Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,7 8 And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls; corruptions. The line has been explained as if it related to Thisbe; but it does not relate to her, but to Pyramus. Bottom had just been playing that part, and had retired into a brake; (according to Quince's direction: "When you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake.") "Anon his Thisbe must be answered, And forth my mimick (i. e. my actor) comes.” In this there seems no difficulty. Mimick is used as synonymous to actor, by Decker, in his Guls Hornebooke, 1609: "Draw what troop you can from the stage after you; the mimicks are beholden to you for allowing them elbow room." Again, in his Satiromastix, 1602: "Thou [B. Jonson] hast forgot how thou ambled'st in a leather pilch by a play-waggon in the highway, and took'st mad Feronymo's part, to get service amongst the mimicks." Malone. 6 choughs,] The chough is a bird of the daw kind. It is mentioned also in Macbeth: "By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks," &c. Steevens. 7 sort,] Company. So above: that barren sort;". "A sort of lusty shepherds strive," So, in Chapman's May Day, 1611: Johnson. though we neuer lead any other company than a sort of quart-pots." Steevens. 8 And, at our stamp,] This seems to be a vicious reading. Fairies are never represented stamping, or of a size that should give force to a stamp; nor could they have distinguished the stamps of Puck from those of their own companions. I read: And, at a stump here o'er and o'er one falls. So Drayton: "A pain he in his head-piece feels, "And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels; "At length upon his feet he gets, 66 Hobgoblin fumes, Hobgoblin frets, "And as again he forward sets, "And through the bushes scrambles, "A stump doth trip him in his pace, "Down fell poor Hob upon his face, "And lamentably tore his case, 66 Among the briers and brambles.” Johnson. Their sense, thus weak, lost with their fears, thus strong, Made senseless things begin to do them wrong: For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch; Some, sleeves; some, hats; 9 from yielders all things catch. And left sweet Pyramus translated there: Obe. This falls out better than I could devise. Puck. I took him sleeping,—that is finish'd too,- That, when he wak'd, of force she must be ey❜d. Obe. Stand close: this is the same Athenian. Her. Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse; For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse. I adhere to the old reading. The stamp of a fairy might be efficacious, though not loud; neither is it necessary to suppose, when supernatural beings are spoken of, that the size of the agent determines the force of the action. That fairies did stamp to some purpose, may be known from the following passage in Olaus Magnus, de Gentibus Septentrionalibus :- "Vero saltum adeo profundé in terram impresserant, ut locus insigni adore orbiculariter peresus, non parit arenti redivivum cespite gramen." Shakspeare's own authority, however, is most decisive. See the conclusion of the first scene of the fourth Act: "Come, my queen, take hand with me, "And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be." Steevens. Some, sleeves; some, bats:] There is the like image in Drayton, of queen Mab and her fairies flying from Hobgoblin: 1— "Some tore a ruff, and some a gown, "They flew about like chaff i' th' wind, "There never was such bustling." Johnson. ·latch'd-] Or letch'd, lick'd over, lecker, to lick, Fr. In the North, it signifies to infect. Steevens. Hanmer. If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Being o'er shoes in blood,2 plunge in the deep, The sun was not so true unto the day, As he to me: Would he have stol'n away Her. What's this to my Lysander? where is he? Dem. I had rather give his carcase to my hounds. Her. Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds 2 Being o'er shoes in blood,] An allusion to the proverb, Over shoes, over boots. Johnson. So, in Macbeth: 3 "Stept in so far," &c. Steevens. -noon-tide with the Antipodes.] Dr. Warburton would read -' th' antipodes, which Mr. Edwards ridicules without mercy. The alteration is certainly not necessary; but it is not so unlucky as he imagined. Shirley has the same expression in his Andro mana: "To be a whore, is more unknown to her, In for among is frequent in old language. Farmer. The familiarity of the general idea, is shown by the following passage in The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601: "And dwell one month with the Antipodes." Steevens. so dead,] All the old copies read so dead; in my copy of it, some reader has altered dead to dread. Johnson. Dead seems to be the right word, and our author again uses it in King Henry IV, P. II, Act I, sc. iii: "Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, Steevens. So also, in Greene's Dorastus and Fawnia: "-if thou marry in age, thy wife's fresh colours will breed in thee dead thoughts and suspicion." Malone. Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him then? O! once tell true, tell true, even for my sake; An adder did it; for with doubler tongue Dem. You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood;" I am not guilty of Lysander's blood; Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell. Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well. 8 Dem. An if I could, what should I get therefore? Her. A privilege, never to see me more.— And from thy hated presence part I so:9 5 Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake, [Exit. And hast thou kill'd him sleeping ?] She means, Hast thou kill'd him sleeping, whom, when awake, thou didst not dare to lock upon? Malone. 6 O brave touch!] Touch, in Shakspeare's time, was the same with our exploit, or rather stroke. A brave touch, a noble stroke, un grand coup. "Mason was very merry, pleasantly playing both with the shrewd touches of many curst boys, and the small discretion of many lewd schoolmasters." Ascham. Johnson. A touch anciently signified a trick. In the old black letter story of Howleglas, it is always used in that sense: - for at all times he did some mad touch." Steevens. 7 ・mispris'd mood:] Mistaken; so, below, misprision is mistake. Johnson. Mood is anger, or perhaps rather in this place, capricious fancy. Malone. I rather conceive that-" on a mispris'd mood" is put for—" in a mispris'd mood,” i. e. " in a mistaken manner." The preposition-on, is licentiously used by ancient authors. When- Mark Antony says that Augustus Cæsar "dealt on lieutenantry," he does not mean that he "dealt his blows on lieutena its," but that he "dealt in them;" i. e. achieved his victories by their conduct. Steevens. 8 An if I could, &c.] This phraseology was common in Shakspeare's time. Thus, in Romeo and Juliet, Act V, sc. i: "An if a man did need a poison now.” Again, in Lodge's Illustrations, Vol. I, p. 85: ". made unto me to see an yf I wold appoynt," &c. 9 meanys was Reed. -part I so:] So, which is not in the old copy, was insert ed for the sake of both metre and rhyme, by Mr. Pope. Malone. Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vein: Here, therefore, for a while I will remain. So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe; If for his tender here I make some stay. [Lies down. Some true-love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true. Obe. About the wood go swifter than the wind, And Helena of Athens look thou find: All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer1 With sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear:2 Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.3 Obe. Flower of this purple dye, Sink in apple of his eye! When his love he doth espy, [Exit. 1 pale of cheer -] Cheer, from the Italian cara, is frequently used by the old English writers for countenance. Even Dryden says "Pale at the sudden sight, she chang'd her cheer." Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. Steevens. 2 sighs of love, that cost the fresh blood dear:] So, in King Henry VI, we have "blood-consuming, "-"blood drinking," and "blood-sucking sighs." All alluding to the ancient supposition that every sigh was indulged at the expense of a drop of blood. Steevens. 3 Sifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.] So, in the 10th Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Golding, 1567: 66 and though that she "Did fly as suift as arrow from a Turkye bowe." Douce. "A Tartar's painted bow of lath," is mentioned in Romeo and Juliet. Steevens. 4 Hit with Cupid's archery,] This alludes to what was said before: the bolt of Cupid fell: 66 "It fell upon a little western flower, "Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound." Steevens. |