but, for Alisander, alas, you see, how 'tis;-a little o'erparted:-But there are worthies a-coming wil speak their mind in some other sort.

Biron. Stand aside, good Pompey.

Enter Holofernes for Judas, and Moth for Hercules. Hol. "Great Hercules is presented by this imp, "Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that three-headed

"canus;

"And, when he was a babe, a child, a shrimp,

Dum. More calf, certain.
Boyct. No; he is best indu'd in the small.
Biron. This can't be Hector.

Dum. He's a god or a painter; for he makes faces.
5 Arm. "The armipotent Mars, of lances the al-
"Gave Hector a gift,-".
Dum. A gilt nutmeg.

Biron. A lemon.

Long. Stuck with cloves 4.

"Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus; 10 Dum. No, cloven

"Quoniam, he seemeth in minority;

"Ergo, I come with this apology.-"

[ToMoth.] Keep some state in thy exit, and vanish.

Hol. "Judas I am,-"

Dum. A Judas!

Hol. Not Iscariot, sir.

"Judas I am, ycleped Macchabæus."

[Exit Moth.

Dum. Judas Macchabæus clipt, is plain Judas.

Biron. A kissing traitor;-How art thou prov'd

Hol. "Judas I am,-"

Dum. The more shame for you, Judas.

[mighty,

[the almighty,

Arm. Peace! "The armipotent Mars, of lances
"Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion!
[yea,

"A man so breath'd, that, certain, he would fight,
"From morn till night, out of his pavilion.

15" I am that flower,-"

Dum. That mint.

[Judas 20 runs against Hector.

Hol. What mean you, sir?

Dum. Ay, and Hector's a greyhound.
Arm. The sweet war-man is dead and rotten;

Boyet. To make Judas hang himself.

Hol. Begin, sir; you are my elder.

Biron. Well follow'd; Judas was hanged on an 25 ward with my device; [To the Princess] sweet.

Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce

Boyet. The pummel of Caesar's faulchion.

Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flask1.

Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch. 35 Arm. What mean'st thou?

And so adieu, sweet Jude! nay, why dost thou stay? 45 Boyet. Renowned Pompey!

Dum. For the latter end of his name.

Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it him:

Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great

Judas, away.
[ble.
Hol. This is not generous, not gentle, not hum-
Boget. Alightfor monsieur Judas; it grows dark, 50 Ates'; stir thein on, stir them on!

Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles; here come: 55 Cost. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern Hector in arins.

Dum. Though my mocks come home by me,

I will now be merry.

[this.

King. Hector was but a Trojan' in respect of
Boyet. But is this Hector?

Dum. Ithink, Hector was not so clean timber'd.
Long. His leg is too big for Hector.

man: I'll slash; I'll do't by the sword:-I pray
you, let me borrow my arms again.
Dum. Room for the incensed worthies.

Cost. I'll do it in my shirt.

60 Dum. Most resolute Pompey!

Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat?

A cittern was a musical instrument of the harp kind. That is, a soldier's powder-horn. A Trojan, in the time of Shakspeare, was a cant term for a thief. * An orange stuck with cloves appears to have been a common new-year's gift. * Ate was the heathen goddess who incited blood shed. •Meaning the weapons and armour which he wore in the character of Pompey.

What mean you? you will lose your reputation.

Arm. Gentlemen, and soldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.

Dum. You may not deny it; Pompey hath made the challenge.

Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will.
Biron. What reason have you for't?

Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt;

I go woolward1 for penance.

All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain;
Form'd by the eye, and, therefore, like the eye,
Full of straying shapes, of habits, and of forms,
Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll
5 To every varied object in his glance:
Which party-coated presence of loose love,
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have misbecom'd our oaths and gravities,
Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,

Boyet. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome 10 Suggested us to make: Therefore, ladies,
for want of linen: since when, I'll be sworn, he
wore none, but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's; and
that a' wears next his heart for a favour.

Enter Mercade.

Mer. God save you, madam!
Prin. Welcome, Mercade;

But that thou interrupt'st our merriment.

Mer. I am sorry, madam; for the news I bring.
Is heavy in my tongue. The king your father-
Prin. Dead, for iny life.

Mer. Even so: my tale is told.
[cloud.
Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to
Arm. For mine own part, I breathe free breath:

Our love being yours, the error that love makes
Is likewise yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true

To those that make us both, fair ladies, you;

15 And even that falshood, in itself a sin,
Thus purifies itself, and turns to grace.
Prin. Wehave receiv'd your letters, full of love;
Your favours, the ambassadors of love;

I have seen the days of wrong through the little hole of discretion, and I will right myself like a 25 Dum. Our letters, madam, shew'd inuch more soldier.

