Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a-day during his life; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a-day: an the duke had not given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged; he would have deserved it: sixpence a-day, in Pyramus, or nothing. Enter BOTTOM. Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts? Quin. Bottom!-O most courageous day! O most happy hour! Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I will tell you every thing, right as it fell out. Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom. Bot. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you, is, that the duke hath dined: Get your apparel together; good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look o'er his part, for the short and the long is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen; and let not him, that plays the lion, pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions, nor garlick, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt, but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words; away; go, away. [Exeunt. 9 good strings to your beards, —] i. e. to prevent the false beards, which they were to wear, from falling off; or, perhaps, ornamental strings, employed to give an air of novelty to the countenances of the performers. Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords, and Attendants. Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of. The. More strange than true. I never may believe One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing Such tricks hath strong imagination; 1 Are of imagination all compact:] i. e. are made of mere imagin ation. 2 in a brow of Egypt:] the brow of a gipsy. Hip. But all the story of the night told over, And grows to something of great constancy; * 3 Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and The. Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love, Accompany your hearts! Lys. More than to us Wait on your royal walks, your board, your bed! The. Come now; what masks, what dances shall we have, To wear away this long age of three hours, Philost. Here, mighty Theseus. The. Say, what abridgment1 have you for this evening? What mask, what musick? How shall we beguile Philost. There is a brief3, how many sports are ripe ; Make choice of which your highness will see first. [Giving a paper. 3 constancy;] Consistency, stability, certainty. "Wait in". MALONE. 4 Say, what abridgment, &c.] By abridgment our author may mean a dramatick performance, which crowds the events of years into a few hours. It may be worth while, however, to observe, that in the North the word abatement had the same meaning as diversion or amusement. 5 — a brief,] i. e. a short account or enumeration. The. [reads.] The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung, We'll none of that: that have I told my The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, love, Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, Philost. 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, when I saw rehears'd, I must confess, The. What are they that do play it? Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens here, Which never laboured in their minds till now; And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories With this same play, against your nuptial. The. And we will hear it. Philost. No, my noble lord, It is not for you: I have heard it over, 6 unbreath'd-] Unexercised, unpractised. And it is nothing, nothing in the world; The. I will hear that play; For never any thing 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'ercharg'd, 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. Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. I read as much, as from the rattling tongue Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity, Enter PHILOSTRATE. Philost. So please your grace, the prologue is addrest.7 The. Let him approach. [Flourish of trumpets. 8 7 addrest.] That is, ready. Flourish of trumpets.] It appears that the prologue was anciently ushered in by trumpets. |