Bot. I had rather have a handful, or two, of dried pease. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an exposition of sleep come upon me. [arms. Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away'. So doth the woodbine, the sweet honey-suckle, O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee! Ob. Welcome, good Robin. Seest thou this Her dotage now I do begin to pity. For meeting her of late, behind the wood, Seeking sweet savours for this hateful fool, I did upbraid her, and fall out with her: For she his hairy temples then had rounded With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers; And that same dew, which sometime on the buds Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls, Stood now within the pretty flouret's eyes, Like tears, that did their own disgrace bewail. When I had, at my pleasure, taunted her, And she, in mild terms, begg'd my patience, I then did ask of her her changeling child; Which strait she gave me, and her fairy sent To bear him to my bower in fairy land. And, now I have the boy, I will undo This hateful imperfection of her eyes. And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp From off the head of the Athenian swain; That he awaking when the others do, May all to Athens back again repair; And think no more of this night's accidents,. But as the fierce vexation of a dream. But first I will release the fairy queen; [Touching her eyes with an herb. See, as thou was wont to see: Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen. Ob. There lies your love. Queen. How came these things to pass? Oh, how mine eye doth loath his visage now! Ob. Silence, a while.-Robin, take off this head. sleep. 5 10 151 20 25 30 35 40 145 50 Titania, musick call; and strike more dead And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be. JAnd will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly, Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark; Ob. Then, my queen, in silence sad', Queen. Come, my lord; and in our flight, Dispatch, I say, and find the forester. We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top, Of hounds and echo in conjunction. Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves, The skies, the fountains, every region near Seem'd all one mutual cry; I never heard So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. [kind, The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan So flewd, so sanded, and their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning dew; Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls; Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, Each under each. A cry more tuneable Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn, In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly: [are these? Judge, when you hear.-But, soft; what nymphs Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep; And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; This Helena, old Nedar's Helena: I wonder at their being here together. [serve The. No doubt, they rose up early, to obThe rite of May; and hearing our intent, Came here in grace of our solemnity. But, speak, Egeus; is not this the day That Hermia should give answer of her choice? Ege. It is, my lord. The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns. Horns, and shout within; Demetrius, Lysander, 3 That is, disperse yourselves. i. e. grave or sober. Meaning, the honours due to the morn ing of May. 4 Vaward is an obsolete word signifying the fore-part. i.e. so mouthed. Flews are the large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound. Chiding means sound. Lys. Lys. Pardon, my lord. [They all kneel to The- To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity? [bel 10 Half 'sleep, half waking: But as yet, I swear, But, my good lord, I wot not by what power, 20 25 30 35 140 The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met: Hel. So methinks: And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, [eye, That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think, 45 Dem. Why then, we are awake: let's follow And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [him; [Exeunt. As they go out, Bottom awakes. Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer:-my next is, Most fair PyramusHey, ho!-Peter Quince! Flute the bellowsmender! Snout the tinker ! Starveling! God's my life! stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream,-past the wit of man to say what dream it was: Man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was-there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had,————But what methought I had. The eye of man hath not man is but a patch'd fool', if he will offer to say heard, the ear of man hath not seen; man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be call'd Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke: Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.[Ex. SCENE IL 1551 Athens. Quince's House. Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling. Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet? Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is transported. Flu. If he come not, then the play is marr'd; it goes not forward, doth it? Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man in all Athens, able to discharge Pyramus, but he. Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handy-craft man in Athens. Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is ja very paramour for a sweet voice. Dem. Are you sure That we are awake?-It seems to me, The duke was here, and bid us follow him? Her. Yea; and my father. Hel And Hippolita. [60] Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple. 1 coat. Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God bless us! a thing of nought. Enter Snug. Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more married: if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men'. Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost six-pence a-day during his life; he could not have scaped six-pence a-day: an the duke had not given him Sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hang'd; he would have deserv'd 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 Fancy here means love or affection. 2 See the note in p. 175. 3i. e. a fool in a party-coloured This should have been after death, i. e. after having died as Pyramus he would come again and sing the song. Meaning, we had all made our fortunes. Athenian. Hip. "TIS strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of. [lieve The. More strange than true. I never may be- One sees more devils than vast hell can hold; The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Hip. But all the story of the night told over, And grows to something of great constancy2: Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, & Helena. mirth. 1 2 20 25 V. To ease the anguish of a torturing hour? Philost. Here, mighty Theseus. [evening? Philost. There is a brief, how many sports are 'By an Athenian eunuch to the harp." 30 We'll none of that: that I have told my love, In glory of my kinsman Hercules. "The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, "Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage." That is an old device; and it was play'd 35 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror. 40 45 50 55 "The thrice three Muses mourning for the "Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary."[death That is some satire, keen and critical', Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony "A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus Which is as brief as I have known a play; For Pyramus therein doth kill himself. The. What are they, that do play it? [here, 1i. e. made up. i. e. consistency. By abridgment Shakspeare here means a dramatick per formance. tie, a short account, : Meaning, criticising, censuring. That is, unexercised memories. Philost. 5 Go, bring them in ;-and take your places, la-10 thing. Hip. He says, they can do nothing in this kind. Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake: Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. I read as much, as from the rattling tongue "pent you, 15 Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show. 66 Prol. Gentles, perchance, you wonder at "this show; "But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. "This man is Pyramus, if you would know; "This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. "This man,with lime and rough-cast,doth present "Wall, that vile wall which did those lovers "sunder: "And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are " content "To whisper; at which let no man wonder, "This man with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, "Presenteth moon-shine: for, if you will know, "By moon-shine did these lovers think no scorn "To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. "This grisly beast, which by name lion hight, "The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, 20" Did scare away, or rather did affright: "And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall; "Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain: "Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall, "And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain : 25 Whereat,with blade,with bloody blameful blade, "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; "And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade, "His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, "Let lion, moon-shine, wall, and lovers twain, 30 "At large discourse, while here they do remain." [Exeunt all but Wall. The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, 1351 when many asses do. Wall. "In this same interlude, it doth befall, "That I, one Snout by name, present a wall: "And such a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, [shew 40 "Did whisper often very secretly. "This lome, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth "That I am that same wall; the truth is so: "And this the cranny is, right and sinister, [per.” 66 Through which the fearful lovers are to whis45 The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak 50 "The actors are at hand; and by their show, Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologue, like a child on a recorder: a sound, but not in government'. The. His speech was like a tangled chain: no-60 thing impair'd, but all disordered." Who is next? 1Intents here means the object of their attention. better? Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever [ heard discourse, my lord. The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence Pyr. "O grim-look'd night! O night with hu 66 SO black! "O night, which ever art, when day is not! "O night, O night, alack, alack, alack, "I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!"And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall, "That stand'st between her father's ground " and mine:: 66 "Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, Shew me thy chink to blink through with "mine eyne. 2 In might, is probably an elliptical expression for what might have been. i. e. ready. A kind of flute," Meaning, not regularly. "Thanks, "Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well] "for this! "But what see I? No Thisby do I see. "O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss; "Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!" 5 The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again. Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiv ing me, is Thisby's cue; she is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told you: Yonder she comes. Enter Thisby. This. "O wall, full often hast thou heard my "moans, "For parting my fair Pyramus and me: "My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones; "Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee." Pyr. "I see a voice: now will I to the chink,] "To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. “Thisby ! This." My love! thou art my love, I think." Pyr. "Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; 15 20 25 "And like Limander am I trusty still." [kill." This. "And I like Helen, till the fates me Pur. "Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true." This. "As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you." Pyr. "O, kiss me through the hole of this "vile wall." [all." This. "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at 30 Pyr. "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?" This. "Tide life, tide death, I come without 66 [so; "delay." Wall. "Thus have I, wall, my part discharged "And, being done, thus wall away doth go." [Exeunt Wall, Pyramus, and Thisbe. The. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear without warning. Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. The. The best in this kind are but shadows and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. 35 The. A very gentle beast,and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw. Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. The. True; and a goose for his discretion. Dem. Not so, my lord: for his valour cannot carry his discretion; and the fox carries the goose. 40 The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well: leave it to his discretion, and let us listen the moon. present; Myself the man i' th' moon do seem to be." The. This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man should be put into the lanthorn; How is it else the man i' the moon? Dem. Hle dares not come there for the candle: for, you see, it is already in snuff'. Hip. I am a-weary of this moon. Would, he would change! The. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time. Lys. Proceed, moon. Moon. All that I have to say is, to tell you, that the lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog. Dem. Why all these should be in the lanthorn; for they are in the moon. But, silence; here comes Thisbe. 43 1501 -Truly, the moon Hip. Well shone, moon.- "The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on 55" May now, perchance, both quake and tremble 66 here, "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. "Then know, that I, as Snug the joiner, am "A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam: "For if I should as lion come in strife "Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.” 160 Pyr. "Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny "beams: For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering streams, "Ithank thee, moon, for shining now so bright: I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight. "But stay;-O spight! "But mark;-Poor knight, "What dreadful dole is here? Eyes, do you see? 66 How can it be? "O dainty duck! O dear! Snuff signifies both the cinder of a candle, and hasty anger, "Thy |