Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on; For if but once thou show me thy grey light, Puck. Ho, ho ho, ho! Coward, why com'st Dem. Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot, Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place; And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. Where art thou? 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! Sleep sound: Puck. On the ground I'll apply To your eye, Gentle lover, remedy. [Lies down. Bot. Give me your neif, monsieur Mustard-seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur. Must. What's your will? Bot. Nothing, good monsieur, but to help cavalero Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; 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 musick, my sweet love? Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in musick: let us have the tongs and the bones. 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 all ways away. So doth the woodbine, the sweet honeysuckle, O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee! [They sleep. Oberon advances. Enter Puck. Obe. Welcome, good Robin. See'st thou this Her dotage now I do begin to pity. [Squeezing the juice on Lysander's eye. Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls, When thou wak'st, Stood now within the pretty flourets' eyes, I then did ask of her her changeling child; From off the head of this Athenian swain; [Touching her eyes with an herb. See, as thou wast wont to see: Obe. There lies your love. Titania, musick call; and strike more dead Puck. Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes peep. Obe. Sound, musick. [Still musick.] Come, my queen, take hands with me, And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be, And will, to-morrow midnight, solemnly, There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be Puck. Fairy king, attend, and mark; Hip. I was with Hercules, and Cadmus, once, The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep; And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is; This Helena, old Nedar's Helena : I wonder of their being here together. The. No doubt, they rose up early, to observe 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, Hermia, and Helena, wake and start up. The. Good-morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past; Begin these wood-birds but to couple now? Lys. Pardon, my lord. The. [He and the rest kneel to Theseus. I know, you are two rival enemies; Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly, [trius, Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough: I beg the law, the law upon his head.They would have stol'n away, they would, DemeThereby to have defeated you and me: You, of your wife; and me, of my consent; Of my consent that she should be your wife. Dem. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth, Of this their purpose hither, to this wood; And I in fury hither follow'd them; Fair Helena in fancy following me. But, my good lord, I wot not by what power, (But, by some power it is,) my love to Hermia, Melted as doth the snow, seems to me now As the remembrance of an idle gawd, Which in my childhood I did dote upon: And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, The object, and the pleasure of mine eye, Is only Helena. To her, my lord, Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia: But, like in sickness, did I loath this food: But, as in health, come to my natural taste, Now do I wish it, love it, long for it, And will for evermore be true to it. The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met : For in the temple, by and by with us, [Exeunt Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and train. Dem. These things seem small and undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds. Hel. And I have found Demetrius like Mine own, and not mine own. So, methinks: a jewel, Dem. It seems to me, That yet we sleep, we dream.-Do not you think, The duke was here, and bid us follow him? Her. Yea; and my father. Hel. And Hippolyta. Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple. Dem. Why then, we are awake: let's follow him; And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. As they go out, Bottom awakes. [Exeunt. Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer :-my next is, Most fair Pyramus.--Hey, ho-Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life! stolen hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream,-past the wit of man | Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, to say what dream it was:-Man is but an ass, if he Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend go about to expound this dream. Methought I was there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had,-But man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not 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 called 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. [Exit. SCENE II.-Athens. A Room in 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 marred; 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 handycraft man in Athens. Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is very paramour, for a sweet voice. More than cool reason ever comprehends. Hip. But all the story of the night told over, Enter Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena. More than to us a Joy, gentle friends! joy, and fresh days of love, 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 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. 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. To wear away this long age of three hours, Call Philostrate. Here, mighty Theseus. ripe; Philost. There is a brief, how many sports are Make choice of which your highness will see first. [Giving a paper. The. [reads.] The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung, By an Athenian eunuch to the harp. The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, The thrice three Muses mourning for the death A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, Which is as brief as I have known a play; Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens Which never labour'd in their minds till now; And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories The. And we will hear it. No, my noble lord, The. I will hear that play; 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 "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 : "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, "At large discourse, while here they do remain." [Exeunt Prol. Thisbe, Lion, and Moon-shine. The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, 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, "Did whisper often very secretly. [show "This loam, 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, "Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper." The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord. The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence! Enter Pyramus. Pyr. "O grim-look'd night! O night with hue 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 ; [Flourish of trumpets." Enter Prologue. Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will. That you should think, we come not to offend, But with good will. To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end. Consider then, we come but in despite. We do not come as minding to content you, Our true intent is. All for your delight, Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, "Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne. [Wall holds up his fingers. "Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well "But what see I? No Thisbe do I see. [for this! "O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss; "Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!" The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again. Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving We are not here. That you should here repent you, me, is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am The actors are at hand; and, by their show, to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told you :-Yonder she comes. You shall know all, that you are like to know. The. His speech was like a tangled chain; no- 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 these lovers sunder: "And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content Enter Thisbe. This. "O wall, full often hast thou heard my "For parting my fair Pyramus and me: [moans, 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 "And like Limander am I trusty still." [grace; This. "And I like Helen, till the fates me kill." Pyr. "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 wal." This. "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all." Pyr. "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway ?" [delay." This. "Tide life, tide death, I come without Wall. "Thus have I, wall, my part discharged so; 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. "To whisper, at the which let no man wonder." "This man, with lantern, 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, Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. Lion. "You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear "The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, "May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. "Then know, that I, one 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." 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. 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 to the moon. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon present;" Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the circumference. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned 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 lantern: How is it else the man i'the moon. Dem. He dares not come there for the candle: for, you see, it is already in snuff. Hip. I am aweary 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 lantern 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 lantern; for they are in the moon. But, silence; here comes Thisbe. "Eyes, do you see? "How can it be? "O dainty duck! O dear! "Thy mantle good, "What, stain'd with blood? "Approach, ye furies fell! O fates! come, come; "Cut thread and thrum; "Quail, crush, conclude, and quell !" The. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad. Hip. Reshrew my heart, but I pity the man. Pyr. "O, wherefore, nature, didst thou lions frame? "Since lion vile hath here deflour'd my dear: « Which is-no, no-which was the fairest dame, "That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with cheer. "Come, tears, confound; "Out, sword, and wound "The pap of Pyramus: "Ay, that left pap, "Where heart doth hop:"Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. "Now am I dead, "Now am I fled; "My soul is in the sky: "Tongue, lose thy light! "Moon, take thy flight! "Now die, die, die, die, die." [Dies. Exit Moonshine. Dem. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one. Lys. Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing. The. With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover, and prove an ass. Hip. How chance moonshine is gone, before Thishe comes back and finds her lover? The. She will find him by star-light.-Here she comes; and her passion ends the play. Enter Thisbe. Hip. Methinks, she should not use a long one, for such a Pyramus: I hope, she will be brief. Dem. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better. Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes. Dem. And thus she moans, videlicet. "What, dead, my dove? "O Pyramus, arise, "Speak, speak. Quite dumb ? "Must cover thy sweet eyes. "These yellow cowslip cheeks, "Lay them in gore, "With shears his thread of silk. "Tongue, not a word:- "Come, blade, my breast imbrue: "Thus Thisbe ends: "Adieu, adieu, adieu." [Dies. The. Moonshine and lion are left to bury the dead. |