A Shaksp 
 Festival 
 
 Sarah E. Simons 
 
 Scott, Foresman and Company 
 
 Chicago New York 
 
 ■■. 
 
A Shakspere Festival 
 
 BEING 
 
 A FANTASY OF MOCKERY AND MIRTH 
 
 COMPOSED OF 
 
 SCENES FROM VARIOUS PLAYS 
 
 Presented by 
 
 FIVE COMPANIES OF PLAYERS 
 
 Before Queen Elizabeth and Her Court 
 
 Time— AN APRIL DAY 
 Place— THE OPEN 
 
 Music and dance and revelry and song, 
 Trip it and skip it with us all day long. 
 
 BY 
 
 SARAH E. SIMONS 
 
 HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, WASHINGTON, D. C, HIGH SCHOOLS 
 
 SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 
 CHICAGO NEW YORK 
 

 COPTP.IGHT, 1916, BY 
 
 SCOTT, FOEESMAN AND COMPANY 
 
 MAR 31 1916 
 
 ©CLA427490 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 This little pageant was prepared for an all-high school Shak- 
 spere celebration by the schools of Washington, D. C, of the 
 tercentenary of Shakspere's death. It is to be presented by the 
 five high schools of the city in the spring of 1916. 
 
 Because of inquiries from out of town concerning our Shaks- 
 pere festival and because of the fact that many teachers are too 
 busy to plan their own celebrations, it was thought advisable to 
 have our pageant printed. The publishers, Scott, Foresman 
 and Company, have enabled us to realize our desire in this 
 respect and to them we wish to extend our sincere thanks. It is 
 hoped that the suggestions contained in the pageant may aid, 
 though ever so little, in stimulating enthusiasm for the nation- 
 wide tribute that is being paid this year to the genius of the 
 greatest of all world-poets. 
 
 There is included in this pamphlet an essay on Teaching 
 Shaks-pere in Schools, by Dr. William Allen Neilson of Harvard 
 University, a most sane and illuminating treatment of the sub- 
 ject. Teachers of English will, I know, hail it as a timely contri- 
 bution to Shaksperean discussion ; it will surely play its part in 
 arousing interest in the study of Shakspere. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Prefatory Note 3 
 
 Setting 7 
 
 Fairy Frolics (From A Midsummer Night's Dream) 10 
 
 The Casting of the Charm 11 
 
 The Working of the Charm 15 
 
 The Release 16 
 
 In Celebration of the Contract of True Love 18 
 
 First Episode (From The Tempest) 18 
 
 Second Episode (From As You Like It) 23 
 
 The Merry War of Words 28 
 
 First Episode (From The Taming of the Shrew) 29 
 
 Second Episode (From Henry the Fifth) 35 
 
 The Jolly Merchant Plies His Trade 39 
 
 First Episode (From The Winter's Tale) 40 
 
 Second Episode (From The Winter's Tale) 42 
 
 Fun for Everyman 46 
 
 First Episode (From Twelfth Night) 46 
 
 Second Episode (From A Midsummer Night's Dream) . . 50 
 
 Epilogue 57 
 
 Teaching Shakspere in Schools Neilson 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 SETTING 
 
 [The scene presents the court of Queen Elizabeth assembled in the open. 
 She sits enthroned in all her splendor; courtiers and ladies-in-waiting are 
 grouped about her. At a blast of the trumpets the Herald enters and 
 announces the coming of the Players.] 
 
 Herald 
 
 The Players come, my Queen, at thy command 
 
 To do thy bidding. Revelry and mirth 
 
 And Laughter holding both his sides, forsooth, 
 
 Shall rule the festival prepared for thee. 
 
 No note of sadness on this April day 
 
 Shall mar the revels. All shall sing and dance. 
 
 Five companies of Players gathered here 
 
 In friendly rivalry, shall soon contend, 
 
 And Shakspere leads them, — thy own Poet Will. 
 
 His actors they, and they have learned to speak 
 
 The speech quite trippingly upon the tongue. 
 
 Thy Master of the Revels for the nonce, 
 
 He "will present the Players each in turn, 
 
 And each shall strive the other to out-do 
 
 In merry making for our Faerie Queen. 
 
 Content the Players and content are we 
 
 If thou canst say, — our revels all complete, — 
 
 A day in April never came so sweet! 
 
 [A flourish of the trumpets is a signal for the entrance of the Players. 
 There are five Companies, each led by its own Herald, who bears a standard 
 displaying the name of the Company. Shakspere leads the procession and as 
 Master of the Bevels takes his position near the Queen and presents each 
 Company to her. The Players are singing characteristic Shakspere songs as 
 they march in and circle round the field. After each in turn has been pre- 
 sented to the Queen and the music has ceased, Shakspere steps forward and, 
 addressing the Queen, speaks the Prologue.] 
 
 7 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Prologue 
 
 (Spoken by Shakspere) 
 
 My Queen, and gentles all, 
 I come once more to make you laugh. All things 
 That bear a weighty and a serious brow 
 Are banished. Scenes that make the lips to smile, 
 The eyes to dance; music to glad the ear 
 We shall present. And Prologue-like I now 
 Will tell you fair beholders of our play. 
 Oh, for a muse of fire that would ascend 
 The highest heaven of invention! 
 But pardon, Faerie Queen, and gentles all, 
 Pardon my halting measure, fait 'ring speech, 
 For needs must I essay i' th' name of Time 
 To use my wings and on my passage swift 
 Glide o'er the events of many comedies 
 That you have heard before or first shall hear 
 This day. — And some the world shall know 
 *Only in after time. — My privilege 
 To overthrow the law and in one hour 
 Create a medley of as many tales 
 As I shall choose to use. But only those 
 Of revelry and mirth and happy thoughts, 
 Such as are suited to the joyous spring 
 Shall entrance gain into our festival. . 
 Be glad as we would make you, think you see 
 The very persons of our changing story 
 As they were living; think you see them all: 
 Call it a medley, call it what you will, 
 Only forget your cares in laughter gay, 
 Let mirth supreme rule all this April day. 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. The Companies take position and execute a 
 dance.] 
 
 * This accounts for the use of plays written after Queen Elizabeth's death. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Prologue 
 
 (Continuing) 
 
 Now, gentles, by your leave, before the play 
 
 I'll chronicle in brief the incidents 
 
 "Which afterwards the actors will perform. 
 
 Piece out our imperfections with your minds, 
 
 For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our scenes 
 
 Shifting them here and there, jumping o'er time. 
 
 Conjure your fancies until you behold 
 
 Each scene in turn that fills this hour's illusion. 
 
 Come, revel with the flitting fairy folk; 
 
 And next enjoy the stately masque called forth 
 
 To celebrate the contract of true love. 
 
 See where the forest lovers all at last, 
 
 With wedding bells and wedding song and dance 
 
 Make merry, led by Kosalind the fair. 
 
 Work, work you fancies, follow at our will, 
 
 So shall you hear a merry war of words, 
 
 And you shall learn how stubborn Kate must yield 
 
 Obedience to her lord, Petruchio. 
 
 Again shall you behold how charmingly 
 
 King Henry plays the lover when in France. 
 
 Next watch the jolly merchant ply his trade, — 
 
 Laugh loud with him. Then listen to the tale 
 
 Clever Maria has prepared for you 
 
 At the expense of grave Malvolio, — " 
 
 A scene hilarious and full of fun. 
 
 Last shall you see how Pyramus and Thisbe 
 
 Met their sad fate. And yet the manner of it 
 
 Is mirth-provoking in its version new. 
 
 The spirit of our play is bubbling o'er 
 
 With fun for every man. Come gentles all, 
 
 And sing with us the songs of Arcady, 
 
 And dance with us a roundel at the close. 
 
 The Court and Players for the nonce are one, 
 
 Feeling the human touch of kith and kin. 
 
 As Prologue now, my Queen, I say adieu, 
 
 The Play begins, — the actors come in view. 
 
10 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. The first Company of Players comes forward. 
 The Herald presents the Players to Shakspere, announcing the name of the 
 Company and the title of the Act. Shakspere then speaks the Chorus.] 
 
 FAIRY FROLICS 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 THE QUEEN'S PLAYEES 
 
 Chorus (Spoken oy Sliakspere) 
 
 Play with your fancies now, my gentles all, 
 
 And in imagination then behold 
 
 The frolics of the fairies on the green, 
 
 The scene all flooded with the moon's pale light, 
 
 And dainty figures flitting to and fro, 
 
 While Puck skips in and out, the merry fellow! 
 
 See where Titania leads her fairy folk 
 
 In mazes of the ever-changing dance. 
 
 Sweet music floats upon the ear; anon 
 
 A fairy sings a song of wondrous charm. 
 
 One discord only sounds, — 'tis when the King 
 
 Chances upon his fairy Queen, and then 
 
 A quarrel hot ensues, for each one claims 
 
 Possession of a pretty changeling boy. 
 
 At last the discord harsh resolves itself 
 
 Into sweet harmony and all is well, 
 
 By virtue of a trick King Oberon plays 
 
 Upon his Queen, aided by Puck, his sprite. 
 
 Midsummer is the night it now must seem 
 
 And all the action gentles, but a dream! 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 11 
 
 First Episode 
 The Casting of the Charm 
 
 FROM 
 
 * A MIDSUMMEE NIGHT'S DREAM 
 
 Act II, Scene I 
 [A wood near Athens.} 
 
 Enter a Fairy at one door and Robin Goodfellow at another. 
 Robin. How now, spirit! whither wander you? 
 
 Song 
 
 Fai. Over hill, over dale, 
 
 Thorough bush, thorough brier, 
 Over park, over pale, 
 
 Thorough flood, thorough fire, 5 
 
 I do wander every where, 
 
 Swifter than the moon's sphere; 
 And I serve the fairy Queen, 
 To dew her orbs upon the green. 
 
 The cowslips tall her pensioners be; 10 
 
 In their gold coats spots you see; 
 Those be rubies, fairy favors, 
 In those freckles live their savors. 13 
 
 Either I mistake your shape and making quite, 32 
 
 Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite 
 Call'd Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he 
 
 That frights the maidens of the villagery, 35 
 
 Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, 40 
 
 You do their work, and they shall have good luck. 
 Are not you he? 
 Robin. Thou speakest 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, 45 
 
 * The edition used is the Lake English Classics : Scott, Foresman and Com- 
 pany. 
 
12 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Neighing in likeness of a filly foal ; 
 And sometime lurk I in a gossip 's bowl, 
 In very likeness of a roasted crab, 
 And when she drinks, against her lips I bob 
 
 And on her withered dewlap pour the ale. 50 
 
 The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, 
 
 Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me, * 52 
 
 But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon. 58 
 
 Fai. And here my mistress. Would that he were gone! 
 
 [Enter the King of Fairies (Oberon) at one door with his train; and 
 the Queen (Titania\) at another with hers. (Both trains form for a dance. 
 Dance.) ] 
 
 Obe. Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. 60 
 
 Tita. What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence! 61 
 
 Obe. Tarry, rash wanton! Am not I thy lord? 63 
 
 Obe. Why should Titania cross her Oberon? 119 
 
 I do but beg a little changeling boy 
 
 To be my henchman. 
 Tita. 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, 125 
 
 And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, 
 
 Marking the embarked traders on the flood, 127 
 
 But she, being mortal, of that boy did die ; 135 
 
 And for her sake do I rear up her boy, 
 
 And for her sake I will not part with him. 
 Obe. How long within this wood intend you stay? 
 Tita. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. 
 
 If you will patiently dance in our round 140 
 
 And see our moonlight revels, go with us ; 
 
 If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts. 
 Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. 
 Tita. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away! 
 
 We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. 145 
 
 [Exit Titania with her train.] 
 
 Obe. Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove 
 Till I torment thee for this injury. 
 My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememb'rest 
 
 [That] once I saw, but thou couldst not, 149, 155 
 
 Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 156 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 13 
 
 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, 159 
 
 [But] the imperial votaress passed on, 163 
 
 In maiden meditation, fancy-free. 
 
 Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell. 
 
 It fell upon a little western flower, 
 
 Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound. 
 
 And maidens call it love-in-idleness. 
 
 Fetch me that flower, the herb I show'd thee once. 
 
 The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid 170 
 
 Will make or man or woman madly dote 
 
 Upon the next live creature that it sees. 
 
 Fetch me this herb ; and be thou here again 
 
 Ere the leviathan can swim a league. 
 Bobin. I'll put a girdle round about the earth 175 
 
 In forty minutes. [Exit.'] 
 
 Obe. 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, 179 
 
 She shall pursue it with the soul of love ; 182 
 
 And ere I take this charm from off her sight, 183 
 
 I'll make her render up her page to me. 185 
 
 But who comes here? I am invisible. [Hides.] 
 
 [Note. — The numbers of the lines here folloAv the numbers in Scene II of 
 Act II.] 
 
 [Enter Titania, with her train.] 
 
