical ? 
 
 298-299. "Lest our author [Peter Quince ?] should seem charge- 
 able with an inefficient rhyme, it ought to be remembered that the 
 broad pronunciation now almost peculiar to the Scotch, was anciently 
 current in England. Throughout the old copies of Shakespeare's 
 plays, tattered is always spelt tottered." — Steevens. 
 
 304. Halliwell thinks tongue "too absurd to be humorous." 
 Doubtless Hippolyta would agree with him. 
 
 307. The very worst pun yet, if die is meant to suggest duo ; but 
 probably the reference is to the spotted dice. 
 
 311-312. Perhaps, after all, the pun of Theseus surpasses the rest 
 in badness. 
 
 313-314. How is this criticism characteristic of Hippolyta ? 
 
 325-348. Kotice the country imagery in this nonsense and the sug- 
 gestions appropriate to the weaver. Cf. line 286 above. 
 
202 LITERARY NOTES. Act V. 
 
 Many wise commentators have gone into poetic partnership with 
 Peter Quince on stanza 331-332, suggesting as improvements : — 
 
 " These lily brows, 
 
 This cherry nose," 
 
 and 
 
 " This hly hp, 
 
 Ttis cherry tip." 
 
 shore. See grammatical xiotes, 
 
 Comi)are tlie interlude as acted with the interlude as planned and 
 rehearsed, 
 
 352-353. What characteristic touch of Bottom is here ? 
 
 354. Bergomask. " A rustic dance as performed hy the peasants 
 of Bergomasco, a Venetian province, whose clownish manners were 
 imitated by all the Italian buffoons." — Nares. 
 
 356-362. What change of tone in Theseus's answer ? Why? 
 
 363. What is the effect of this sudden change from prose to 
 blank verse ? 
 
 371-390. Upon this speech of Puck, Coleridge has commented : 
 " Very Anacreon in perfectness, proportion, grace, and spontaneity ! 
 So far it is Greek ; — but then add, O ! what wealth, what wild ran- 
 ging, and yet what compression and condensation of English fancy ! 
 In truth, there is nothing in Anacreon more perfect than these thirty 
 lines, or half so rich or imaginative. They form a speckless dia- 
 mond." 
 
 Enumerate the successive pictures and suggestions. Were there 
 lions and wolves in the Athenian forest, or is it in girdling the globe 
 that Puck has encountered these ? 
 
 What alternating alliteration in tha second quatrain ? 
 
 Cf.: — 
 
 " 'Tis now the very witching time of night, 
 
 "When churchyards yawn." — Hamlet, III. ii. 353-354. 
 
 For the pronunciation of Hecate, scan the verse. Is this the classic 
 pronunciation ? 
 
 triple. Luna, Cynthia, Phoebe in heaven ; Diana on earth ; Hec- 
 ate, or Persephone, in hell. Ben Jonson, in his apostrophe to this 
 multiform deity as Cynthia, ascribes to her the emblems and quali- 
 ties of Diana. The "silver chair" or chariot was drawn by two 
 steeds, one black as night and one white as dawn. 
 
Scene I. LITERABY NOTES. 203 
 
 " Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, 
 Now the sun is laid to sleep, 
 Seated in thy silver chair, 
 State in wonted manner keep : 
 Hesperus entreats thy light, 
 Goddess excellently bright. 
 
 Lay thy bow of pearl apart. 
 
 And thy crystal shining quiver ; 
 Give unto the flying hart 
 Space to breathe, how short soever : 
 Thou that mak'st a day of night, 
 Goddess excellently bright." 
 behind the door. 
 
 That is, let us hope, from behind the door ; although it has been 
 suggested that " in large old houses where the doors of halls and gal- 
 leries are thrown backward, and seldom or never shut," Puck's proce- 
 dure would be nothing uncommon if he should, indeed, merely sweep 
 up dust-heaps in these convenient shelters. But it is incredible that 
 the goblin who " would many times walke in the night with a broome 
 on his shoulder," should be so uncleanly. Neatness was a cardinal 
 point with the fairies and especially with their queen, better known 
 by the name of Mab than Titania : — 
 
 " This is Mab, the mistress fairy. 
 That doth nightly rob the dairy. 
 And can hurt or help the churning 
 (As she please) without discerning. 
 She that pinches country wenches. 
 If they rub not clean their benches. 
 And Avith sharper nails remembers 
 When they rake not up their embers ; 
 But, if so they chance to feast her. 
 In a shoe she drops a tester." 
 
 Ben Jonson's Althrope Masque. 
 
 " Where fires thou find'st unrak'd and hearths unswept. 
 There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry ; 
 Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery." 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, V. v. 48-50. 
 
 " A pleasant meade, 
 Where faires often did their measures treade, 
 Which in the meadow made such circles greene, 
 As if with garlands it had crowned beene. 
 Within one of these rounds was to be scene 
 
204 LITERARY NOTES. Act V. 
 
 A Wllock rise, where oft the f airie qvieene 
 
 At twy-light sate, and did command her elves. 
 
 To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves. 
 
 And further, if hy maiden's over-sight, 
 
 Within doores water were not brought at night, 
 
 Or if they spred no table, set no bread, 
 
 They should have nips from toe unto the head ; 
 
 And for the maid that had perform'd each thing. 
 
 She in the water-pail bade leave a ring." 
 
 Browne's Pastorals. 
 
 Enter the King and Queen of Fairies, loith all their Train. 
 
 " 'Twas not an earthly pageant : 
 Those who looked upon the sight 
 Passing all human glory, 
 Saw not the yellow moon, 
 Saw not the mortal scene. 
 Heard not the night-wind's rush, 
 Heard not an earthly sound. 
 Saw but the fairy pageant. 
 Heard but the heavenly strains 
 That filled the lonely dwelling," 
 
 Shelley's Queen Mab. 
 391-394. See textual notes. 
 
 395-400. If, as Johnson supposes, two songs have been lost here, 
 lovers of poetry can hardly be comforted. 
 
 Note, in all this fairy music, the brevity and lightness of the words, 
 especially where dancing is called for. What is the effect of rhyme 
 and rhythm at the very close of Oberon's last utterance (421-422) ? 
 
 412. prodigious. Unnatural. 
 
 413. Scan the verse. 
 
 415. Field-dew is the holy water of the fairies. 
 
 423. shadows. What reminiscence does the line carry ? 
 
 See 212 below. 
 
 432. Scan the verse. 
 
 433. the serpent's tongue. Hisses. 
 437. Give me your hands. Plaudits. 
 
 A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 
 
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