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Demetrius, and Egeus, go along;

I must employ you in fome bufinefs
Against our nuptials, and confer with you
Of fomething nearly that concerns your felves.
Ege. With duty and defire we follow you.

SCENE

[Exeunt.

I I.

Manent Lyfander and Hermia.

Lyf. How now, my love? why is your cheek fo pale?

How chance, the rofes there do fade fo faft?

Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could well
7 Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes.
Lyf. Hermia, for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,

The course of true love never did run fmooth;
But, either it was different in blood-

Her. O crofs! too high, to be enthrall'd to ·(a)

low!

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Lyf. Or elfe mifgraffed, in refpect of years Her. O fpight! too old, to be engag'd to young! Lyf. Or elfe it stood upon the choice of friends Her. O hell! to chufe love by another's eye! Lyf. Or if there were a fympathy in choice, War, death, or ficknefs did lay fiege to it; Making it momentary as a found,

Swift as a fhadow, fhort as any dream,

the teaching of her, we fhould have found her the bufiest amongst them; and, without doubt, the Lovers might have expected a more equitable decifion. But Shakespear knew better what he was about; and obferved decorum.

7 Beteem, or pour down upon them. [(a) -- to low, Mr. Theobald,

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Mr. Pope.

Vulg. to love.]

<< $ Brief

"Brief as the lightning in the collied night, "That (in a fpleen) unfolds both heav'n and earth; "And ere a man hath power to say, Behold! "The jaws of darkness do devour it up; So quick bright things come to confufion.

Her. If then true lovers have been ever croft, It ftands as an edit in deftiny:

Then, let us teach our tryal patience:

Because it is a cuftomary crofs,

As due to love, as thoughts and dreams, and fighs, Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers!

Lyf. A good perfuafion; therefore hear me, Hermia. I have a widow-aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and she hath no child;
From Athens is her house remov'd feven leagues,
And the refpects me as her only fon.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the fharp Athenian law
Cannot purfue us. If thou lov'ft me then,

I

8 Brief as the light'ning in the collied Night,

That, in a Spleen, unfolds both Heaven and Earth,
And ere a man hath power to say, behold!

Steal

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.] Tho' the word Spleen be here employed odly enough, yet I believe it right. Shakespear always hurried on by the grandeur and multitude of his Ideas affumes, every now and then, an uncommon licence in the use of his words. Particularly in complex moral modes it is ufual with him to employ one, only to express a very few ideas of that number of which it is compofed. Thus wanting here to exprefs the ideas of a fudden, or - -in a trice, he ufes the word Spleen ; which, partially confidered, fignifying a hafty sudden fit is enough for him, and he never troubles himself about the further or fuller fignification of the word. Here, he ufes the word Spleen for a fudden hafty fit; fo juft the contrary, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, he ufes fudden for spleenaticfudden quips. And it must be owned this fort of converfion adds a force to the diction.

9 Collied or black.

Mr. Pope.
i Lyf. If thou lov't me, then
Steal forth thy father's house &c.
Her. My good Lyfander,

H 2

I fwear

Steal forth thy father's house to morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena

To do obfervance to the morn of May,
There will I stay for thee.
Her. My good Lyfander,

Lyf. I fwear to thee by Cupid's ftrongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the Simplicity of Venus' doves,

By that, which knitteth fouls, and profpers loves;
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage Queen,
When the falfe Trojan under fail was feen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women fpoke;
Her. In that fame place thou haft appointed me,
To morrow truly will I meet with thee.

Lyf. Keep promife, love. Look, here comes Helena.
I fwear to thee by Cupid's ftrongest bow,

By &c. &c.

In that fame place thou haft appointed me

To morrow truly will I meet with thee.] Lyfander does but juft propofe her running away from her Father at midnight, and ftraight she is at her oaths that she will meet him at the place of Rendezvous. Not one doubt or hesitation, not one condition of affurance for Lyfander's conftancy. Either fhe was nauciously coming; or she had before jilted him; and he could not believe her without a thoufand Oaths. But Shakespear observed nature at another Rate.The fpeeches are divided wrong, and must be thus rectified; when Lyfander had propofed her running away with him, the replies,

Her. My good Lyfander

and is going on, to ask fecurity for his fidelity. This he perceives, and interrupts her with the grant of what she demands, Lyf. Ifwear to thee by Cupid's ftrongest bow &c.

By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever woman spoke

Here the interrupts him in her turn; declares herself satisfied, and confents to meet him, in the following words,

Her.

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In that fame place thou haft appointed me,
To morrow truly will I meet with thee.

This divifion of the lines, befides preferving the character, gives the dialogue infinitely more force and spirit.

SCENE

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Her. God fpeed, fair Helena! whither away? Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay; Demetrius loves you, fair; O happy fair!

Your eyes are load-stars, and your tongue's fweet air More tuneable than lark to fhepherd's ear,

When wheat is green, when haw-thorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: oh, were favour so!

(a) Your's would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear fhould catch your voice, my eye your eye;
My tongue fhould catch your tongue's sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being 'bated,
The reft I'll give to be to you translated.

O teach me, how you look; and with what art
You fway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
Hel. Oh, that your frowns would teach my fmiles
fuch skill!

Her. I give him curfes, yet he gives me love.
Hel. Oh, that my pray'rs could fuch affection move!
Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me.
Hel. The more I love, the more he hateth me.
Her. His Folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
Hel. None, but your beauty; would that fault were
mine!

Her. Take comfort; he no more shall fee my face;
Lyfander and my felf will fly this place.
Before the time I did Lyfander fee,
Seem'd Athens like a Paradife to me.

O then, what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell?
Lyf. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold,
To morrow night, when Phabe doth behold

[(a) Your's would catch, Oxf. Ed. - Vulg. your words I'd catch.]

H 3

Her

Her filver visage in the wat'ry glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grafs;
(A time, that lovers flights doth ftill conceal)
Through Athens' gate have we devis'd to steal.

Her. And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lye,
Emptying our bofoms of their counfels fwell'd;
There, my Lysander and my felf shall meet;
And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
To feek new Friends and ftrange Companions.
Farewel, sweet play-fellow; pray thou for us,
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
Keep word, Lyfander; we must starve our fight
From Lovers' food, till morrow deep midnight.
[Exit Hermia.
Lyf. I will, my Hermia.-Helena, adieu;
As you on him, Demetrius doat on you! [Exit Lyfand.
Hel. How happy fome, o'er other fome, can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as fhe.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not fo:
He will not know; what all, but he, do know.
And as he errs, doating on Hermia's eyes,

So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things bafe and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can tranfpofe to form and dignity:

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.
Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste;
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy hafte:
And therefore is Love faid to be a child,
Because in choice he is fo oft beguil❜d.
As waggish boys themselves in game forfwear,
So the boy Love is perjur'd every where,
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths, that he was only mine;
And when this hail fome heat from Hermia felt,
So he diffolv'd, and fhowers of oaths did melt.

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