 Tita. Come, now a roundel and a fairy song; 
 Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; 
 Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds, 
 Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings 
 
 To make my small elves coats, and some keep back 5 
 
 The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders 
 At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep; 
 Then to your offices and let me rest. 
 
 The Fairies Sing 
 
 (1st Fairy) "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." 
 
14 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 (Cho.) " Philomel, with melody 
 
 Sing in our sweet lullaby; 
 Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby. 15 
 
 Never harm, 
 
 Nor spell nor charm, 
 Come our lovely lady nigh. 
 So, good night, with lullaby. ' ' 
 
 (1st Fairy) "Weaving spiders, come not here; 
 Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence! 
 Beetles black, approach not near; 
 Worm nor snail, do no offence." 
 
 (Cho.) "Philomel, with melody," etc. 
 
 (2d Fairy) Hence, away! now all is well. 25 
 
 One aloof stand sentinel. 
 
 [Exeunt Fairies. Titania sleeps. Oberon comes out of hiding and 
 Eobin enters.] 
 
 [Note. — The numbers of the lines here follow those of Scene I, Act I of 
 text.] 
 
 Obe. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. 246 
 
 Eobin. Ay, there it is. 
 
 Obe. I pray thee, give it me. 
 
 [Here on this] bank where the wild thyme blows, 
 
 Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, 250 
 
 Quite over-canopi'd with luscious woodbine, 
 
 With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine. 
 
 [Here] sleeps Titania [on midsummer 's] night — 
 
 Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; 
 
 And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, 257 
 
 And make her full of hateful fantasies. 258 
 
 [He squeezes the flower on Titania's eyelids.] 
 
 [Note. — The numbers of the lines follow those of Scene II, Act I.] 
 
 Obe. What thou seest when thou dost wake, 27 
 
 Do it for thy true-love take, 
 Love and languish for his sake. 
 
 Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, 30 
 
 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.] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 15 
 
 Second Episode 
 
 The Working of the Charm 
 
 [Act III, Scene II. Another part of the wood.] 
 
 Enter Oberon. 
 
 Obe. 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 Room Goodfellow. 
 
 Here comes my messenger. 
 
 How now, mad spirit! 
 
 What night-rule now about this haunted grove? 5 
 
 Robin. 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, 
 
 Were met together to rehearse a play 
 
 Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day. 
 
 The shallowest thickskin of the barren sort, 
 
 Who Pyramus presented in their sport, 
 
 Forsook his scene and ent'red in a brake. 15 
 
 When I did him at this advantage take, 
 
 An ass's nole I fixed on his head. 
 
 Anon his Thisby must be answered, 
 
 And forth my mimic comes. 
 
 When in that moment, so it came to pass, 33 
 
 Titania wak'd and straightway lov'd an ass. 34 
 
 Obe. This falls out better than I could devise. 35 
 
 [Robin sings and dances, then exeunt both. 
 
16 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Third Episode 
 
 The Release 
 
 [Act IV, Scene I] 
 
 [Enter Eobin. Oberon discovered bending over Titania, who sleeps.] 
 
 Obe. [Advancing.] Welcome, good Eobin. — 44 
 
 [Titania 's] dotage I begin to pity: 46 
 
 For meeting her of late behind the wood, 
 Seeking sweet favors for [the] hateful fool, 
 I did upbraid her and fall out with her; 
 
 For she his hairy temples then had rounded 50 
 
 With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers; 
 
 When I had at my pleasure taunted her 56 
 
 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 
 
 To bear him to my bower in fairy land. 60 
 
 And, now I have the boy, I will undo 
 
 This hateful imperfection of her eyes; 62 
 
 [And now] I will release the fairy queen. 69 
 
 [Touching her eyes.] 
 
 Be as thou wast wont to be; 70 
 
 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. 
 
 [Exit Eobin.] 
 
 Tita. My Oberon! what visions have I seen! 75 
 
 Methought I was enamor'd of an ass. 
 Obe. [And so you were.] 
 Tita. How came these things to pass! 
 
 O how mine eyes do loathe his visage now! 
 Obe. Silence awhile. 
 
 Titania, music call. 80 
 
 Tita. Music, ho! music, such as charmeth sleep! 82 
 
 (Music, still) 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 17 
 
 Obe. Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me, 84 
 
 Now thou and I are new in amity 86 
 
 And will tomorrow midnight solemnly 
 Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly 
 And bless it to all fair prosperity. 
 
 [Note. — The rest of the scene is interpolated.] 
 
 [Be-enter Bobin leading Changeling Boy.~\ 
 
 So let us listen to our changeling boy; 
 Salute the lark, the messenger of day, 
 And afterwards we'll all join hands together 
 And dance a merry roundel with our sprites, 
 To celebrate our union once again. 
 
 Song 
 
 "Hark, hark, the lark." 
 
 (Sung by the changeling boy) 
 
 [He may be made the center of the dancers' rings, — first of Oberon's 
 train, then of Titania's, then of a large circle made of all the fairies.] 
 
 As they dance they sing over and over again: 
 
 Come dance, and dancing let us sing a measure, 
 In honor of the changeling boy our treasure. 
 
 Hand in hand with fairy grace, 
 
 Will we sing and bless this place, 
 
 Sing and danee it trippingly, 
 
 ,Celebrate it fittingly; 
 
 Trip away, make no stay, 
 
 Meet me all by break of day. 
 
 [Exeunt] 
 
18 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 II. 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. The second Company of Players comes for- 
 ward. The Herald presents the Players to Shakspere, announcing the name 
 if the Company and the title of the Act. Shalcspere then speaks the Chorus.] 
 
 IN CELEBRATION OF THE CONTRACT OF TRUE LOVE 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 THE GLOBE PLAYEES. 
 
 First Episode 
 
 A Masque in Honor of the Union of Ferdinand and Miranda 
 
 Chorus. (Spoken by Shakspere.) 
 
 Now with imagined wing our swift scene flies 
 In motion of no less celerity 
 Than that of thought. — An island shore appears 
 And here has Prospero with potent charm 
 Called forth his spirits for a stately masque 
 To celebrate the contract of true love 
 Between his daughter and Prince Ferdinand. 
 Juno and Ceres shower blessings rich 
 Upon the happy pair; soft music plays; 
 Slim nymphs and reapers gay in graceful dance 
 Honor the lovers on this gladsome day. 
 Lo ! See the actors ; Chorus says no more 
 Until these pretty fantasies are o'er. 
 
 *THE TEMPEST 
 
 Act IV, Scene I 
 
 [Before Prosperous Cell.~\ 
 
 Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda. 
 
 Pros. If I have too austerely punish 'd you, 
 Your compensation makes amends, for I 
 Have given you here a third of mine own life, 
 
 * The edition used is the Lake English Classics : Scott, Foresman and Com- 
 pany. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 19 
 
 Or that for which I live; [O Ferdinand,] 4, 8 
 
 Do not smile at me that I boast her off, 9 
 
 For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise 10 
 
 And make it halt behind her. 
 
 Per. I do believe it 
 
 Against an oracle. 
 
 Pros. Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition 
 
 Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter. [Come,] 14 
 
 Sit then and talk with her; she is thine own. 32 
 
 (Song behind scenes — "Where the Bee Suclcs.") Interpolated. 
 
 What, Ariel! my industrious servant, Ariel! 33 
 
 Enter Ariel. 
 
 Ari. What would my potent master? Here I am. 34 
 
 Pros. Go bring the rabble, 37 
 
 O'er whom I give thee power, here to this place. 
 
 Incite them to quick motion; for I must 
 
 Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple 40 
 
 Some vanity. of mine art. It is my promise, 
 
 And they expect it from me. 
 Ari. Presently ? 
 
 Pros. Ay, with a twink. 
 Ari. Before you can say "come" and "go," 
 
 And breathe twice and cry "so, so," 45 
 
 Each one, tripping on his toe, 
 
 Will be here with mop and mow. 
 
 Do you love me, master? no? 
 Pros. Dearly, my delicate Ariel. Do not approach 
 
 Till thou dost hear me call. 50 
 
 Ari. Well, I conceive. 
 
 Pros. Look thou be true: Exit. 51 
 
 Fer. I warrant you, sir. 54 
 
 Pros. Well. [Walks to one side.] 
 
 [Note. — Lines 37 through 90 are taken from Act III, Scene I.] 
 
 Fer. Admir'd Miranda! 37 
 
 Indeed the top of admiration! worth 38 
 
 What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady 39 
 I have ey 'd with best regard ; for several virtues 40, 42 
 
 Have I lik'd several women; 43 
 
 but you, O you, 46 
 
 So perfect and so peerless, are created 47 
 Of every creature's best! 
 
20 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Mir. I do not know 48 
 
 More that I may call men than you, good friend, 51 
 
 And my dear father: 52 
 
 but, by my modesty, 53 
 
 The jewel in my dower, I would not wish 
 
 Any companion in the world but you, 55 
 
 Fer. The very instant that I saw you, did 64 
 
 My heart fly to your service ; there resides, 
 
 To make me slave to it. 66 
 
 Mir. Do you love me? 67 
 
 Fer. O heaven, O earth, bear witness now, [that I] 68 
 
 Beyond all limit of what else i' the world 72 
 
 Do love, prize, honor you. 
 Mir. I am your wife, if you will marry me; 83 
 
 If not, I'll die your maid; to be your fellow 
 
 You may deny me ; but I '11 be your servant, 85 
 
 Whether you will or no. 
 Fer. My mistress, dearest; 
 
 And I thus humble ever. 
 Mir. My husband, then? 
 
 Fer. Ay, with a heart as willing 
 
 As bondage e'er of freedom; here's my hand. 
 Mir. And mine, with my heart in 't. 90 
 
 [Note. — The following lines are taken from Act IV, Scene I.) 
 
 (Song behind scenes — "Where the Bee Sucks.") 
 [Enter Ariel.] 
 
 Pros. Now come, my Ariel ! Appear, and pertly ! 57, 58 
 
 No tongue! all eyes! be silent. [Soft music] 
 
 [Enter Iris.] 
 
 Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas 60 
 
 Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and pease; 61 
 
 Ceres, most bounteous lady, the queen o ' the sky, 60, 70 
 
 Whose watery arch and messenger am I, 71 
 
 Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace Juno 
 
 Here on this grass-plot, in this very place, descends 
 
 To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain: 
 Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain. 75 
 
 [Enter Ceres.] 
 
 Cer. Hail, many-colored messenger, oh hail, 76 
 
 Who with each end of thy blue bow dost crown 78 
 
 My bosky acres and my unshrubb'd down, 81 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 21 
 
 Rich scarf to my proud earth; why hath thy queen 82 
 
 Summon 'd me hither, to this short-grass 'd green? 
 Iris. A contract of true love to celebrate; 
 
 And some donation freely to estate 85 
 
 On the best lovers. 86 
 
 Cer. Highest queen of state, 101 
 
 Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait. 102 
 
 [Enter Juno.] 
 
 Juno. How does my bounteous sister? Go with me 103 
 
 To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be. 104 
 
 [They sing.] 
 Juno. Honor, riches, marriage-blessing, 106 
 
 Long continuance, and increasing, 
 
 Hourly joys be still upon you! 
 
 Juno sings her blessings on you. 
 Cer. Earth's increase, foison plenty, 110 
 
 Barns and garners never empty, 
 
 Vines with clustering bunches growing, 
 
 Plants with goodly burthen bowing. 
 
 Spring come to you at the farthest 
 
 In the very end of harvest! 115 
 
 Scarcity and want shall shun you; 
 
 Ceres' blessing so is on you. 
 Fer. This is a most majestic vision, and 
 
 Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold 
 
 To think these spirits? 
 Pros. Spirits, which by mine art 120 
 
 I have from their confines call'd to enact 
 
 My present fancies. 
 Fer. Let me live here ever; 
 
 So rare a wond'red father and a wife 
 
 Makes this place Paradise. 124 
 
 Pros. Sweet, now, silence! 
 
 Juno and Ceres whisper seriously ; 125 
 
 There's something else to do: hush, and be mute, 
 
 Or else our spell is marr'd. 
 
 [Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment.] 
 
 Iris. You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the winding brooks, 
 With your sedg'd crowns and ever -harmless looks, 
 Leave your crisp channels and on this green land 130 
 
 Answer your summons; Juno does command. 
 Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate 
 A contract of true love; be not too late. 
 
22 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 lEnter certain Nymphs.] 
 
 You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary, 
 
 Come hither from the furrow and be merry: 135 
 
 Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on 
 
 And these fresh nymphs encounter every one 
 
 In country footing. 
 
 [Enter certain Reapers, properly habited: they join with the Nymphs in a 
 graceful dance.] 
 
 Pros. [To the Spirits] Well done! avoid; 142 
 
 No more! 
 
 [To Ferdinand] These our actors, 148 
 
 As I foretold you, were all spirits and 
 
 Are melted into air, into thin air: 150 
 
 And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, 
 The cloud-capp 'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve 
 
 And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, 155 
 
 Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff 
 As dreams are made on, and our little life 
 Is rounded with a sleep. . . . 
 
