Hel. I pray you, though you mock me, gentle

men,

Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;5
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;

I am a right maid for my cowardice;

Let her not strike me: You, perhaps, may think, Because she's something lower than myself,

That I can match her.

Her.

Lower! hark, again.

Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you, Hermia,

Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you;
Save that, in love unto Demetrius,

I told him of your stealth unto this wood:
He follow'd you; for love, I follow'd him.
But he hath chid me hence; and threaten'd me
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I bear my folly back,
And follow you no further: Let me go:
You see how simple and how fond I am."

Her. Why, get you gone: Who is't that hinders you?

Hel. A foolish heart that I leave here behind.. Her. What, with Lysander;

Hel.

With Demetrius.

Lys. Be not afraid: she shall not harm thee,

Helena.

Dem. No, sir; she shall not, though you take

her part.

Hel. O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd: She was a vixen," when she went to school; And, though she be but little, she is fierce.

6

eurst;] i. e. shrewish or mischievous.

how fond I am.] Fond, i. e. foolish.

7 She was a vixen,] Vixen or fixen primitively signifies a female fox.

Her. Little again? nothing but low and little?— Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?

Let me come to her.

Lys.

Get you gone, you dwarf;

You minimus, of hind'ring knot-grass made;
You bead, you acorn.

Dem.

8

You are too officious,

In her behalf that scorns your services.

Let her alone; speak not of Helena ;

Take not her part: for if thou dost intend
Never so little show of love to her,

Thou shalt aby it.'

Lys.

Now follow, if thou

Now she holds me not;

dar'st, to try whose right,

Or thine or mine, is most in Helena.

Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by

jole.

[Exeunt Lys. and DEM.

Her. You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of Nay, go not back.

Hel.

I will not trust you, I;

Nor longer stay in your curst company.
Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray;
My legs are longer though, to run away.

you:

[Exit. Her. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say.

Exit, pursuing HELENA. Obe. This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st, Or else commit'st thy knaveries wilfully.

Puck. Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook. Did not you tell me, I should know the man By the Athenian garments he had on? And so far blameless proves my enterprize, That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes:

of hind'ring knot-grass made;] It appears that knot-grass was anciently supposed to prevent the growth of any animal or child.

9

intend-] i. e. pretend.

Thou shalt aby it.] To aby is to pay dear for, to suffer.

And so far am I glad it so did sort,2
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.

Obe. Thou seest, these lovers seek a place to fight:

Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog, as black as Acheron;
And lead these testy rivals so astray,
As one come not within another's way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
And from each other look thou lead them thus,
Till o'er their brows death counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error, with his might,
And make his eye-balls roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream, and fruitless vision;
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,*
With league, whose date till death shall never
end.

Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,

I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release

From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.
Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with

haste ;

For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shine's Aurora's harbinger;

At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,

Where art thou?

Puck.

Come hither; I am here.

Dem. Nay, then thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear,

If ever I thy face by day-light 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 sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, Steal me a while from mine own company. [Sleeps.

Puck. Yet but three? Come one more ;
Two of both things makes 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, Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers;

I can no further crawl, no further 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! [Lies down

Puck. On the ground

Sleep sound:

I'll apply
To your eye,
Gentle lover, remedy.

[Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eye.
When thou wak'st,

Thou tak'st

True delight

In the sight

Of thy former lady's eye:

And the country proverb known,
That every man should take his own,
In your waking shall be shown:

Jack shall have Jill;

Nought shall go ill;

The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be

well.

[Exit PUCK.-DEM. HEL. &c. sleep.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. The same.

Enter TITANIA and BOTTOм, Fairies attending OBERON behind unseen.

Tita. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
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 my head, Peas-blossom.-Where's monsieur Cobweb?

Cob. Ready.

Bot. Monsieur Cobweb; good monsieur, get

7 do coy,] To coy, is to sooth, to stroke.