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1. FAI: You spotted fnakes, with double tongue,'
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not feen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen:

Chorus.

Philomel, with melody,
Sing in our fweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby;
Never harm, nor fpell nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

II.

2. FAI. Weaving Spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd fpinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor fnail, do no offence.

Chorus.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

with double tongue,] The fame epithet occurs in a future

fcene of this play:

with doubler tongue

"Than thine, thou ferpent," &c.

Again, in The Tempeft:

the

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adders, who, with cloven tongues,

"Do hifs me into madnefs.

By both these terms, I fuppofe, our author means-forked; as tongues of fnakes are fometimes represented in ancient tapestry and paintings. STEEVENS.

6 Newts, and blind-worms, ] The newt is the eft, the blindworm is the Cecilia or flow-worm. They are both ingredients in the cauldron of Macbeth.

STERVENS.

VOL. VII.

F

1. FAI. Hence, away; now all is well: One, aloof, ftand fentinel. "

[Exeunt Fairies, TITANIA fleeps.

Enter OBERON.

OBE. What thou feeft, when thou doft wake, [Squeezes the flower on Titania's eye-lids.

Do it for thy true love take;

Love, and languifh for his fake:
Be it ounce, 8 or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with briftled hair,
In thy eye that fhall appear
When thou wak'ft, it is thy dear;
Wake, when fome vile thing is near.

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.

[Exit.

Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the

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And to fpeak troth, I have forgot our way: We'll reft us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day.

HER. Be it fo, Lyfander: find you out a bed, For I upon this bank will reft my head.

Lys. One turf fhall ferve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bofoms, and one troth. HER. Nay, good Lyfander; for my fake, my dear,

Lie further off yet, do not lie fo near.

7 Hence, away; &c.] This, according to all the editions, is made part of the fong; but, I think, without fufficient reason, as it appears to be spoken after the fong is over. In the quarto 1600, it is given to the 2d Fairy; but the other divifion is better.

STEEVENS.

8 Be it ounce,] The ounce is a small tiger, or tiger-cat.

JOHNSON.

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

HER. Lyfander riddles very prettily:Now much befhrew my manners and my pride, If Hermia meant to fay, Lyfander lied.

9 0, take the fenfe, sweet, of my innocence:] Lyfander in the language of love profeffes, that as they have one heart, they shall have one bed; this Hermia thinks rather too much, and intreats him to lye further off. Lyfander answers:

O, take the fenfe, Sweet, of my innocence;

Understand the meaning of my innocence, or my innocent meaning. Let no suspicion of ill enter thy mind. JOHNSON.

2 Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.] In the converfation of those who are affured of each other's kindness, not fufpicion but love takes the meaning. No malevolent interpretation is to be made, but all is to be received in the fenfe which love can find, and which love can dictate. JOHNSON.

The latter line is certainly intelligible as Dr. Johnfon has explained it; but, I think, it requires a flight alteration to make it connect well with the former. I would read:

"Love take the meaning in love's conference.

That is, Let love take the meaning. TYRWHITT.

There is no occafion for alteration. The idea is exa&ly fimilar to that of St. Paul: Love thinketh no evil. HENLEY.

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interchained Thus the quartos; the folio interchanged. STEEVENS.

4 Now much beshrew, &c.] This word, of which the etymology is not exactly known, implies a finifter with, and means the fame as if he had faid "now ill befall my manners, by Heywood in his Iron Age, 1632:

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Befhrew your amorous rhetorick,"

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&c. It is ufed

"Well, Paris, I befhrew you, with my heart. "

STEEVENG.

But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in human modely
Such feparation, as, may well be faid,
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid:
So far be diftant; and good night, fweet friend:
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy fweet life end!

Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, fay I;
And then end life, when I end loyalty!

Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his reft! HER. With half that wifh the wifher's eyes be [ They fleep.

prefs'd!

3

Enter PUCK.

PUCK. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none, 3
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in ftirring love.
Night and filence! who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Defpifed the Athenian maid;

And here the maiden, fleeping found,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty foul! fhe durft not lie

4

Near this lack-love, kill-courtefy. *

See Minfheu's etymology of it, which feems to be an imprecation or wish of fuch evil to one, as the venomous biting of the fhrewmouse. TOLLET.

3 But Athenian found I none, Thus the quarto, 1600, printed That by Roberts, aud the folio, 1623, read: STEEVENS.

by Fisher.

1 none.

111

+ Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy.] The old copies read "Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

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- find

Mr. Theobald and Sir T. Hanmer, for the fake of the measure, leave out this lack-love. I have only omitted-this. STEEVENS.

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe: "
When thou wak'ft, let love forbid
Sleep his feat on thy eye-lid. 6

So awake, when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.

[Exit.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running.

}

HEL. Stay, though thou kill me, fweet Demetrius.

DEM. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me

thus.

HEL. O, wilt thou darkling leave me?' do not fo. DEM. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go.

[Exit DEMETRIUS.

Might we not adhere to the old copy, and at the fame time preserve the measure, by printing the line thus:

“Near this lack-love, this kill-court'fy.

We meet with the fame abbreviation in our author's Venus and Adonis:

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Court'fy can never be admitted at the end of a verse, the penult being always fhort. STEEVENS.

All the power this charm doth owe:] i. e. all the power it poffeffes. So, in Othello:

6

7

Shall never medicine thee to that sweet fleep "Which thou ow'dft yesterday." STEEVENS.

let love forbid

Sleep his feat on thy eye-lid.] So, in Macbeth:

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Sleep fhall neither night nor day

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Hang upon his pent-houfe lid. STEEVENS.

wilt thou darkling leave me? i. e. in the dark. So,

in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599:

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with the torch, and leave them to fight darkling.' likewife ufed by Milton. STEEVENS,

we'll run away

The word is

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