 [Exeunt] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 23 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. Shdkspere steps forward and spealcs Chorus to 
 Second Episode.] 
 
 Second Episode 
 
 Eight Votaries of Hymen Join Hands 
 
 Chorus. (Spoken by ShaTcspere.) 
 
 Turn back your fancies, oh, my gentles all, 
 And in imagination now set sail 
 Across the seas. Sail on until you land 
 In merrie England once again, my Queen! 
 Transport yourselves, quick, quick without delay 
 Unto the charmed spot where Bosalind, 
 Within the spaces of her forest-realm 
 Has called to her the woodland lovers, true. 
 Disguised as yet, she promises each one 
 For his romance a happy consummation; 
 Then in a flash she vanishes from view. — 
 Anon she reappears in wedding robes; 
 A part she plays no more. — Now look! 
 'Tis Hymen leads her where Orlando stands; 
 'Tis Hymen now holds center of the stage. 
 He joins in marriage all the lovers fond, 
 And things fall out as Eosalind foretold. 
 With wedding bells and wedding song and dance 
 We seal this time the contract of true love. 
 Picture the woodland scene, oh, gentles, pray, 
 Enjoy the revels of this wedding day! 
 
 *AS YOU LIKE IT 
 
 Act V, Scene III. 
 
 [The Forest.] 
 
 [Enter Touchstone and Audrey.] 
 
 Touch. Tomorrow is the joyful day, Audrey; tomorrow will we be married. 
 Aud. I do desire it with all my heart. 
 
 Here come two of the banish 'd duke's pages. 
 
 * The edition used is the Lake English Classics : Scott, Foresman and Com- 
 pany. 
 
24 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 [Enter two Pages.'] 
 
 First Page. Well met, honest gentlemen. 
 -Touch. By my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and a song. 
 
 Sec. Page. We are for you: sit i' the middle. 10 
 
 First Page. Shall we clap into't roundly? 11 
 
 Sec. Page. I 'faith, i 'faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies on a 14 
 
 horse. 15 
 
 Song. 
 
 It was a lover and his lass, 
 
 With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 
 
 That o'er the green corn-field did pass 
 
 In spring-time, the only pretty ring-time, 20 
 
 When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding: 
 
 Sweet lovers love the spring. 
 
 Between the acres of the rye, 
 
 With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 
 
 These pretty country-folk would lie 25 
 
 In spring-time, etc. 
 
 This carol they began that hour, 
 With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 
 How that a life was but a flower 
 In spring-time, etc. 
 
 And therefore take the present time, 30 
 
 With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino; 
 For love is crowned with the prime 
 In spring-time, etc. 
 
 Touch. Truly, young gentlemen, though there Avas no great matter in 
 
 the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable. 35 
 
 First Page. You are deceived, sir: we kept time, we lost not our time. 
 
 Touch. By my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish 
 
 song. God buy you; and God mend your voices! — Come, 40 
 Audrey. 
 
 [They walk to side as the others enter.] 
 [Behind the scenes — Song — "Under the Greenwood Tree."] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 25 
 
 [Enter Duke senior, Amiens, Jaques, Orlando, Oliver, and Celia.] 
 [Note. — The following lines are taken from Act V, Scene IV.] 
 
 Duke S. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy- 
 Can do all this that he hath promised? 
 
 Orl. I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not ; 
 As those that fear to hope, and know they fear. 
 
 [Enter Bosalind, Silvius, and Phebe.] 
 
 Bos. Patience once more, whiles our compact is urged. — ' 5 
 
 [To the Duke] You say, if I bring in your Kosalind, 
 
 You will bestow her on Orlando here? 
 Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with her. 8 
 
 Bos. [To Phebe] You say, you'll marry me, if I be willing? 11 
 
 Phe. That will I, should I die the hour after. 
 Bos. But if you do refuse to marry me, 
 
 You '11 give yourself to this most faithful shepherd ? 
 Phe. So is the bargain. 15 
 
 Bos. [To Silvius] You say, that you'll have Phebe, if she will? 
 Sil. Though to have her and death were both one thing. 
 Bos. I have promised to make all this matter even. 
 
 Keep you your word, O Duke, to give your daughter: 20 
 
 You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter; 
 
 Keep your word, Phebe, that you'll marry me, 
 
 Or else, refusing me, to wed this shepherd; 
 
 Keep your word, Silvius, that you '11 marry her, 
 
 If she refuses me: — and from hence I go, 
 
 To make these doubts all even. 25 
 
 [Exeunt Bosalind and Celia.] 
 
 Duke S. I do remember in this shepherd boy 26 
 
 Borne lively touches of my daughter's favor. 27 
 
 Orl. But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born. 30 
 
 Jaq. Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues 37 
 
 are called fools. 38 
 
 [Touchstone and Audrey approach.] 
 
 Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all! 39 
 
 Jaq. Good, my lord, bid him welcome: this is the motley-minded 40 
 
 gentleman that I have so often met in the forest : he hath been 
 
 a courtier, he swears. 
 Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I 
 
 have trod a measure; I have had four quarrels, and like to 45 
 
 have fought one. 48, 49 
 
 Jaq. And how was that ta'en up? 50 
 
26 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Touch. Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh 
 
 cause. 
 Jaq. How, the seventh cause? — Good, my lord, like this fellow. 53 
 
 Duke S. I like him very well. 55 
 
 Touch. God 'ild you, sir ; I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the 
 country copulatives, to swear and to forswear, according as 
 marriage binds and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill- 
 favor 'd thing, sir, but mine own; a poor humor of mine, 61 
 sir, to take that that no man else will. 
 Duke S. By my faith, he is very swift and sententious. 65 
 
 Jaq. But, for the seventh cause, — How did you find the quarrel on 
 
 the seventh cause? 70 
 
 Touch. I will name you the degrees. The first,, the Retort Courteous; 99 
 the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the 
 fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quar- 
 relsome ; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance ; the seventh, the 
 Lie Direct. All these you may avoid, but the Lie Direct; 105 
 and you may avoid that, too, with an If, as, ''If you said so, 110 
 then I said so. ' ' Your If is the only peacemaker ; much virtue 
 in If. 
 Jaq. Is not this a rare fellow, my lord? he's as good at any thing, 
 
 and yet a fool. [Come, a dance.] 114 
 
 [Song behind the scenes — "Under the Greenwood Tree."] 
 
 [Foresters dance.] 
 
 [Enter Hymen, Rosalind, and Celia.] 
 
 [Still music] 
 Hym. Then is there mirth in heaven, 118 
 
 When earthly things made even 
 
 atone together. 120 
 
 Good Duke, receive thy daughter. 
 Hymen from heaven brought her, 
 
 Yea, brought her hither, 
 That thou mightest join her hand with his 
 
 Whose heart within her bosom is. 125 
 
 Bos. [To the Duke] To you I give myself, for I am yours. 
 
 [To Orlando] To you I give myself, for I am yours. 
 Duke S. If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter. 
 Orl. If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind. 
 Phe. If sight and shape be true, 130 
 
 Why, then, — my love adieu! 
 Ros. I'll have no father, if you be not he; 
 I'll have no husband, if you be not he; 
 Nor ne'er wed woman, if you be not she. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 27 
 
 Uym. Peace, ho! I bar confusion. 135 
 
 'Tis I must make conclusion 
 Of these most strange events. 
 Here's eight that must take hands 
 To join in Hymen's bands, 
 
 If truth holds true contents. 140 
 
 You and you no cross shall part ; 
 You and you are heart in heart; 
 You to his love must accord, 
 Or have a woman to your lord; 
 
 You and you are sure together, 145 
 
 As the winter to foul weather. 
 Whiles a wedlock-hymn we sing, 
 Feed yourselves with questioning; 
 That reason wonder may diminish, 
 How thus we met, and these things finish. 150 
 
 Song. 
 
 Wedding is great Juno's crown 
 
 Oh blessed bond of board and bed! 
 
 'Tis Hymen peoples every town ; 
 
 High wedlock, then, be honored. 
 
 Honor, high honor, and renown, 155 
 
 To Hymen, god of every town! 
 
 Duke S. O my dear niece, welcome thou art to me, 
 
 Even daughter-welcome, in no less degree. 
 Phe. I will not eat my word, now thou art mine; 
 
 Thy faith my fancy to thee doth combine. 160 
 
 Duke S. [Now] fall into our rustic revelry. 187 
 
 Play, music! — and you, brides and bridegrooms all, 
 With measure heaped in joy, to the measures fall. 
 
 [Wedding dance.] 
 [Exeunt] 
 
28 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 III. 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. The Herald presents the third Company of 
 Players to ShaJcspere, announcing the name of the Company and the title 
 of the Act. ShaJcspere then speaks the Chorus to the First Episode.] 
 
 THE MERRY WAR OF WORDS 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 THE COMPANY OF BURBAGE 
 
 First Episode 
 
 Petruchio Tames Kate 
 
 Chorus. (SpoTcen by Shakspere.) 
 
 With winged heels as English Mercuries 
 
 Fly with us now to sunny Italy 
 
 Enter Baptista's villa; hear the noise, 
 
 See how his daughter Kate the household rules! 
 
 The servants of her will are one and all: 
 
 So has it been. But hark, her rule shall end! 
 
 Already on the road Petruchio comes 
 
 To woo this maiden and to tame her spirit. 
 
 The manner of it shall this scene reveal. 
 
 Now listen to their merry war of words, 
 
 Then note how Kate, the proud, is quickly changed 
 
 To Kate, the gentle, Katharina, meek. 
 
 A transformation so complete, we wonder 
 
 If it is not a ruse upon her part 
 
 To conquer him, her master and her lord. 
 
 Of taming Kate, he's surely had his fill. — 
 
 Think this, think that, my gentles, as you will! 
 
A SHAKSPEEE FESTIVAL 29 
 
 THE TAMING OF THE SHKEW 
 Act II, Scene I. 
 I. The Proposal. 
 
 Baptista Discovered. 
 
 [Enter Gremio, with Lucentio in fixe habit of a mean man; Petruchio, 
 with Hortensio as a musician; and Tranio, with Biondello bearing a lute and 
 books.] 
 
 Gre. Good morrow, neighbor Baptista. 
 
 Bap. Good morrow, neighbor Gremio. God save you, gentlemen! 
 
 Pet. And you, good sir ! Pray, have you not a daughter 
 
 Call'd Katharina, fair and virtuous? 
 Bap. I have a daughter, sir, call'd Katharina. 
 Gre. You are too blunt: go to it orderly. 
 Pet. You wrong me, Signior Gremio: give me leave. — 
 
 I am a gentleman of Verona, sir, 
 
 That, — hearing of her beauty and her wit, 
 
 Her affability and bashful modesty, 
 
 Her wondrous qualities and mild behavior, — 
 
 Am bold to show myself a forward guest 
 
 Within your house, to make mine eye the witness 
 
 Of that report which I so oft have heard. 
 Bap. You 're welcome, sir ; and he, for your good sake. 
 
 But for my daughter Katharine, — this I know, 
 
 She is not for your turn, the more my grief. 
 Pet. I see you do not mean to part with her; 
 
 Or else you like not of my company. 
 Bap. Mistake me not; I speak but as I find. 
 
 Whence are you, sir? what may I call your name? 
 Pet. Petruchio is my name ; Antonio 's son, 
 
 A man well known throughout all Italy. 
 Bap. I knew him well ; you 're welcome for his sake. 
 Pet. Signior Baptista, my business asketh haste, 
 
 And every day I cannot come to woo. 
 
 Then tell me, — if I get your daughter's love, 
 
 What dowry shall I have with her to wife? 
 Bap. After my death, the one half of my lands; 
 
 And, in possession, twenty thousand crowns. 
 
 But when the special thing is well obtain 'd, 
 
 That is, her love; for that is all in all. 
 
30 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Pet. Why, that is nothing; for I tell you, father, 
 
 I am as peremptory as she proud-minded; 
 
 For I am rough, and woo not like a babe. 
 Bap. Well mayst thou woo, and happy be thy speed! 
 
 But be thou arm'd for some unhappy words. 
 Pet. Ay, to the proof; as mountains are for winds, 
 
 That shake not, though they blow perpetually. 
 Bap. Signior Petruchio, will you go with us, 
 
 Or shall I send my daughter Kate to you? 
 Pet. I pray you do; I will attend her here, — 
 
 [Exeunt Baptista, Gremio, Tranio, and Hortensio] 
 
 And woo her with some spirit when she comes. 
 
 Say that she rail; why, then I'll tell her plain, 
 
 She sings as sweetly as a nightingale: 
 
 Say that she frown; I'll say, she looks as clear 
 
 As morning roses newly wash'd with dew: 
 
 Say she be mute and will not speak a word; 
 
 Then I '11 commend her volubility, 
 
 And say she uttereth piercing eloquence: 
 
 But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak. — 
 
 [Enter Katliarina.] 
 
