Demetrius, and Egeus, go along; I must employ you in fome bufinefs 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 The course of true love never did run fmooth; Her. O crofs! too high, to be enthrall'd to ·(a) low! 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, 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; I 8 Brief as the light'ning in the collied Night, That, in a Spleen, unfolds both Heaven and Earth, 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. H 2 I fwear Steal forth thy father's house to morrow night; To do obfervance to the morn of May, Lyf. I fwear to thee by Cupid's ftrongest bow, By that, which knitteth fouls, and profpers loves; Lyf. Keep promife, love. Look, here comes Helena. 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, Here the interrupts him in her turn; declares herself satisfied, and confents to meet him, in the following words, Her. In that fame place thou haft appointed me, This divifion of the lines, befides preferving the character, gives the dialogue infinitely more force and spirit. SCENE 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. (a) Your's would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go; O teach me, how you look; and with what art Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still. Her. I give him curfes, yet he gives me love. Her. Take comfort; he no more shall fee my face; O then, what graces in my love do dwell, [(a) Your's would catch, Oxf. Ed. - Vulg. your words I'd catch.] H 3 Her Her filver visage in the wat'ry glass, Her. And in the wood, where often you and I But what of that? Demetrius thinks not fo: So I, admiring of his qualities. Things bafe and vile, holding no quantity, Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; |