King. How fares your majesty?

And, in our maiden council, rated them
20 At courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,
As bombast and as lining to the time:
But more devout than this, in our respects,
Have we not been; and therefore met your loves
In their own fashion, like a merriment. [than jest.

[Exeunt Worthies.

Long. So did our looks.

Ros. We did not quote them so.

Prin. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night.

King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour,

King. Madam, not so; I do beseech you, stay.

Grant us your loves.

For all your fair endeavours; and entreat,
Out of a new-sad soul, that you vouchsafe
In your rich wisdom, to excuse, or hide,
The liberal opposition of our spirits:
If over-boldly we have borne ourselves
In the converse of breath, your gentleness
Was guilty of it. -Farewell, worthy lord!
A heavy heart bears not an humble tongue:
Excuse me so, coming so short of thanks
For my great suit so easily obtain'd.

Prin. Prepare, Isay.-I thank you, gracious lords, 30 Frin. À time, methinks, too short

King. The extreme parts of time extremely forms
All causes to the purpose of his speed;
And often, at his very loose, decides
That which long process could not arbitrate:
And though the mourning brow of progeny
Forbid the smiling courtesy of love

To make a world-without-end bargain in:
No, no, my lord, your grace is perjur'd much,
Full of dear guiltiness; and theretore this,-
If for my love (as there is no such cause)
35 You will do aught, this shall you do for me:
Your oath I will not trust: but go with speed
To some forlorn and naked hermitage,
Remote from all the pleasures of the world;
There stay, until the twelve celestial signs
40 Have brought about their annual reckoning:
If this austere insociable life
Change not your offer made in heat of blood;
If frosts, and fasts, hard lodging, and tirin weeds,
Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love;

The holy suit which fain it would convince;
Yet, since love's argument was first on foot,

Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it

45 But that it bear this trial, and last love;
Then, at the expiration of the year,
Come challenge, challenge me by these deserts,
And, by this virgin-palm, now kissing thine,
I will be thine: and till that instant, shut

From what it purpos'd; since, to wail friends lost, 50 My woeful self up in a mourning-house;

Is not by much so wholesome, profitable,

Raming the tears of lamentation,

As to rejoice at friends but newly found.

For the remembrance of my father's death.
of this thou do deny, let our bands part;
Neither intitled in the other's heart.

Prin. I understand and you not, my griefs are double.
Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the ear of
And by these badgesunderstand the king. [grief;-55
For your fair sakes have we neglected time,
Play'dfoul play withouroaths; your beauty, ladies,
Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours
Even to the opposed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,
As love is full of unbefitting strains;

King. If this, or more than this, I would deny,
To flatter' up these powers of mine with rest,

The sudden hand of death close up mine eye!

Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast. Biron. And what to me, my love? and whatto me? 60 Ros. You must be purged too, your sins are rank; Your are attaint with fault and perjury:

To go woolward was a phrase appropriated to pilgrims and penitentiaries, and means, that he was clothed in woo, and not in linen. Liberal here signifies, as has been remarked in other places, free to excess. That is, tempted us. * Bombast was a stuff of loose texture, and used formerly to swell the garment, and thence used to signify bulk, or shew without solidity. That is, to sonk.

Therefore,

Kath. Not so, my lord;--atwelve-month andaday

Dum. That worthy knight of Troy. Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary; I have vow'd to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three year. But, most esteem'd greatness, will you hear the di

I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers say: 10 alogue that the two learned men have compiled,

Come when the king doth to my lady come,

Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some.

in praise of the owl and the cuckow? it should have follow'd in the end of our show.

Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then.
Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn again.
Long. What says Maria?

Mar. At the twelve-month's end,

[ow!,

I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend.
Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time is long.
Mar. 'The liker you; few taller are so young.
Biron. Studies my lady? mistress, look on me, 20

Behold the window of my heart, mine eye,
What humble suit attends thy answer there;
Impose some service on me for thy love.

Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Biron,
Before I saw you, and the world's large tongue 25
Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks;
Full of comparisons, and wounding flouts;

Which you on all estates will execute,

That lie within the mercy of your wit:

Enter all for a song.

This side is Hiems; winter.
This Ver, the spring; the one maintain'd by the
The other by the cuckow.
Ver, begin.

SONG.

SPRING.

