 | A Midsummer Night's Dream |  |
SCENE I.
SCENE The Wood.Enter Queen of Fairies, with her Train.
Queen.
Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song:
Then for the third part of a minute hence,
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
Some war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats: And some keep back
The clamorous-owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders,
At our queint spirits. Sing me now asleep,
Then to your offices, and let me rest.
[Goes to the Bower and lies down.
AIR.
1st. Fai.
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen,
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy Queen.
Sing in your sweet lullaby,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely Lady nigh,
So good night with lullaby.
II.
Weaving spiders come not here;Hence, you long-leg'd spinners, hence:
Beetles black approach not near,
Worm nor snail do no offence.
One aloof stand centinel.
[Exeunt Fairies.
Ob.
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true love take;
Love and languish for his sake;
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye what shall appear,
When thou wak'st, it is thy dear;
Wake when some vile thing is near.
[Exit Ob.
Enter Lysander and Hermia.
Lys.
Fair love, you faint with wand'ring in the wood;
And, to speak truth, I have forgot our way:
We'll rest us, Hermia, if thou think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
Her.
Be't so, Lysander; find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
Lys.
One turf shall serve as pillow for us both,
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
DUET. AIR.
[Lysander and Hermia]
Yoak'd in Cytherea's car,
Are so beauteous to the eye,
Are so choicely match'd by far.
The gay sportive God of love,
Are so lovely bright and soft,
Or with more consent do move.
Her.
Now, my Lysander, on that bank repose,
That if perchance my woman's fears shou'd seek
Protection in thy love and brav'ry,
I may not call on love and thee in vain.
Lys.
Repose thee, love, I'll watch thee thro' the night,
No harm shall reach thee—
Sleep give thee all his rest.
Her.
With half that wish, the wisher's eyes be prest!
[They sleep.
Puck.
Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian find I none;
Night and silence! who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear;
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid?
And here the maiden sleeping sound
On the dank and dirty ground.
But first I'll throw into a trance,
This youth; that elves may round him dance:
Melting sounds your power impart,
That I may pierce his harden'd heart!
[Soft musick.
Lys.
Whence is this sweet enchanting harmony!
A thicker shade o'er spreads the night! my senses,
Some secret unknown influence feels—
I cannot shake it off; chains invisible
Already bind my limbs, and all my pow'rs enthrall.
[He sinks down.
Puck.
'Tis done, 'tis done; and now my skill,
His breast with other love shall fill:
Churl upon thy eyes I throw,
All the power this charm doth owe;
So awake when I am gone!
For I must now to Oberon.
[Exit.
Enter Demetrius and Helena running.
Hel.
Stay, tho' thou kill me, sweet Demetrius!
Dem.
I charge thee hence, and do not haunt me thus.
Hel.
O wilt thou leave me? do not so, my love.
Dem.
Stay on thy peril, I alone will go.
[Exit Dem.
Hel.
O I am out of breath in this fond chace;
The more my prayer, the lesser is my favour.
But who is here? Lysander on the ground:
Dead or asleep?
Lysander, if you live, good Sir, awake.
Lys.
And run thro' fire for thee, sweet Helena.
[Waking.
Where is Demetrius? Oh how fit a word,
Is that vile name, to perish on my sword!
Hel.
Do not say so, Lysander, say not so:
What tho' he loves your Hermia? What of that?
Lys.
Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have lost.
The will of man is by his reason sway'd,
And reason says you are the worthier.
Reason becomes the marshal to my will,
And leads me to your eyes, where I can read
Love's stories written in love's richest book.
Hel.
But wherefore this?
When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
Is't not enough, is't not enough, Lysander,
That I did never, no, nor ever can,
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
I thought you Lord of more true gentleness.
AIR.
The Flame that in my bosom burns,
If love for love's deny'd;
Oh, be not an ungentle swain,
Nor add to cold neglect, disdain,
And insolence and pride!
[Exit.
Lys.