 Good morrow, Kate; for that's your name, I hear. 
 
 Kath. Well have you "heard, but something hard of hearing: 
 They call me Katharine that do talk of me. 
 
 Pet. You lie, in faith; for you are call'd plain Kate, 
 And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst; 
 Take this of me, Kate of my consolation: 
 Hearing thy mildness praised in every town, 
 Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded, — 
 Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife. 
 
 Kath. Moved! in good time; let him who moved you hither 
 Remove you hence. 
 
 Pet. Nay, come, Kate, come; you must not look so sour. 
 
 Kath. It is my fashion when I see a crab. 
 
 Pet. Why, here's no crab; and therefore look not sour. 
 
 Kath. There is, there is. 
 
 Pet. Then show it me. 
 
 Kath. Had I a glass I would. 
 
 Pet. What, you mean my face? 
 
 Kath. Well aim'd of such a young one. [Starts to go.] 
 
 Pet.. Nay, hear you, Kate: in sooth, you 'scape not so. 
 
 Kath. I chafe you, if I tarry: let me go. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 31 
 
 Pet. No, not a whit: I find you passing gentle. 
 
 'Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen, 
 
 And now I find report a very liar; 
 
 For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous; 
 
 But slow in speech, yet sweet as spring-time flowers: 
 
 Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance, 
 
 O, let me see thee walk: thou dost not halt. 
 Rath. Where did you study all this goodly speech? 
 Pet. It is extempore, from my mother-wit. 
 Kath. A witty mother! witless else her son. 
 Pet. Am I not wise? 
 Kath. Yes. 
 Pet. Your father hath consented 
 
 That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on; 
 
 And, will you, nill you, I will marry you. 
 
 Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn; 
 
 For I am he am born to tame you, Kate, 
 
 And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate 
 
 Comformable, as other household Kates. 
 
 Here comes your father: never make denial; 
 
 I must and will have Katharine for my wife. 
 
 [Be-enter Baptista, Gremio, Tranio, and others. - ] 
 Bap. Now, Signior Petruchio, how speed you with 
 
 My daughter? 
 Pet. How but well, sir? how but well? 
 
 It were impossible I should speed amiss. 
 Bap. Why, how now, daughter Katharine! in your dumps? 
 Kath. Call you me daughter? Now, I promise you 
 
 You've show'd a tender fatherly regard, 
 
 To wish me wed to one half lunatic; 
 
 A mad-cap ruffian and a swearing Jack, 
 
 That thinks with oaths to face the matter out. 
 Pet. Father, 'tis thus: Yourself and all the world 
 
 That talk 'd of her, have talk 'd amiss of her : 
 
 For she's not froward, but modest as the dove; 
 
 She is not hot, but temperate as the morn; 
 
 And, to conclude, we've 'greed so well together, 
 
 That upon Sunday is the wedding-day. 
 Kath. I'll see thee hang'd on Sunday first. 
 Gre. Hark, Petruchio; she says she'll see thee hang'd first. 
 Pet. Be patient, gentlemen; I choose her for myself: 
 
 If she and I be pleased, what's that to you? 
 
 I tell you, 'tis incredible to believe 
 
 How much she loves me: O, the kindest Kate! 
 
32 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Bap. I know not what to say: but give me your hands; 
 
 God send you joy, Petruchio! 'tis a match. 
 Tra. Amen, say we: we will be witnesses. 
 Pet. Father, and wife, and gentlemen, adieu; 
 
 I will to Venice; Sunday comes apace: — 
 
 We will have rings, and things, and fine array; 
 
 And kiss me, Kate; we will be married o' Sunday. 
 
 [Exeunt Petruchio and Katharina severally, others join in mocking dance.] 
 
 II. Tamed! 
 
 Act IV, Scene V. 
 
 A Public Eoad. 
 
 [Enter Petruchio, Katharina, and Hortensio.] 
 
 Pet. Come on, o' God's name; once more toward our father's. 
 
 Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon! 
 Kath. The moon! the sun: it is not moonlight now. 
 Pet. I say it is the moon that shines so bright. 
 Kath. I know it is the sun that shines so bright. 
 Pet. Now, by my mother's son, and that's myself, 
 
 It shall be moon, or star, or what I list, 
 
 Or e 'er I journey to your father 's house. — 
 Hor. [Aside to Katharine.] Say as he says, or we shall never go. 
 Kath. Forward, I pray, since we have come so far, 
 
 And be it moon, or sun, or what you please: 
 
 And if you please to call it a rush-candle, 
 
 Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me. 
 Pet. I say it is the moon. 
 Kath. I know it is the moon. 
 Pet. Nay, then, you lie: it is the blessed sun. 
 Kath. Then, God be bless 'd, it is the blessed sun: 
 
 But sun it is not, when you say it is not; 
 
 And the moon changes, even as your mind. 
 
 What you will have it named, even that it is; 
 
 And so it shall be still for Katharine. 
 Hor. [Aside.] Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won. 
 Pet. Well, forward, forward! thus the bowl should run. [Exeunt.] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 33 
 
 Act V, Scene I. 
 
 [Enter Baptista, Vincentio, Gremio, Lucentio, Petruchio, Hortensio, Tranio, 
 Biondello, Grumio, and others, attending, discovered.] 
 
 Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio, 
 
 I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all. 
 Pet. Well, I say no: and therefore, for assurance, 
 
 Let's each one send unto his wife; 
 
 And he who's wife is most obedient 
 
 To come at first when he doth send for her, 
 
 Shall win the wager which we will propose. 
 Hot. Content. What is the wager? 
 Luc. Twenty crowns. 
 
 Pet. Twenty crowns! 
 
 I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound, 
 
 But twenty times so much upon my wife. 
 Luc. A hundred, then. 
 Hor. Content. 
 
 Pet. A match ! 'tis done. 
 
 Hor. Who shall begin? 
 Luc. That will I.— 
 
 Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me. 
 Bion. I go. [Exit.'} 
 
 Bap. Son, I will be your half, Bianca comes. 
 Luc. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself. — 
 
 [Ee-enter Biondello.] 
 
 How now! what news? 
 Bion. Sir, my mistress sends you word 
 
 That she is busy, and she cannot come. 
 Pet. How ! she is busy, and she cannot come ! 
 
 Is that an answer? 
 Gre. Ay, and a kind one, too: 
 
 Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse. 
 Pet. I hope, a better. 
 Hor. Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat my wife 
 
 To come to me forthwith. [Exit Biondello.] 
 
 Pet. O, ho! entreat her! 
 
 Nay, then she must needs come. 
 Hor. I am afraid, sir, 
 
 Do what you can, yours will not be entreated. — 
 
 [Ee-enter Biondello.] 
 Now, where's my wife? 
 
34 
 
 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 [Exit Grumio.] 
 
 [Exit Katharina.] 
 
 Bion. She says you have some goodly jest in hand: 
 
 She will not come ; she bids you come to her. 
 Pet. Worse and worse ; she will not come ! O vile, 
 
 Intolerable, not to be endured! — 
 
 Sirrah Grumio, go to your mistress; 
 
 Say, I command her come to me. 
 Hor. I know her answer. 
 Pet. What? 
 
 Hor. She will not. 
 
 Pet. The fouler fortune mine, and there an end. 
 Bap. Now, by my halidom, here comes Katharina! 
 
 [Enter Katharina.] 
 
 Kath. What is your will, sir, that you send for me? 
 Pet. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife? 
 Kath. They sit conferring by the parlor fire. 
 Pet. Go fetch them hither: 
 
 Away I say, and bring them hither straight. 
 Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of wonders. 
 Hor. And so it is: I wonder what it bodes. 
 Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love and quiet life, 
 
 An awful rule, and right supremacy; 
 
 And, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy? 
 Bap. Now, fair befall thee, good Petruchio! 
 
 The wager thou hast won. 
 Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet, 
 
 And show more sign of her obedience, — 
 
 See, where she comes, and brings your froward wives 
 
 As prisoners to her womanly persuasion. — 
 
 [Pie-enter Katharina with Bianca and Widow.'] 
 
 Kath. [Kneels before her husband.] 
 
 I am ashamed that women are so simple 
 
 To offer war, where they should kneel for peace; 
 
 Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway, 
 
 When they are bound to serve, love, and obey. 
 Pet. Come, Kate, now come, for all is done and said, 
 
 We three are married, but you two are sped. — 
 
 [To Lucentio.] 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white; 
 
 And, being the winner, God give you good night! 
 
 [Exeunt Petruchio and Katharina.] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 35 
 
 [Flourish. Shakspere comes forward and speaks the following Chorus.] 
 
 Second Episode 
 
 King Henry Woos Katharine of France 
 
 Chorus. [Spoken by Shakspere.] 
 
 And now to France shall we convey you safe, 
 E'en to the palace of the King and Queen, 
 And thence to Princess Katharine. 
 Henry, the soldier bold, stands all abashed 
 In presence of fair Katharine of France. 
 Her gentlewoman only witnesses 
 The words that pass between them at this time; 
 But we shall hear how charmingly the King 
 Woos the shy Princess in his broken French. 
 His English blunt, is all unmeet to express 
 What he would say; nor can his halting French. 
 And she in turn can but reveal in part 
 Her feelings through her tongue; she falters, too. 
 One language only both can understand 
 The language of the heart; and so it falls 
 That finally they meet on common ground, 
 The ground that lovers true are wont to tread ; 
 Betrothed they are when all is done and said. 
 Hark to their converse, it will sure amuse you, 
 The privilege we cannot well refuse you. 
 
 * HENRY THE FIFTH 
 
 Act V. Scene II 
 
 [Enter Henry, Katharine, and Alice.] 
 
 K. Hen. Fair Katharine, and most fair, 
 
 Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms 
 
 Such as will enter at a lady's ear 100 
 
 And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart? 
 Eath. Your Majesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak your England. 
 
 * The edition used is the Lake English Classics : Scott, Foresman and Com- 
 pany. 
 
36 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your 
 
 French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly 105 
 with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate? 
 
 Kath. Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell wat is "like me." 
 
 K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel. 110 
 
 Kath. Que dit-il? que je suis semblable a les anges? 
 
 Alice. Oui, vraiment. 
 
 K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it. 115 
 
 Kath. don Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines des tromperies. 
 
 K. Hen. What says she, fair one? that the tongues of men are full 
 
 of deceits? 120 
 
 Alice. Oui; dat the tongues of de mans is be full of deceits: dat is 
 de Princess. 
 
 K. Hen. The Princess is the better English-woman. I know no ways 123 
 to mince it in love, but directly to say, ' ' I love you ; ' ' 129 
 then, if you urge me further than to say, "Do you in faith?" 130 
 I wear out my suit. Give me your answer: i' faith, do; 
 and so clap hands and a bargain: how say you, lady! 
 
 Kath. Sauf votre honneur, me understand well. 135 
 
 K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses or to dance for your 
 
 sake, Kate, why you undid me: If I could win a lady at leap- 137 
 frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armor on my 141 
 back, I should quickly have a wife. What! a speaker is 145-167 
 but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad; but a good heart, Kate, 172 
 is the sun and the moon; or rather the sun and not the 
 moon; for it shines bright and never changes but keeps his 175 
 course truly. If thou would have such a one, take me: and 
 take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king. And 
 what sayest thou then to my love ? Speak, my fair, and fairly, 
 I pray thee. 
 
 Kath. Is it possible dat I sould love de enemy of France? 180 
 
 K. Hen. No, Kate; but in loving me you should love the friend of 
 
 France; for I love France so well that I will not part with 185 
 a village of it: and, Kate, when France is mine and I am 
 yours, then yours is France and you are mine. 189 
 
 Kath. I cannot tell wat is dat. 190 
 
 K. Hen. No, Kate. I will tell thee in French. Je quand sur le 191 
 
 possession de France, et quand vous avez le possession de 194 
 
 moi, let me see, what then? done votre est France, et vous 198 
 
 etes mienne. I shall never move thee in French, unless it be 200 
 
 , to laugh at me. 
 
 Kath. Sauf votre honneur, le Frangois que vous parlez, il est meilldur 
 que V Anglois lequel je parle. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 37 
 
 K. Hen. No, faith, is't not, Kate; But, Kate, dost thou under- 205-208 
 stand thus much English: canst thou love me? 
 
 Kath. I cannot tell. 210 
 
 K. Hen. Can any of your neighbors tell, Kate? 211 
 
 I'll ask them. Come, I know thou lovest me. 211 
 
 How answer you, la plus belle Katharine du monde, mon tres 235 
 chere et divin deesse? 
 
 Kath. Your Majeste 'ave fausse French enough to deceive de most sage 
 demoiselle dat is en France. 
 
