Dem.

Enter DEMETRIUS.

Lysander! speak again.

Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?

Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?

Puck. Thou coward! art thou bragging to the stars, Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,

And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child; I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defil'd

That draws a sword on thee.

Dem.

Yea; art thou there?

Puck. Follow my voice: we'll try no manhood

here.

Enter LYSANDER.

[Exeunt.

Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on:
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.

The villain is much lighter heel'd than I :
I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;

That fallen am I in dark uneven way,

And here will rest me.

Come, thou gentle day!

410

[Lies down.

[Sleeps. 420

For if but once thou shew me thy grey light,
I'll find 'Demetrius, and revenge this spite.

Dem.

Enter PUCK and DEMETRIUS.

Puck. Ho! ho! ho! Coward, why com'st thou not? Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot, Thou run'st before me, shifting every place, And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face.

416 Opposite this line the folio has shifting places in the form of a stage-direction. It is, however, misplaced, as it plainly refers to Puck, Lysander, and Demetrius,

and belongs several lines above. The quarto has no directions at all here. (w) [Consult Furness' note defending the folio.]

If ever I thy face by daylight see:

Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.

By day's approach look to be visited.

[Lies down and sleeps.

Enter HELENA.

Hel. O weary night! O long and tedious night! Abate thy hours: shine, comforts, from the East,

That I may back to Athens, by day-light,

From these that my poor company detest.

And sleep, that sometime shuts up sorrow's eye,
Steal me a while from mine own company.

Puck.

Yet but three? Come one more;
Two of both kinds make up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad.
Cupid is a knavish lad,

Thus to make poor females mad.

Enter HERMIA.

Her. Never so weary, never so in woe,

[Sleeps.

Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers:

I can no farther crawl, no farther go;

My legs can keep no pace with my desires. Here will I rest me till the break of day. Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!

425 The folio[s] and Fisher's quarto omit now. (w)

426 buy. Thus the old copies. Some editors have needlessly

[Lies down.

430

440

printed it 'by-considering it an abbreviation of aby.

434 detest. See Supplementary Notes. (R)

Enter TITANIA and BOTTOм; Fairies attending; OBERON behind, unseen.

TITANIA. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery

bed,

450

460

While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
Bot. Where 's Peas-blossom?

Peas. Ready.

Bot. Scratch

-

Scratch my head, Peas-blossom. Where's Mounsieur Cobweb?

Cob. Ready.

Bot. Mounsieur Cobweb; good Mounsieur, get your 10 weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipp'd humblebee on the top of a thistle; and, good Mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, Mounsieur; and, good Mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not: I would be loath to have you overflown with a honey-bag, signior. — Where's Mounsieur Mustard-seed?

Must. Ready.

Bot. Give me your neif, Mounsieur Mustard-seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good Mounsieur.

Must. What's your will?

Bot. Nothing, good Mounsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's,

TOM, &c.] In the folio[s and quartos], Enter Queene of Fairies and Clowne, &c. Bottom is generally called the "Clown" in the stage-directions and prefixes of the old editions. (w)

2 amiable, lovely. (R) coy, caress. "I have neuer yet found man so fierce and sauage, which hath not suffered himself to be coyed and clawed with the tickling of flatterie." Guazzo's Civile Conversation, 1586, fol. 33 a. See Note on Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 65.

20

8 Mounsieur Cobweb. The folio[s] and the quartos always carefully mark this characteristic corruption of the French monsieur- often as it occurs in this Scene. (w)

19 neif, fist. (w)

22 Cavalery Cobweb. Dr. Grey pointed out Bottom's forgetfulness of his having sent Cavalery Cobweb on a perilous expedition, and suggested that we should read Peas-blossom. But, under the embarrassing circumstances in which Bottom was placed, it will not do

Mounsieur; for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy about the face, and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch.

Tita. What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?

Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in music: let's 30 have the tongs and the bones.

[Rustic music.

Tita. Or, say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat. Bot. Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks, I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow. Tita. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek

The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.

Bot. I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me: I have an exposition of sleep come upon me. Tita. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. Fairies, be gone, and be a while away.

So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle

40