And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories
With this fame play against your nuptials.
Thef. And we will hear it.

Philoft. No, my noble lord,

It is not for you. I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely ftretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
To do you fervice.

Thef. I will hear that play :

"For never any thing can be amifs, "When fimpleness and duty tender it.

Go, bring them in, and take your places, ladies.

[Exit Phil. Hip. I love not to fee wretchedness o'ercharg'd, And duty in his fervice perifhing.

Thef. Why, gentle fweet, you fhall fee no fuch thing. Hip. He fays, they can do nothing in this kind. Thef. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.

Our fport fhall be, to take what they mistake; And what poor (willing) duty cannot do, Noble refpect takes it in might, not merit. "Where I have come, great clerks have purposed "To greet me with premeditated welcomes; "Where I have seen them fhiver and look pale, "Make periods in the midst of sentences, "Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,

66

And, in conclufion, dumbly have broke off,
"Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
"Out of this filence yet I pick'd a welcome:
"And in the modesty of fearful duty

"I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
"Of fawcy and audacious eloquence.
Love therefore, and tongue-ty'd fimplicity,
In leaft fpeak moft, to my capacity.

Enter

Enter Philoftrate.

Phil. So please your Grace, the prologue is addrest. Thef. Let him approach.

SCENE

[Flor. Trum.

II.

Enter Quince, for the prologue.

Pro. If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To fhew our fimple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Confider then, we come but in defpight.
We do not come, as minding to content you,
Our true intent is.—all for your delight,

[you, We are not here. that you fhould here repent The actors are at hand; and by their fhow, You shall know all, that you are like to know.

Thef. This fellow doth not ftand upon points. Lyf. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt; he knows not the ftop. A good moral, my lord. It is not enough to fpeak, but to fpeak true.

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

vernment.

Thef. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all diforder'd. Who is the next? Enter Pyramus, and Thisbe, Wall, Moonfhine, and Lion, as in dumb fhew.

Pro. 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 Thisbe is, certain.

This man, with lime and rough-caft, doth prefent

VOL. I.

M

Wall,

་

Wall, the vile wall, which did thefe lovers funder: 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 bufh of thorn, Prefenteth moon-fhine: For, if you will know, By moon-fhine did these lovers think no fcorn To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. This grifly beaft, which by name Lion hight, The trufty Thisbe, coming firft by night, Did fcare away, or rather did affright: And as fhe fled, her mantle fhe let fall; Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. Anon comes Pyramus, fweet youth and tall,

And finds his trufty Thisbe's mantle flain; Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast. And Thisbe, tarrying in the mulberry fhade, 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.

[Exeunt all but Wall. Thef. 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 Snout by name, prefent a wall : 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 Thisbe, Did whisper often very fecretly.

This loam, this rough-caft, and this stone 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.
Thef. Would you defire lime and hair to speak better?
Dem. It is the wittieft partition, that ever I heard
difcourfe, my lord.

Thef.

Thef. Pyramus draws near the wall: filence!

Enter Pyramus.

Pyr. O grim-look'd night! O night with hue fo black!

O night which ever art, when day is not! O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,

I fear my Thisbe's promife is forgot.

And thou, O wall, Ŏ fweet and lovely wall,

That ftands between her father's ground and mine; Thou wall, O wall, Ofweet and lovely wall, [eyne. Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine Thanks, courteous wall; Jove fhield thee well for this!

But what fee I? no Thisbe do I fee.

O wicked wall, through whom I fee no blifs
Curst be thy ftones for thus deceiving me!

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

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

Enter Thisbe.

Thif. O wall, full often haft thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me.

My cherry lips have often kifs'd thy stones:
Thy ftones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
Pyr. I fee a voice; now will I to the chink;
To fpy, an I can hear my Thisbe's face.
Thisbe!

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 trusty still.

Thif. And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.
Pyr. Not Shafalus to Pracrus was so true.
Thif. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

M 2

Pyr.

Pyr. O kifs me through the hole of this vile wall. This. I kifs the wall's hole, not your lips at all. Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?

Thif. Tide life, tide death, I come without delay. Wall. Thus have I Wall my part discharged fo: And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. [Exit. Thef. Now is the Mural down between the two neighbours.

Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wilful to rear without warning.

Hip. This is the fillieft ftuff that e'er I heard.

Thef. The beft in this kind are but fhadows; and the worst are no worfe, if imagination amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.

Thef. If we imagine no worfe of them than they of themselves, they may pafs for excellent men. Here come two noble beafts in a man and a lion.

Enter Lion and Moonshine.

Lion. You, ladies, you, whofe gentle hearts do fear -The smallest monftrous moufe that creeps on floor, May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, When Lion rough in wildeft rage doth roar. Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am No Lion fell, nor elfe no Lion's dam: For if I fhould as Lion come in ftrife Into this place, 'twere pity of my life.

Thef. A very gentle beaft, and of a good confcience. Dem. The very beft at a beaft, my lord, that e'er I faw.

4 Thef. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wilful to HEAR without warning.] Shakespear could never write this nonfenfe; we should read- to REAR without warning. i. e. It is no worder that walls thould be fuddenly down, when they were as fuddenly up; -rear'd without warning.

Lyf.