 K. Men. Now, fie upon my false French! 240 
 
 By mine honor, in true English, I love thee, Kate; by which 
 
 honor, I dare not swear thou lovest me; I was created 242 
 with a stubborn outside, with an aspect of iron, that when 248 
 I come to woo ladies I fright them. But, in faith, Kate, the 250 
 elder I wax, the better I shall appear. Thou hast me, if 251 
 thou hast me, at the worst; and therefore tell me, most fair 254 
 Katharine, will you have me? Take me by the hand, and 257-259 
 say, Harry of England, I am thine. Come, your answer in 260 
 broken music; for thy voice is music, and thy English broken: 268 
 therefore, queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in 270 
 broken English, — wilt thou have me? 271 
 
 Kath. Dat is as it sail please de roi mon pere. 
 
 K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall please him, Kate. 
 
 Kath. Den it sail also content me. 275 
 
 K. Hen. Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you my queen. 
 
 Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez! 278 
 
 K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. 283 
 
 Kath. Les dames et demoisselles pour etre baissees d'evani leur noces, 
 
 il n'est pas la coutume de France. 285 
 
 K. Hen. Madam, my interpreter, what says she? 
 
 Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of Frances, — I cannot 
 
 tell vat is baiser en Anglish. 290 
 
 K. Hen. To kiss. 
 
 Alice. Your Majesty entendre better que moi. 
 
 K. Hen. It is not a fashion for the maids in France to kiss before 
 
 they are married, would she say? 295 
 
 Alice. Oui, vraiment. 
 
 K. Hen. O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great kings. Dear Kate, 
 
 you and I are the makers of manners, and the liberty that 298-300 
 follows our places stops the mouths of all find-faults; as I 
 will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of your country 
 in denying me a kiss; therefore, patiently and yielding. — 305 
 Here comes your father. 311 
 
38 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 [Enter the French Power and the English Lords.] 
 
 Bur. God save your Majesty! my royal cousin, teach you our princess 
 
 English? 
 K. Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how perfectly I 
 
 love her: and that is good English. 315 
 
 Bur. Is she not apt? 
 K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition is not smooth: 
 
 so that, having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery 320 
 about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her that 
 he will appear in his true likeness. 322 
 
 Shall Kate be my wife? 359 
 
 Fr. King. So please you. We have consented to all terms of rea- 
 son. 360-365 
 K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England? 
 West. The king hath granted every article: 
 His daughter, first; and then in sequel all, 
 
 According to their firm proposed natures. 370 
 
 K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear alliance 382 
 
 [Bestow on me] your daughter [Katharine], 384 
 
 Fr. King. Take her, fair son, and from her blood raise up 385 
 
 Issue to me ; that the contending kingdoms 
 
 Of France and England may cease their hatred. 387-389 
 
 All. Amen! 
 K. Hen. Now welcome, Kate; and bear me witness all 
 
 That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. 395 
 
 [Flourish. 
 
 Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages, 
 
 Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one! 
 
 As man and wife, being two, are one in love, 
 
 So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal 399 
 
 That Englsh may as French, French Englishmen, 404 
 
 Eeceive each other! — God speak this Amen! 
 All. Amen! 
 K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage; [let us now 407 
 
 In stately measure celebrate th> event. 
 
 That this day makes our separate kingdoms one.] 
 
 [Betrothal dance.] 
 [Exeunt] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 39 
 
 rv 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. The Herald presents the fourth Company of 
 Players to Shakspere, announcing the name of the Company and the titli 
 of the Act.] 
 
 THE JOLLY MERCHANT PLIES HIS TRADE 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 THE CHILDEEN OF THE CHAPEL EOYAL 
 
 Chorus. [Spolcen oy Shakspere.] 
 
 Work, work, your fancies till before you shows 
 
 The scene that next our Players shall unfold. 
 
 Autolycus, the prince of rogues is singing 
 
 A care-free song of welcome to the spring. 
 
 He meets the clown and easily deceives him, 
 
 Playing the beggar 'spoiled by robbers rude. 
 
 But ere they part the clown is duped unwitting, 
 
 Autolycus the richer by his purse! 
 
 And thus he sings forth-faring on his way 
 
 "Jog on, jog on, another prize today!" — 
 
 And then behold, upon the green a-maying 
 
 The happy shepherds with their lassies gay. 
 
 The greensward is alive with the dancers merry, 
 
 Who one and all make glad their holiday 
 
 With skipping feet and joyous voices trilling, 
 
 They make the feast that marks sheep-shearing time. 
 
 And soon the revels for the country side 
 
 Are in full swing. The mistress of the feast, 
 
 Lovely Perdita, moves with queenly grace 
 
 Among them all while Florizel, her lover, 
 
 Follows admiringly her every turn; 
 
 And in and out among the merry makers 
 
 Now here, now there, Autolycus appears 
 
 Never a moment idle, crying ever 
 
 The many virtues of his peddler's wares. 
 
 And singing loud of wondrous bargains made 
 
 Outwitting all, the while he plies his trade! 
 
40 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 First Episode 
 The Cloivn the Victim 
 THE WINTEB'S TALE 
 
 Act IV. Scene III 
 [Enter Autolycus, singing.] 
 
 When daffodils begin to peer, — 
 
 With, hey! the doxy over the dale, — 
 Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year; 
 
 For the red blood reigns in the Winter 's pale. 
 
 The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, — 
 With, hey! the sweet birds, O, how they sing! — 
 
 Doth set my pugging tooth on edge; 
 For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. 
 
 The lark, that tirra-lirra chants, — 
 
 With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay, — 
 
 Are summer songs for me and my aunts, 
 While we lie tumbling in the hay. 
 
 I have served Prince Florizel, and, in my time, wore three-pile; but 
 now I am out of service: 
 
 [Sings.] But shall I go mourn for that, my dear? 
 The pale Moon shines by night: 
 And when I wander here and there, 
 I then do most go right. 
 
 If tinkers may have leave to live, 
 
 And bear the sow-skin budget, 
 Then my account I well may give, 
 
 And in the stocks avouch it. 
 
 My father named me Autolycus; who was likewise a snapper-up of 
 unconsidered trifles. A prize! a prize! 
 
 [Enter the Clown.] 
 Clown. Let me see. 
 Aut. [Aside.] If the springe hold, the cock's mine. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 41 
 
 Clown. Let me see: what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? 
 Three pound of sugar; five pound of currants; rice, — I must 
 have saffron, mace, dates, — nutmegs, seven; a race or two of 
 ginger, — but that I may beg; four pounds of prunes, and as 
 
 many of raisins. 
 Aut. [Lying on the ground.'] O, that ever I was born! 
 
 Clown. I' the name of me, 
 
 Aut. O, help me, help me! pluck but off these rags; and then, death, 
 
 death ! 
 Clown. Alack, poor soul! 
 Aut. I am robb'd, sir, and beaten; my money and apparel ta ? en from me, 
 
 and these detestable things put upon me. 
 Clown. What, by a horseman or a footman? 
 Aut. A footman, sweet sir, a footman. 
 Clown. Lend me thy hand, I'll help thee: come, lend me thy hand. 
 
 [Helping him up.] 
 Aut. O, good sir, tenderly, O! 
 Clown. Alas, poor soul! 
 
 Aut. O, good sir, softly, good sir! I fear, sir, my shoulder-blade is out. 
 Clown. How now! canst stand? 
 Aut. Softly, dear sir; [Picks his pocket] good sir, softly. You ha' done 
 
 me a charitable office. 
 Clown. Dost lack any money? I have a little money for thee. 
 Aut. No, good sweet sir; no, I beseech you, sir: offer me no money, I 
 
 pray you; that kills my heart. 
 Clown. What manner of fellow was he that robb'd you? 
 Aut. A fellow, sir, that I have known to go about with troll-my-dames : 
 
 I knew him once a servant of the Prince: I know this man well: 
 
 some call him Autolycus. 
 Clown. Out upon him! he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings. 
 Aut. Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue that put me into this 
 
 apparel. 
 Clown. Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia. How do you now? 
 Aut. Sweet sir, much better than I was; I can stand and walk: I will 
 
 even take my leave of you, and pace softly towards my kinsman's. 
 Clown. Shall I bring thee on the way? 
 Aut. No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir. 
 
 Clown. Then fare thee well: I must go buy spices for our sheep-shearing. 
 Aut. Prosper you, sweet sir! [Exit Clown.] Your purse is not hot enough 
 
 to purchase your spice. I'll be with you at your sheep -shearing, 
 
 too. 
 [Sings.] Jog on, jog on, the footpath way, 
 And merrily hent the stile-a: 
 A merry heart goes all the day, 
 Your sad tires in a mile -a. 
 
42 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Act IV. Scene IV 
 
 Second Episode 
 
 The Sheep-Shearing Festival 
 
 [Enter Florizel and Perdita.'] 
 Flor. This your sheep-shearing 
 
 Is as a meeting of the petty gods, 
 
 And you the queen on't. 
 Per. Sir, my gracious lord, your high self, you have obscured 
 
 With a swain's wearing: but that our feasts 
 
 In every mess have folly, I should blush 
 
 To see you so attired; more, I think, 
 
 To see myself i' the glass. 
 Flor. I bless the time 
 
 When my good falcon made her flight across 
 
 Thy father's ground. 
 Per. Now Jove afford you cause! 
 
 Even now I tremble 
 
 To think your father, by some accident, 
 
 Should pass this way, as you did: O, the Fates! 
 
 What would he say? 
 Flor. Apprehend 
 
 Nothing but jollity. Thou dearest Perdita, 
 
 Be merry, gentle; 
 
 Strangle such thoughts as these with any thing 
 
 That you behold the while. Your guests are coming: 
 
 Lift up your countenance, as it were the day 
 
 Of celebration of that nuptial which 
 
 We two have sworn shall come. 
 Per. O Lady Fortune, 
 
 Stand you auspicious! 
 Flor. See, your guests approach. 
 
 [Enter the Shepherd, with Polixenes and Camillo disguised; the Clown, Mopsa, 
 
 Dorcas, and other Shepherds and Shepherdesses.] 
 Shep. Fie, daughter! when my old wife lived, upon 
 This day she was both pantler, butler, cook; 
 Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all; 
 
 You are retired, 
 As if you were a feasted one, and not 
 The hostess of the meeting: pray you, bid 
 These unknown friends to's welcome; 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 43 
 
 Come, quench your blushes, and present yourself 
 
 That which you are, mistress o' the feast: come on, 
 
 And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing, 
 
 As your good flock shall prosper. 
 Per. [To Polixenes.] Welcome, sir: 
 
 It is my father's will I should take on me 
 
 The hostess-ship o' the day/ [To Cam.] You're welcome, sir. 
 
 Give me those flowers there, Dorcas. — 
 Here's flowers for you; 
 
 Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram; 
 
 The marigold, that goes to bed wi' th' Sun, 
 
 And with him rises weeping: these are flowers 
 
 Of middle Summer, and, I think, they're given 
 
 To men of middle age. Ye 're very welcome. 
 Cam. I should leave grazing, were I of your flock, 
 
 And only live by gazing. 
 Per. Out, alas! 
 
 You'd be so lean that blasts of January 
 
 Would blow you through and through. — Now, fair'st friend, 
 
 I would I had some flowers o' the Spring that might 
 
 Become your time of day; O, these I lack, 
 
 And my sweet friend, come, take your flowers: 
 
 Methinks I play as I have seen them do 
 
 In Whitsun pastorals: sure, this robe of mine 
 
 Does change my disposition. 
 Flor. What you do 
 
 Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet, 
 
 I'd have you do it ever; when you sing, 
 
 I'd have you buy and sell so; so give alms; 
 
 Pray so; and, for the ordering your affairs, 
 
 To sing them too: when you do dance, I wish you 
 
 A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do 
 
 Nothing but that. 
 Per. Doricles, 
 
 Your praises are too large. 
 Flor. Now, come; our dance, I pray: 
 
 Your hand, my Perdita. 
 
 [Music, the Shepherd's dance.] 
 
 Pol. Pray you, good shepherd, what fair swain is this 
 
 Which dances with your daughter? 
 Shep. They call him Doricles: He says he loves my daughter: 
 
 I think so too; for never gazed the Moon 
 
 Upon the water, as he'll stand, and read, 
 
 As 'twere my daughter's eyes: and, to be plain 
 
44 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 I think there is not half a kiss to choose 
 Who loves another best. 
 Pol. She dances featly. 
 
 Shep. So she does any thing; though I report it, 
 That should be silent: if young Doricles 
 Do light upon her, she shall bring him that 
 Which he not dreams of. 
 
 [Enter a Servant.] 
 Serv. O master, if you did but hear the peddler at the door, you would 
 never dance again after a tabor and pipe; no, the bagpipe could 
 not move you : he sings several tunes faster than you '11 tell money ; 
 he utters them as he had eaten ballads, and all men's ears grow 
 to his tunes. 
 Clown. He could never come better; he shall come in: I love a ballad 
 but even too well, if it be doleful matter merrily set down, or a 
 very pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably. 
 Serv. He hath songs for man and woman, of all sizes ; he has the prettiest 
 
 love-songs for maids. 
 Clown. Pr 'ythee, bring him in ; and let him approach singing. 
 
 [Exit Servant. Be-enter immediately with Autolycus, singing, then exit 
 again.] 
 Lawn as white as driven snow; 
 Cyprus black as e'er was crow: 
 Gloves as sweet as damask roses: 
 Masks for. faces and for noses; 
 Bugle-bracelet, necklace-amber, 
 Perfume for a lady's chamber; 
 Golden quoifs and stomachers, 
 For my lads to give their dears; 
 Pins and poking-sticks of steel, 
 What maids lack from head to heel : 
 Come buy of me, come; come buy, come buy; 
 Buy, lads, or else your lasses cry: 
 Come buy. 
 Clown. If I were not in love with Mopsa, thou shouldst take no money of 
 me; but, being enthrall 'd as I am, it will also be the bondage of 
 certain ribands and gloves. 
 Mopsa. I was promised them against the feast; but they come not too late 
 now. Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace and a pair of sweet 
 gloves. 
 Clown. Have I not told thee how I was cozen 'd by the way, and lost all 
 
 my money? 
 Aut. And, indeed, sir, there are cozeners abroad; therefore it behooves 
 men to be wary. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 45 
 
 Clown. Fear not thou, man, thou shalt lose nothing here. 
 
 Aut. I hope so, sir; for I have about me many parcels of charge. 
 
 Clown. What hast here? ballads? 
 
 Mopsa. Pray now, buy some: I love a ballad in print. Pray you now, 
 
 buy it. 
 Clown. Come on, lay it by: and let's first see more ballads; we'll buy the 
 
 other things anon. 
 Aut. Here's another ballad, of a fish that appeared forty thousand 
 fathom above water, and sung this ballad against the hard hearts 
 of maids. 
 Clown. Lay it by, too: another. 
 Aut. This is a merry ballad, but a very pretty one. 
 Mopsa. Let's have some merry ones. 
 Aut. Why, this is a passing merry one, and goes to the tune of Two Maids 
 
 Wooing a Man: 
 Clown. We'll have this song anon by ourselves: — 
 Come, bring away thy pack after me. — 
 
 Wenches, I'll buy for you both. — Peddler, let's have the first choice. — 
 Follow me, girls. 
 
 [Exit with Boreas and Mopsa.] 
 Aut. And you shall pay well for 'em, — 
 
 [Sings.] Will you buy any tape, or lace for your cape, 
 My dainty duck, my dear-a? 
 Any silk, any thread, any toys for your head, 
 Of the new'st and finest, finest wear-a? 
 Come to the peddler ; money 's a meddler, 
 That doth utter all men's ware-a. 
 
 [Exit. Ee-enter Servant.] 
 
 Serv. Master, there is three goat-herds, three shepherds, three neat-herds, 
 
 three swine-herds, that have made themselves all men of hair; 
 
 they call themselves Saltiers: and they have a dance which will 
 
 please plentifully. 
 
 Shep. Away! .we'll none on't: here has been too much homely foolery 
 
 already. — I know, sir, we weary you. 
 Pol. You weary those that refresh us: pray, let's see these four threes of 
 
 herdsmen. 
 Serv. Why, they stay at door, sir. [Exit.] 
 
 [Enter twelve Rustics habited like Satyrs, who dance, and then exeunt. 
 As they go out Autolycus, Clown, Dorcas, Mopsa return. The Shepherds and 
 Shepherdesses flock to Autolycus, join a ring with him in center and have 
 a merry morris dance. Towards the close Polixenes and Camilla go off 
 talking.] 
 
 [Exeunt All.] 
 
46 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. The Herald presents the last Company of Play- 
 ers to Shakspere, announcing the name of the Company and the title of 
 the Act.] 
 
 FUN FOB EVERYMAN 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 THE SEEVANTS OF THE LOED CHAMBEELAIN 
 
 [SMkspere steps forward and speaks the Chorus of the First Episode.] 
 
 First Episode 
 
 Malvolio Befooled 
 
 Chorus. [Spoken by Shakspere.] 
 
 Linger your patience on and you shall view 
 
 A scene of frolic, mockery, and mirth. 
 Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story 
 
 That I may prompt them: well then thus it runs: 
 
 Malvolio fondly thinks Olivia loves him. 
 
 Maria, knowing this, throws in his way 
 A missive which she writes to further dupe him, 
 
 And then she brings Sir Toby and his friends 
 
 Within the garden 'neath the shrubbery 
 To watch Malvolio when he chances on it. 
 
 Enjoy the fun. — I must no longer stay 
 
 Already come the actors in the play. 
 
 * TWELFTH NIGHT 
 
 Act II. Scene V. 
 
 Olivia's Garden. 
 
 [Enter Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian.] 
 
 Sir To. Come thy ways, Signior Fabian. 
 
 Fab. Nay, I'll come: if I lose a scruple of this sport, let me be boiled to 
 
 death with melancholy. 
 Sir To. Wouldst thou not be glad to have the niggardly, rascally sheep- 5 
 
 biter come by some notable shame? 
 Fab. I would exult, man. 8 
 
 ► The edition used Is the Lake English Classics : Scott, Foresman & Company. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 47 
 
 Sir To. We will fool him black and blue: shall we not, Sir Andrew? 12 
 
 Sir And. An we do not, it's pity of our lives. 
 
 Sir To. Here comes the little villain. 
 
 [Enter Maria.] 
 How now, my metal of India! 
 
 Mar. Get ye all three into the box-tree Malvolio 's coming down this 
 walk. He has been yonder i' the sun practising behavior to 
 his own shadow this half -hour. Observe him, for the love of 20 
 mockery, for I know this letter will make a contemplative 
 idiot of him. Close, in the name of jesting! Lie thou there. 23 
 [Throws down a letter. Exit. Enter Malvolio.'] 
 
 Mai. 'Tis but fortune; all is fortune. Maria once told me she did 
 affect me; and I have heard herself come thus near, that, 
 should she fancy, it should be one of my complexion. 30 
 
 Sir To. Here's an overweening rogue! 33 
 
 Fab. Oh, peace! Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him. 35 
 
 Sir And. 'Slight, I could so beat the rogue ! 
 
 Sir To. Peace, I say. 
 
 Mai. To be Count Malvolio! 
 
 Sir To. Ah, rogue! 40 
 
 Sir And. Pistol him, pistol him. 
 
 Sir To. Peace, peace! 42 
 
 Mai. Having been three months married to her, sitting in my state, — 48 
 
 Sir To. Oh, for a stone-bow, to hit him in the eye ! 50 
 
 Mai. — Calling my officers about me, in my branched velvet gown, — 52 
 
 Sir To. Fire and brimstone! 54 
 
 Fab. Oh, peace, peace! 55 
 
 Mai. — Telling them I know my place as I would they should do theirs, 
 to ask for my kinsman Toby. 
 
 Sir To. Bolts and shackles ! 60 
 
 Fab. Oh, peace, peace, peace! Now, now. 61 
 
 Mai. Toby approaches; courtesies there to me, — 65 
 
 Sir To. Shall this fellow live? 
 
 Fab. Though our silence be drawn from us with cars, yet peace. 
 
 Mai. — I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar smile 70 
 with an austere regard of control, — 
 
 Sir To. And does not Toby take you a blow o' the lips then? 
 
 Mai. — Saying, "Cousin Toby, my fortunes having cast me on your 75 
 niece give me this prerogative of speech." — 
 
 Sir To. What, what? 
 
 Mai. — "You must amend your drunkenness." 
 
 Sir To. Out, scab! 80 
 
 Fab. Nay, patience, or we break the sinews of our plot. 
 
 Mai. "Besides, you waste the treasure of your time with a foolish 
 knight,"— 
 
48 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Sir And. That's me, I warrant you. 85 
 
 Mai. — "One Sir Andrew." 
 
 Sir And. I knew 't was Ij for many do call me fool. 
 
 Mai. What employment have we here? 
 
 [Talcing up the letter.] 
 Fab. Now is the woodcock near the gin. 90 
 
 Sir To. Oh, peace! 
 Mai. By my life, this is my lady's hand: these be her very C's, her 
 
 U 's, and her T 's ; and thus makes she her great P 's. It is, in con- 95 
 tempt of question, her hand. 
 Sir And. Her C's, her U's, and her T's: why that? 
 
 Mai. [Beads] ' ' To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes : ' ' 100 
 
 — her very phrases! By your leave, wax. 101 
 
 Fab. This wins him. 104 
 
 Mai. [Beads'] Jove knows I love: 105 
 
 But who? 
 
 Lips, do not move; 
 
 No man must know. 
 1 ' No man must know. ' ' What follows ? The numbers altered ! 
 "No man must know"; if this should be thee, Malvolio? 
 Sir To. Marry, hang thee. 
 Mai. [Beads] I may command where I adore; 
 But silence, like a Lucreee knife, 
 
 With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore: 115 
 
 M, O, A, I, doth sway my life. 
 Fab. A fustian riddle! 
 Sir To. Excellent wench, say I. 
 Mai. "M, O, A, I, doth sway my life. ' ' Nay, but first, let me see, let 
 
 me see, let me see. 120 
 
 Fab. What dish o' poison has she dressed him? 121 
 
 Mai. "I may command where I adore." Why, she may command 124 
 me : I serve her : she is my lady. — And the end, — what should 
 that alphabetical position portend? If I could make that 128 
 resemble something in me, — Softly ! M, O, A, I, — 130 
 
 Sir To. Oh, ay, make up that. He is now at a cold scent. 
 Mai. M, — Malvolio; M, — why, that begins my name. 136 
 
 Fab. Did not I say he would work it out? the cur is excellent at 
 
 faults. 
 Mai. M, — but when there is no consonancy in the sequel; that suffers 140 
 
 under probation: A should follow, but O does. 
 Fab. And O shall end, I hope. 
 
 Sir To. Ay, or I'll cudgel him, and make him cry O! 145 
 
 Mai. And then I comes behind. 
 
 Fab. Ay, an you had an eye behind you, you might see more detrac- 
 tion at your heels than fortunes before you. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 49 
 
 Mai. M, O, A, I; Soft! here follows prose. 150 
 
 [Beads] "If this fall into thy hands, revolve. In my stars I 154 
 am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are 155 
 born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness 158 
 thrust upon 'em. Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with 162 
 servants; she thus advises thee that sighs for thee. Kemem- 165 
 ber who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see 168 
 •thee ever cross-gartered: I say, remember. Farewell. She 172 
 that would alter services with thee. THE FOKTUNATE- 
 UNHAPPY. ' ' 174 
 
 Daylight and champain discovers not more. This is open. I 175 
 will be proud, I will baffle Sir Toby, for every reason excites 
 to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow 181 
 stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-gartered. 183 
 I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, 186 
 even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be 191 
 praised! Here is yet a postscript. 
 [Beads] "Thou canst not choose but know who I am. If thou 
 entertainest my love, let it appear in thy smiling; thy smiles 
 become thee well; therefore in my presence still smile, dear 
 my sweet, I prithee.' ' 195 
 
 Jovej I thank thee: I will smile; I will do everything that thou 
 wilt have me. [Exit] 
 Fab. I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of thousands. 200 
 Sir To. I could marry this wench for this device. 
 Sir And. So could I too. 
 
 Sir To. — and ask no other dowry with her but such another jest. 205 
 
 Sir And. Nor I neither. 
 Fab. Here comes my noble gull-catcher. 
 
 [Be-enter Maria.] 
 Sir To. Wilt thou set thy foot o' my neck? 
 
 Sir And. Or o' mine either? 210 
 
 Sir To. Shall I become thy bond-slave? 
 
 Sir And. F faith, or I either? 213 
 
 Mar. Nay, but say true; does it work upon him? 217 
 
 [They nod] 
 If you will then see the fruits of the sport, mark his first approach 220 
 before my lady. He will come to her in yellow stockings, 
 and 't is a color she abhors; and cross-gartered a fashion 
 she detests; and he will smile upon her. If you will see it, 224 
 follow me. 228 
 
 Sir To. To the gates of Tartar, thou most excellent devil of wit ! 230 
 
 Sir And. I'll make one too. 
 
 [Exeunt.] 
 
50 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets. Shalspere steps forward and speaks Chorus to] 
 Second Episode 
 Pyramus and Thisbe 
 
 Chorus. [Spoken by Shakspere.] 
 
 Last scene of all that ends this hour's illusion 
 The Players bring from out the distant past. 
 The world-old tale of Pyramus and Thisbe 
 Now shall you see performed in version new : 
 Hard-handed men of Athens are the actors. 
 With all the crudity of simple folk 
 They play their parts. And though you laugh 
 When Wall and Moonshine speak and Lion roars 
 You can but in a way, commend the ardor 
 Displayed by each in working out his part. 
 These rude mechanicals have done all this 
 In honor of Duke Theseus' nuptial feast. — 
 No more from me. Now Chorus says adieu, 
 To all of you who've sat this medley through. 
 