When daizies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckow-buds of yellow hue,

Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckow then, on every tree,
Mocks marry'd men, for thus sings he,
Cuckow;

To weed this worinwood from your faithful brain; 30 Cuckow, cuckow, -O word of fear,

And therewithal, to win me, if you please,

(Without the which I am not to be won)

You shall this twelve-month term from day to day

Visit the speechless sick, and still converse
With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, 35
With all the fierce endeavour of your wit,
To enforce the pained impotent to simile. [death?
Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of
It cannot be; it is impossible:
Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.

Ros. Why, that's the way to choak a gibing spirit,
Whose influence is begot of that loose grace,
Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools:
A jest's prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears,
Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear2 groans,
Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,
And I will have you, and that fault withal;
But, if they will not, throw away that spirit,
And I shall find you empty of that fault,
Right joyful of your reformation.

Biron. A twelve-month? well, befal what will

befal,

40

Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are plowmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,

And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckow then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,

Cuckow;
Cuckow, cuckow, -O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married car !
WINTER.

When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
45 And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-who;

50 Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,

55

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot'. When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's sarw", And birds sit brooding in the snow, I'il jest a twelve-month in an hospital. And Marian's nose looks red and raw, Prin. Ay, my sweet lord; and so I take my When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, leave. [To the King. Then nightly sings the staring owl, King. No, madam; we will bring you on your To-who; [play: Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note, Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old 60 While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. Jack hath not Jill: these ladies' courtesy Might well have made our sport a comedy.

way.

King. Come, sir, it wants a twelve-month and

And then 'twill end.

[a day,

Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the

songs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this way.
[Exeunt omnes.

Fierce here means vehement, rapid. * Dr. Johnson thinks, that dear should here, as in many other places, be dere, sad, odious. i. e. Scum the pot. The word is yet used in Ireland. i. e. his discourse.

MIDSUMMER

Other Fairies attending their King and Queen: Attendants on Theseus and Hippolita.
SCENE, Athens, and a Wood not far from it.

The. NOW, fair Hippolita, our nuptial hour 5. Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius.

Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: And, my gracious duke,
Be it so she will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens;
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman,
Or to her death; according to our law,
Immediately provided in that case.

[maid:

The. What say you, Hermia? be advised, tair
To you your father should be as a god;
One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted, and within his power

To leave the figure, or distigure it.

Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

Her. So is Lysander.

The. In himself he is :

But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
The other must be held the worthier.

Her. I would my father look'd but with my eyes.
The. Rather your eyes must with his judgment

look.

Her. I do intreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold;
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In such a presence here, to plead my thoughts:
But I beseech your grace, that I may know
The worst that may befal me in this case,
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

The. Either to die the death, or to abjure
For ever the society of men.

Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,
Know of your youth', examine well your blood

Ege. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love;

And what is mine, my love shall render him:
And she is mine; and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.

Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';

And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
101 am belov'd of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
15 Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolaty,

Upon this spotted and inconstant man.

The. I must confess, that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,

20 My mind did lose it. --But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.-
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
25 Or else the law of Athens yields you up
(Which by no means we may extenuate)
To death, or to a vow of single life.-
Come, my Hippolita; What cheer, my love?-
Demetrius, and Egeus, go along:
301 must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial; and confer with you
Of something, nearly that concerns yourselves.
Ege. With duty, and desire, we follow you.
[Exeunt Thes. Hip. Egeus, Dem. and train.

Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice, 35 Lys. How now, my love? Why is your cheek

You can endure the livery of a nun;

For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,

To live a barren sister all your life,

Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage:
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,

Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.

40

so pale?

How chance the roses there do fade so fast? [well
Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could
Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes.
Lys. Ah me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
But, either it was different in blood ;-

Her. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low!

Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, 45 Lys. Or else misgratled, in respect of years;

Ere I will yield my virgin patent up

Unto his lordship, to whose unwish'd yoke

My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

The. Take time to pause; and by the next new

Her. O spight! too old to be engag'd to young!
Lys. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends:-
Her. O hell! to chuse love by another's eye!
Lys. Or if there were a sympathy in choice,
50 War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it;
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the colly'd' night
That, in a spleen, untolds both heaven and earth,

55 And ere a man hath power to say,-Behold!
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.

60 Then let us teach our tryal patience,

Let me have Hermia's: do you marry kim.

Because it is a customary cross;

'i. e. consider your youth. 21. e. give them.

i. e. black.

Meaning, in a sudden hasty fit.

As

Her. If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,

It stands as an edict in destiny: