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Confider then, we come but in despite. Subcom về We do not come, as minding to content you, (24) all for your delight,

Our true intent is

We are not here

that you should here repent you, The actors are at hand; and by their how, You fhall know all, that you are like to know»g bíð The. This fellow doth not stand upon points.

Ly. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt; he knows not the ftop. A good moral, my lord. It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on his prologue, like a child on the recorder; a found, but not in government.

if The. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all diforder'd. Who is the nextă mă

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Enter Pyramus and Thifbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion,. as in dumb fhew.

Prol. Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this fhow, D But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. This man is Pyramus, if you would know;

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This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. This man, with lime and rough-caft, doth prefent ££? Wall, the vile wall, which did thefe lovers funder :i And through wall's chink, poor fouls, they are content To whisper, at the which let no man wonder. This man, with lanthorn, dog, and buth of thorn. Ja Prefenteth Moon-fhine: For, if you will know, A

(24) We do not come as minding to content you,

Our true Intent is all for your Delight,

We are not here that you fhould kere repent you,

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The Actors are at hand; &c.] Thus the late accurate Editor, deviating from all the Old Copies, has, by a certain peculiar : Fatality, pointed this Paffage. The whole Glee and Humour of the Prologue is in the Actor's making falfe Reffs, and fo turning every Member of the Sentences into flagrant Nonfenfe. And 1 Mr. Pope feems very cruel to our Author, (confidering, how many Paffiges, which should have been pointed right, he has pointed wrong;) that here, when he fhould point wrong, with a Arange Perverfenefs, and unufual Appetite for Senfe, he will point right.

By

By moon-fhine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
This grifly beaft, which by name Lion hight, (25)
The trufty Thisby, coming first by night,
Did fcare away, or rather did affright:
And as the filed, her mantle fhe let fall;
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did ftains
Anon comes Pyramus, fweet youth and tall,
And finds his trufty Thisby's mantle flain;
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade
biHe bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast.
And Thisby, tarrying in the mulberry fhade,

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His dagger drew, and died. For all the reft,
Let Lion, Moon-fhine, Wall, and lovers twain,
At large difcourfe, while here they do remain.

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[Exeunt all but Wall.

The. I wonder, if the Lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord; one Lion may, when many affes do.

Wall. In this fame Interlude, it doth befall,

That I, one Snowt by name, present a Wall: (26)
And fuch a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink;
Through which the lovers, Pyr'mus and Thisby,¦
Did whisper often very fecretly.

This loam, this rough-caft, and this ftone doth fhew,
That I am that fame wall; the truth is fo.

And this the cranny is, right and finifter,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

(25)-which Lion bight by name.] As all the other Parts of this Speech are in alternate Rhyme, excepting that it clofes with a Couplet; and as no Rhyme is left to, name; we must conclude, either a Verfe is flipt out, which cannot now be retriev'd: or,. by a Tranfpofition of the Words, as I have placed them, the Poet. intended a Triplet

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(26) That I, one Flute by name,] Thus Mr. Pope gives it us, either from the old Quarto's, or by Accident. But Accident, or Authority, "happens to be wrong in it: and we must reftote, Snout, with the old Folio's; for it appears in the first Act, that. Flute was to perform Ebisbe

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The. Would you defire lime and hair to fpeak better? Dem. It is the wittieft partition, that ever I heard Hifcourse, my lord? 5 ****

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The. Pyramus draws near the wall: filence!is bas
Enter Pyramus.

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Pyr. Ogrim-look'd night! O night with hue so blackt
O night which ever art, when day is not!
O night, night, alack, alack, alack,
I fear, my Thisby's promife is forgot.
And thou, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall,

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That ftands between her father's ground and mine; Thou wall, O, wall, O fweet and lovely wall,

Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.
Thanks, courteous wall; Jove fhield thee well for this !
But what fee I? no Thisby do I fee.

O wicked wall, through whom I fee no bliss;
Curit be thy ftones for thus deceiving me!

The. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, fhould curfe again

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Pyr. No, in truth, Sir, he should not. Deceiving me, is Thisby's cue; fhe is to enter, and I am to py her through the wall. You fhall fee, it will fall pat as I told you. Yonder he comes.

Enter Thisbe.

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This. O wall, full often halt thou heard my moane,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me.

My cherry lips have often kifs'd thy ftones
Thy ftones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
I fee a voice; now will I to the chink;
an I can hear my Thisby's facess

Thisby!

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Thif. My love thou art, my love, I think.
Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace.
And like Limander am I trufty fill.

And like And I like

Thif.

mey kill. Shorina.

felen, till the true, 1 csi dinge

Pyr. Not Shafalus to Procrus was fo

Tbif. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

ga. Pyr. O kifs me through the hole of this vile wall. Thif. I kifs the wall's hole, not your lips at all

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*Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me fraightway? ThifTide life, tide death, I come without delay Wall. Thus have I Wall my part discharged foros. And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. [Exit. The. Now is the Mural down between the two neigh

Dem.

«. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so willfu} to hear without warning.

Hip. This is the fillieft ftuff that e'er I heard.lgia Q The. The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worft are no worfe, if imagination amend them.. but Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. The. If we imagine no worfe of them than they of themselves, they may pafs for excellent men. Here come two noble beafts in a moon and a lion. (27)402 2dned'?``

Enter Lion and Moonshine.

Lion. You, ladies, you, whofe gentle hearts do fear The fmalleft monstrous mouse that creeps on floor May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, When Lion rough in wildett rage doth roar,

Then
No Lion fell, nor elfe no Lion's dam:
For if I fhould as Lion come in ftrife

know that 1, one Snug the joiner, am

Into this place, 'twere pity of my life.

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The. A very gentle beaft, and of a good confcience.
Dem. The very beft at a beaft, my lord, that e'er I faw.
Ly. This Lion is a very fox for his valour,
The True; and a goofe for his difcretion.

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(27) Here come two nable Beafts in a Man and a Lion.] I don't think the Jeft here is either compleat, or right. It is differently painted in feveral of the Old Copies, which, I fufpect, may lead us to the true Reading, viz,

"Here come two noble Bea'simmediately upon Thefeus faying this,

in a Man and a Lion.

enter Lion and Moonfine. It feems very probable therefore, that our Author wrote

in a Moon and a Lion.

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the one having a Crefcent and a Lanthorn before him, and reprefenting the Man in the Moon; the other in a Lion's hide,

Dem

Dem. Not fo, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his difcretion, and the fox carries the goose.

The. His difcretion, I am fure, cannot carry his valour; for the goofe carries not the fox. It is well: leave it to his difcretion, and let us hearken to the moon. 1

Moon. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present: Dem. He fhould have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crefcent, and his horns are invifible within the circumference.

Maon. This lanthorn doth the horned Moon prefent= Myfelf the man i'th' moon doth feem to be..

The. This is the greatest error of all the reft; the man fhould be put into the lanthorn: how is it elfe the man i'th' moon!

Dem. He dares not come there for the candles for you fee, it is already in fnuff.

Hip. I am weary of this moon; would, he would change!

The. It appears by his fmall light of difcretion, that he is in the wane; but yet in courtesy, in all reason, we must Atay the time.

Lyf. Proceed, Moon.

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Moon. All that I have to fay, is to tell you that the lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this thornbush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.

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•Dem. Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for they are in the moon. But, filence; here comes Thisbe.

Enter Thibe.

Thif: This is old Ninny's tomb; where is my love?

Lion. Oh.

[The Lion roars, Thisbe runs off

Dem. Well roar'd, Lion.

The. Well run Thisbe.

Hip. Well thone, Moon.

Truly, the Moon fhines with a good grace.

The. Well mouz'd, Lion.

Dem. And then came Pyramus..

Ly. And fo the Lion vanith'd..

Enter

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