 *A MIDSTJMMEK NIGHT 'S DREAM 
 
 Act V, Scene I 
 
 Athens. The palace of Theseus 
 
 [Enter, Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, Helena, Theseus, Hippolyta, Philos- 
 trate, Lords, and Attendants.] 
 
 [They enter to the strains of Wedding March and are seated.] 
 
 The. Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have, 32 
 
 Where is our usual manager of mirth? 35 
 
 What revels are in hand? 36 
 
 Call Philostrate. 38 
 
 Phil. Here, mighty Theseus. 
 
 The. 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? 
 
 * The edition used is the Lake English Classics : Scott, Foresman & Company. 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 51 
 
 Phil. There is a brief how many sports are ripe. 
 
 Make choice of which your Highness will see first. 43 
 
 [Giving a paper] 
 The. [Beads] "A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus 56 
 
 And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.' ' 
 
 Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief! 
 
 That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow. 
 
 How shall we find the concord of this discord? 60 
 
 Phil. A play there is, my lord, some ten words long, 
 
 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. 65 
 
 And tragical, my noble lord, it is; 
 
 For Pyramus therein doth kill himself. 
 
 Which, when I saw rehears 'd, I must confess, 
 
 Made mine eyes water ; but more merry tears 
 
 The passion of loud laughter never shed. 70 
 
 The. What are they that do play it? 
 Phil. Hard-handed men that work in Athens here, 
 
 Which never labor 'd in their minds till now, 
 
 And now have toiled their unbreathed memories 
 
 With this same play, against your nuptial. 75 
 
 The. And we will hear it. 
 Phil. No, my noble lord; 
 
 It is not for you. I have heard it over, 
 
 And it is nothing, nothing in the world ; 78 
 
 To do you service. 81 
 
 The. I will hear that play ; 
 
 For never anything can be amiss, 
 
 When simpleness and duty tender it. 
 
 Go, bring them in ; and take your places, ladies. 
 [Exit Philostrate] 
 Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o 'ercharged, 85 
 
 And duty in his service perishing. 
 The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing. 
 Hip. He says they can do nothing in this kind. 
 The. The kinder we to give them thanks for nothing. 
 
 Our sport shall be to take what they mistake. 
 [Be-enter Philostrate.] 
 Phil. So please your Grace, the Prologue is address 'd 106 
 
 The. Let him approach. 
 
 [Flourish of trumpets] 
 [Enter (Quince for) the Prologue.] 
 
52 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 Pro. 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, 110 
 
 This 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. 115 
 
 The actors are at hand, and by their show 
 
 You shall know all that you are like to know. 
 The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. 
 
 Lys. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt ; he knows not the stop. 120 
 Hip. Indeed he hath play 'd on this prologue like a child on a recorder ; 
 
 a sound, but not in government. 
 _ he. His speech was like a tangled chain ; nothing impaired, but all 
 
 disordered. Who is next? 125 
 
 L Enter with a trumpet "before them, Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine. 
 
 and Lion.] 
 Pro. Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; 
 
 But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. 
 
 This man is Pyramus, if you would know; 
 
 This beauteous lady Thisby is certain. 
 
 This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present 130 
 
 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 lantern, dog, and bush of thorn, 
 
 Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know, 135 
 
 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 Thisby, coming first by night, 
 
 Did scare away, or rather did affright ; 140 
 
 And, as she fled, her mantle she. did fall, 
 
 Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. 
 
 Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall, 
 
 And finds his trusty Thisby 's mantle slain; 
 
 Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, 145 
 
 He bravely broach 'd his boiling bloody breast; 
 
 And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade, 
 
 His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, 
 
 Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain 
 
 At large discourse, while here they do remain. 150 
 
 [Exeunt Prologue, Pyramus, Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine.'] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 53 
 
 Wall. In this same interlude it doth befall 
 
 That I, one Snout by name, present a wall ; 155 
 
 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 Thisby, 
 
 Did whisper often very secretly. 
 
 This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone doth show 160 
 
 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. 
 The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? 165 
 
 Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord. 
 
 [Enter Pyramus.] 
 
 The. Pyramus draws near the wall. Silence! 
 
 Pyr. O grim-look 'd night! O night with hue so black! 
 
 O night, which ever art when day is not! 170 
 
 night, O night ! alack, alack, alack, 
 
 1 fear my Thisby 's promise is forgot! 
 And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall, 
 
 That stand 'st between her father's ground and mine! 
 
 Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, 175 
 
 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? No Thisby do I see. 
 O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss! 
 
 Curs'd be thy stones for thus deceiving me! 180 
 
 The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again. 
 Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. " Deceiving me" is Thisby 's 
 cue. She is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the 
 wall. You shall see it will fall pat as I told you. Yonder 
 she comes. 
 
 [Enter Thisoe.] 
 
 This. wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, 
 
 For parting my fair Pyramus and me! 
 
 My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones, 
 
 Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee. 190 
 
 Pyr. I see a voice ! Now will I to the chink, 
 
 To spy an I can hear my Thisby 's face. 
 
 Thisby! 
 This. My love thou art, my love I think. 
 Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover 's grace ; 
 
 And, like Limander, am I trusty still. 195 
 
54 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 This. And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill. 
 
 Pyr. Not Shafalus to Proems was so true. 
 
 This. As Shafalus to Procus, I to you. 
 
 Pyr. O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall! 
 
 This. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all. 200 
 
 Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straight-way? 
 
 This. 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay. 
 
 [Exeunt Pyramus and Thisoe] 
 
 Wall. Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so; 
 
 And, being done, thus Wall away doth go, 204 
 
 [Exit.] 
 
 Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. 209 
 The. The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst are no 
 
 worse, if imagination amend them. 211 
 
 Here come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion. 215 
 
 [Enter Lion and Moonshine.] 
 
 Lion. You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear 
 
 The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, 
 
 May now perchance both quake and tremble here, 
 
 When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. 220 
 
 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, 't were pity on my life. 
 The. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience. 225 
 
 Bern. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e 'er I saw. 227 
 
 Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present: — 236 
 
 Bern. He should have worn the horns on his head. 237 
 
 Moon. This lantern doth the horned moon present; 241 
 
 Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be. 
 The. This is the greatest error of all the rest. 
 
 The man should be put into the lantern. How is it else the man i ' 
 
 the moon? 245 
 
 Hip. I am aweary of this moon. Would he would change! 248-249 
 
 The. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the 250 
 wane. 251 
 
 Lys. Proceed, Moon. 253 
 
 Moon. All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the lantern is the 
 
 moon ; I, the man i ' the moon ; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush ; 255 
 and this dog, my dog. 
 Bern. Why, all these should be in the lantern ; for all these are in the 
 
 moon. But, silence! here comes Thisbe. 260 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 55 
 
 [Enter Thisbe.] 
 This. This is old Ninny 's tomb. Where is my love ? 
 
 Lion. [Boaring] Oh [Thisbe runs off] 
 
 Bern. Well roar'd, Lion. 
 
 The. Well run, Thisbe. 
 
 Hip. Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a good grace. 265 
 
 [The Lion shakes Thisbe's mantle, and exit] 
 The. Well mous'd Lion. 
 Bern. And then came Pyramus. 
 Lys. And so the lion vanish 'd. 
 
 [Enter Pyramus.] 
 Pyr. Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams; 270 
 
 I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright; 
 For, by thy gracious, golden glittering gleams, 
 I trust to take of truest Thisby sight. 
 
 But stay, O spite! 
 
 But mark, poor knight, 275 
 
 What dreadful dole is here! 
 Eyes, do you see? 
 How can it be ? 
 O dainty duck! O dear! 
 
 Thy mantle good, 280 
 
 What, stained with blood! 
 Approach, ye Furies fell! 
 O Fates, come, come, 
 Cut thread and thrum ; 
 Quail crush, conclude, and quell ! 285 
 
 Hip. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man. 
 Pyr. O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame? 
 
 Since lion vile hath here deflower 'd my dear ; 290 
 
 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 294 
 
 [Stabs himself] 
 Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. 298 
 
 Now am I dead, 
 
 Now am I fled; 300 
 
 My soul is in the sky. 
 
 Tongue, lose thy light; 
 Moon, take thy flight. 
 
 [Exit Moonshine] 
 Now die, die, die, die, die. 304 
 
 [Dies] 
 
56 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 The. With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover. 309 
 
 Hip. How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes back and 
 finds her lover? 
 
 [Be-enter Thisbe.] 
 
 The. She will find him by starlight. Here she comes ; and her passion 
 
 ends the play. 314 
 
 This. Asleep, my love? 323 
 
 What, dead, my dove? 
 O Pyramus, arise! 
 
 Speak, speak! Quite dumb? 
 Dead, dead? A tomb 
 Must cover thy sweet eyes. 
 These lily lips, 
 
 This cherry nose, 330 
 
 These yellow cowslip cheeks, 
 
 Are gone, are gone! 
 
 Lovers, make moan. 
 
 His eyes were green as leeks. 
 
 O Sisters Three, 335 
 
 Come, come to me, 
 With hands as pale as milk; 
 Lay them in gore, 
 Since you have shore 
 With shears his thread of silk. 340 
 
 Tongue, not a word! 
 Come, trusty sword; 
 Come, blade, my breast imbrue; 
 
 [Stabs herself] 
 And, farewell, friends; 
 
 Thus Thisby ends. 345 
 
 Adieu, adieu, adieu. 
 
 [Dies] 
 The. Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead. 347, 348 
 
 Bern. Ay, and Wall, too. 
 
 Bot. [Starting up] No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted 350 
 their fathers. Will it please you to hear a Bergomask dance 
 between two of our company? 
 The. [Yes] come, your Bergomask. 360 
 
 [A dance] 
 [Exeunt. Court moves out to strains of Wedding March.] 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 57 
 
 [At the conclusion of this scene the five Companies of Players come 
 forward and kneel oefore the Queen, as Shakspere speaks the Epilogue.] 
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 And now, my Queen, before this day hath ending 
 
 The Players all salute thee fittingly, 
 
 On bended knee they ask thy gracious pardon 
 
 For all the faults they Ve made in act and scene, 
 
 Trusting that now and then a moment 's laughter 
 
 Was thine, despite their speech and gesture crude. 
 
 The actors beg a brief space yet indulgence 
 
 The while they trip another round for thee. 
 
 The Court will join in this our final measure, 
 
 In honor of our Queen. Come now, and sing, 
 
 And after, offer greetings to the spring! 
 
 [The Players rise, join hands, and dance a roundelay as they sing the 
 following song.] 
 
 Song. 
 
 Fairy blessings now we bring, 
 
 Dancing round in magic ring. 
 
 Shower health and happiness 
 
 Ever on our good Queen Bess! 
 
 It is she who aids the actors, 
 
 It is she who makes them factors 
 
 In the revels of the day. 
 
 As we dance our roundelay 
 
 Let us bring our tribute to her, 
 
 All our thanks and more are due her. 
 
 Never harm 
 Nor spell nor charm 
 Come our lovely lady nigh! 
 Let our voices soar on high, _ 
 
 Happiness 
 For good Queen Bess! 
 Spirits of the air unseen 
 Bless, oh, bless our Fairie Queen! 
 
 [As the song ends the Knights and Ladies of the Court join the dancers. 
 After a merry country dance a triumphal march is played as the Queen and 
 Court leave while the Players stand with lowed heads. Then they, too, 
 move off to strains of sprightly music, Shalcspere leading.] 
 
TEACHING SHAKSPERE IN SCHOOLS 
 
 By William Allan Neilson 
 
 " Probably," says a recent writer, " there is no part of the world 
 today where the study of Shakspere is so active and where the interest in 
 his work is so widespread [as in America]. In one respect, at least, the 
 United States in recent years has carried this study and interest beyond 
 England, in the fields of education. As the study of the mother tongue 
 has become the basis of American education, so Shakspere has come to 
 play a more and more important part in the training of youth. The 
 universities offer training in the various departments of Shaksperean scholar- 
 ship, every college offers courses on his plays, a number of them are pre- 
 scribed for reading and study in the high schools; a few of them are read 
 and extracts memorized in the primary schools. The child begins his edu- 
 cation with Ariel and the fairies, and until his schooling is completed is 
 kept in almost daily intercourse with the poetry and persons of the dramas. 
 Homer was not better known in Athens. In a democracy still young and 
 widely separated from older nations and cultures, Shakspere has become 
 one of the links that bind the American public not only to the common 
 inheritances of the English-speaking races, but to the traditional culture 
 of Europe. " 
 
 The state of things thus eomplimentarily summarized is such as to 
 justify some self -congratulation ; its continuance, it would seem, can only 
 result in good. But with all this interest and all this study it is clear to 
 any one who follows educational discussion in this country that there is no 
 general agreement as to either the aims or the methods to be pursued in the 
 teaching of Shakspere in our schools. . . . 
 
 For purposes of clearness I shall take up the different topics in the fol- 
 lowing order: plot, dialogue, character, poetry, thought. The order is not 
 that of relative importance. Under these heads it will be possible to dis- 
 cuss the most important elements in the plays of Shakspere which we may 
 reasonably hope to bring, at least in part, within the range of a schoolboy's 
 appreciation. Other subjects of Shaksperean study, valuable in themselves 
 for older students but properly to be subordinated in school, will be treated 
 more summarily. 
 
 Plot 
 
 What the Elizabethan dramatist set out to tell, what the Elizabethan 
 play-goer went to hear, was a story. The English drama grew up as a way 
 of telling stories, biblical, historical, romantic, comic, to people most of 
 
 59 
 
60 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 whom could not read or had limited access to books. The story was taken 
 out of the narrative form and presented by means of action and dialogue. 
 It is important, then, to make the student grasp all that happens in the 
 play. For this the imagination of both teacher and pupil has to be exercised, 
 for the text of Shakspere as we have it today is but a partial record of the 
 original performance. Then, as now, much of the effectiveness of acted 
 drama depended on stage " business, ' ' and the tradition of this business, 
 much of which we may suppose that Shakspere himself as actor and part- 
 proprietor of the theater suggested, is largely lost. The original editions 
 are practically without stage directions; and modern editors have sought 
 to supply only the bare minimum to render the dialogue intelligible. But 
 any one who visualizes the action as he reads will see that a thousand 
 significant motions and gestures are needed to transform our printed notes 
 of the speeches into a piece of life; and this habit of visualization is the 
 first thing for both teacher and student to cultivate. It will, of course, 
 result in many and conflicting interpretations, none of which may claim 
 to be authentic: but so much the better, for we can secure that active and 
 responsive attitude toward literature which it is our aim to substitute for 
 the passive one — of the bucket being filled — which is the bane of all educa- 
 tional endeavor. It is clear that seeing the plays acted and acting them 
 oneself — even badly — must help in this matter of visualizing the action. 
 
 The immediate result of this recreating of the business is the sense 
 of the value of scenes, and of situations within scenes. Dramatic action 
 is a succession of climaxes, where the forces and persons engaged come 
 face to face in moments of culminating interest in which the elements of 
 the conflict stand revealed. Each of these moments gives a situation, and 
 to the creation and significance of these situations the pupil's attention 
 must constantly be drawn. 
 
 The Elizabethan drama after Shakspere, and much modern drama, are 
 chiefly excellent in situations; but in Shakspere, as a rule, the whole play 
 is still "the thing," and we must find means to make impressive the 
 dramatic unity of action. For this, one is usually advised to begin by 
 reading the play rapidly with the class; but this is not enough. The full 
 effect can only be got after the whole series of scenes is well known ; and, as 
 it is not always easy to recall the sequence of scenes, help must be given. 
 The simplest way to do this is to summarize — a line to a scene — the whole 
 action on the blackboard, marking clearly the division into acts. Then the 
 whole class, having the full extent of the action under the eye at once, can 
 profitably be led to discuss the part each scene plays in the whole, the real 
 turning point of the action, and the fashion in which the end is justified 
 by and justifies all that goes before. Books on the technic of the drama 
 are suggestive for the teacher; but it is not wise to load the student's 
 memory with a mass of modern technical terms which tend to give a false 
 impression of mechanism in the making of a Shaksperean play. But the 
 fundamental conception of unity of action, of the necessity for beginning, 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 61 
 
 middle, and end, which is as old as criticism, can be made clear with very- 
 little in the way of specialized terminology. This conception is of the high- 
 est importance for other forms of literature as well, but the comparative 
 shortness of plays makes them the most appropriate medium for presenting 
 the idea to the student. 
 
 Dialogue 
 
 Though dialogue was originally chiefly a means of explaining what the 
 actors were doing and why, it came even before Shakspere's time, in the 
 work of Lyly, to have an interest of its own. There are scenes, especially 
 in comedies like Love's Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, and 
 As You Like It, where the exchange of brilliant repartee is of more interest 
 than the bearing of the talk on the action; and there are characters, like 
 Touchstone, whose chief function is to be witty and the cause of wit in 
 others. A stern criticism is sometimes severe on the redundancy of such 
 scenes from a strictly dramatic point of view, but we cannot go wrong in 
 helping students to enjoy them in themselves, and to feel the relief that 
 is sometimes afforded by them, as for example, in the terrible tension of the 
 last scenes of Hamlet by the relaxation of the conversation with Osric. 
 
 We should also point out the different types of dialogue and their pur- 
 poses: the merely expository purpose in scenes like that of the bleeding 
 sergeant in Macbeth; the psychological purpose in the soliloquies of Hamlet 
 and his uncle; the intentional suggestion of the pastoral convention in the 
 verse scenes of the Phebe-Silvius plot in As You Like It; the dialogue of 
 repartee for its own sake just mentioned; the dialogue which combines 
 sparkle and characterization and action like that which culminates in the 
 "Kill Claudio!" of Beatrice. 
 
 Character 
 
 But dialogue cannot, any more than plot, be separated from the consid- 
 eration of character; for the most important quality of dialogue is its 
 appropriateness to the speakers. This discussion of naturalness, of dramatic 
 fitness, will always be two-sided; it embraces both the manipulation of the 
 conversation in itself, and the unfolding of character and action. 
 
 Although, as I have said, the Elizabethan drama was primarily and 
 historically a way of telling a story, it seems probable that in Shakspere 
 himself the interest, as he reached the climax of his career, centered more 
 and more in the creation of men and women. And the experience of most 
 teachers shows that it is in the result of such creation that the pupil's 
 interest is most easily aroused. The illusion of reality by which Lady Mac- 
 beth and Claudius are made as actual as President Wilson and the German 
 Emperor takes easy possession of the young imagination, and there is no 
 reason why the discussion of their springs of action, on this basis of reality, 
 should be discouraged. Such discussion, however, is very apt to wander far 
 from the text ; one has known it, in a critic as great as Coleridge, to become 
 
62 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 so largely subjective that the facts as given in the play are almost lost 
 from sight. To counteract this tendency it is well to demand act and 
 scene for each characteristic noted by the pupil ; or, to reverse the procedure, 
 material for forming a clear conception of the character can be collected by 
 asking the class, apropos of each scene in which a given character appears, 
 to name the qualities there exhibited. These qualities, arranged in a logical 
 sequence, then form a substantial basis for a written estimate. 
 
 Definiteness of conception having been thus obtained, discussion can 
 proceed on the dramatic function of the character, his importance for indi- 
 vidual scenes and for the plot as a whole. At times he will be found to be, 
 as in the proverbial case of Hamlet, the keystone of the arch; at others, 
 as in the case of Jaques in As You Like It, of no importance whatever 
 for the action, whereupon rises a profitable question as to wherein his value 
 does lie. He may help to create atmosphere, or supply comic relief, or utter 
 important commentary on the others; but, in any case, the raising of the 
 question will tend to open the eyes of pupils to many sources of artistic 
 pleasure they might otherwise have missed. 
 
 But it will usually be found that the natural interest of younger stu- 
 dents is in the ethical aspects of the leading figures. The modern teacher 
 has a wholesome dread of using literature as an occasion for preaching; 
 but this need not prevent him from encouraging and giving critical guid- 
 ance to a perfectly sound instinct. The degradation of the character of 
 Macbeth, the justification of Brutus, the morality of Juliet's nurse are 
 surely legitimate interests for the student, since they were for the author 
 of the plays. It is not necessary to close such discussions with an exhorta- 
 tion: if we succeed in helping Shakspere to give some insight into human 
 nature, we may safely leave the moral to apply itself. 
 
 Poetry 
 
 The cultivating of the appreciation of the poetry of the dramas is 
 perhaps the most difficult task of all, for here awkward handling or mechanical 
 analysis may easily defeat the end in view. The old fashion of picking out 
 and labeling figures of speech has happily disappeared. The best and safest 
 method, if the teacher has the gift, is good reading aloud. This alone will 
 bring out the melody, and but little comment need be added to characterize 
 it and draw attention to its particular fitness to the mood or the occasion. 
 
 In most classes some one will be likely to raise the point that in real 
 life people seldom talk poetry and never talk verse ; and, without attempting 
 too much, an elementary lesson can be taught on the necessity for conven- 
 tions in art, and on the effect of meter in heightening emotional effect. 
 Almost every pupil will perceive the advantage that Shakspere 's verse has 
 over a prose paraphrase of it, and this perception is the chief thing. 
 
 The idea of the atmosphere of a play is not beyond the grasp of high 
 school pupils, but it must be presented mainly by concrete examples rather 
 
A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 63 
 
 than by any attempt at abstract definition. But once attention has been 
 drawn to the contrast between the atmosphere of Macbeth and Twelfth 
 Night, or of Henry V and A Midsummer -Night's Bream, the discussion of 
 how this sense of atmosphere is produced will tend to sharpen perception. 
 Thus a class may be brought round to find in Mercutio's speech on Queen 
 Mab something more than a detachable purple passage, and in the quarrel 
 of the servants in the first scene of the same play more than a series of 
 poor puns. 
 
 Thought 
 
 In speaking of the ethical aspects of characterization I have already 
 touched on one of the most important problems relating to the thought in 
 a play. The great risk here is that of producing the impression that Shaks- 
 pere was primarily interested in moral maxims, and wrote his plays to 
 inculcate them. Simple language can be found to drive home the fact that 
 it was life in the concrete that interested him, that he searched for a good 
 story, and, when he found it, sought to present it as effectively as possible 
 on the stage, and elaborated his characters so that what they had to do 
 in the story should seem natural and plausible. But in the course of this 
 elaboration he had constantly to imply moral judgments; and in modifying 
 the action for purposes of plausibility or effectiveness he constantly 
 embodied universal truths. These judgments and truths can be fairly 
 elicited without doing violence to the dramas as works of art, though here, 
 as elsewhere, it is both safer and more fruitful to do this by means of 
 questioning than by lecturing. In those cases where the author himself puts 
 generalizations into the mouths of his characters, as in the speech of 
 Theseus on the poet, or that of Hamlet on the art of the theater, nothing is 
 needed but to make sure that the language is understood, and to point out 
 its relation to the context. 
 
 In all this I have said nothing of the matters which are usually most 
 prominent in the apparatus supplied in school editions of the plays — 
 language, sources, date, and place in literary history. 
 
 The matter of language is, of course, of great importance. The student 
 must know what the lines mean, or our whole structure is without foundation. 
 But there is an immense difference between, on the one hand, even a rigorous 
 extraction of the precise meaning and flavor of the words for the purpose 
 of following the thought and of getting at the various interests we have 
 been discussing, and, on the other hand, using the lines of Shakspere as an 
 excuse for a study of etymology, or grammar, or prosody. This second 
 alternative is much easier than teaching Shakspere, and will always be 
 resorted to by the kind of teacher who cannot rise above ' ' hearing lessons. ' ' 
 It is important that an edition for schools should explain succinctly all 
 rare and archaic expressions, chiefly in order that this part of the work need 
 not be done in class. 
 
 As for the date, that is a matter of slight significance until the stu- 
 
64 A SHAKSPERE FESTIVAL 
 
 dent becomes interested in Shakespere's development as a whole; and the 
 technical argument by which the dates of the plays have been approximately 
 fixed is out of place in a school. The sources are of a more real interest ; 
 but it is best to ignore this question entirely until it arises, as it is bound 
 to do, in the course of discussion, after interest has been aroused in the 
 play itself. Then a full account of Shakspere 's material, and, if possible, 
 the reading of the whole of his original, may well be employed to bring out 
 the significance of his changes. The main value of knowing the source of 
 a Shaksperean play is in being able to observe when and why he did not 
 follow it. Certainly it is not worth while to burden a pupil's memory with 
 the mere name of an obscure Italian of whom he has never heard, unless 
 we are to go farther and make this name significant. On the other hand, 
 few things illuminate such a play as Julius Ccesar so much as a comparison 
 with North's Plutarch with a view to noting how Shakspere handled it. 
 
 The question of how much literary history should be taught in schools 
 is a separate problem which we are not called on to solve here. If an out- 
 line of the whole course of the history of English literature is given in a 
 school, it is a simple matter to place the play under discussion in its 
 proper period. If not, a short preliminary talk, or the reading of a good 
 introduction should suffice. The important thing is that matters of this kind, 
 valuable enough in their own way, should not seduce us from our proper 
 task when we undertake to teach Shakspere. 
 
 For, after all, to teach Shakspere is the greatest privilege and should be 
 the greatest joy in the professional life of a teacher of English. If he 
 does not feel it to be so, there is only one piece of advice to give him — 
 Don't. 
 
 [Professor Neilson's essay is published in a separate 
 pamphlet. It will be supplied, free of charge, to teachers 
 of English upon request.] 
 
ICake Ettglialj flllaastrs 
 
 General Editor 
 LINDSAY TODD DAMON, A.B. 
 
 Professor of 
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