She sees not Hermia: Hermia, sleep thou there,
And never may'st thou come Lysander near;
For as a surfeit of the sweetest things
Brings deepest loathing to the appetite;
Or as the heresies that men do quit,
Are hated most of those they did deceive;
So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
Of all be hated, but the most of me.
[Exit.
Her.
Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my bosom.
Ah me, for pity! what a dream was here?
Lysander, look how I do quake with horror.
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sate smiling at him.—Ha! Lysander,
Lysander! what remov'd? Lysander, Lord!
What out of hearing gone? out of sight!
Alack, where are you? speak, and if you hear me,
Speak of all loves: I swoon almost with fear.
Transforms our night to day,
Dispel the clouds, that wrap my heart,
With thy enliv'ning ray:
Thus when the sky with noxious steams,
Has been obscur'd awhile,
The sun darts forth his piercing beams,
And makes all nature smile.
[Exit.
Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout and Starveling.
The Queen of Fairies lying a sleep.
Bot.
Are we all met?
Quin.
Pat, pat! and here's a marvellous convenient place
for our rehersal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn
brake our tyring house, and we will do it in action, as
we will do it before the Duke.
Bot.
Peter Quince.
Quin.
What say'st thou, Bully Bottom?
Bot.
There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisby,
that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to
kill himself, which the Ladies cannot abide. How answer you
that?
Snout.
By'rlaken, a parlous fear!
Starv.
I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is
done.
Bot.
Not a whit; I have a device to make all well; write
me a prologue, and let the prologue seem to say, we will do
no harm with our swords, and that Pyramus is not kill'd indeed;
and for more better assurance tell them, that I Pyramus
am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put them
out of fear.
Quin.
Well we will have such a prologue, and it shall be
written in eight and six.
Bot.
No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and
eight.
Snout.
Will not the Ladies be afraid of the Lion?
Starv.
I fear it, I promise you.
Bot.
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves; to
bring in, heaven shield us! a Lion among Ladies, is a most
dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wildfowl than
your Lion, living; and we ought to look to it.
Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
Bot.
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must
be seen through the lion's neck; and he himself must speak
through, saying thus, or to the same defect: Ladies, or fair
Ladies, I would wish you, or I would request you, or I would
intreat you, not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours; if
you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life; no,
I am no such thing; I am a man as other men are; and there
indeed let him name his name, and tell them plainly, He is
Snug the Joiner.
Quin.
Well, it shall be so; but there is two hard things,
that is, to bring the moon-light into a chamber; for you know
Pyramus and Thisby met by moon-light.
Snug.
Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
Bot.
A kalendar, a kalendar! look into the almanack; find
out moon-shine, find out moon-shine.
Quin.
Yes, it doth shine that night.
Bot.
Why then may you leave a casement of the great chamber
window, where we play, open, and the moon may shine in
at the casement.
Quin.
Ay, or else one must come in with a bush of thorns
and a lanthern; and say he comes to disfigure or to present
the person of moon-shine. Then there is another thing; we
must have a wall in the great chamber, for Pyramus and
Thisby (says the story) did talk through the chink of a wall.
Snug.
You can never bring in a wall. What say you,
Bottom?
Bot.
Some man or other must present wall; and let him
have some plaister, or some lome, or some rough-cast, about
him, to signify wall: Or let him hold his fingers thus, and
through the cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.
Quin.
If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down
every mother's son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you
begin; and when you have spoken your speech, enter into that
brake, and so every one according to his cue.
Enter Puck.
Puck.
What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?
What, a play tow'rd; I'll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
Quin.
Speak, Pyramus. Thisby, stand forth.
Pyr.
Thisby, the flower of odious savours sweet.
Quin.
Odours, odours.
Odours savours sweet;
So doth thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear:
But hark, a voice! Stay thou but here a while,
And by-and-by I will to thee appear.
[Exit Pyr.
Puck.
A stranger Pyramus than e'er play'd here!
[Aside.
[Exit.
This.
Must I speak now?
Quin.
Ay, marry must you; for you must understand, he
goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
This.
Most radiant Pyramus, most lilly-white of hue,
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant bier,
Most briskly jevenile, and eke most lovely jew,
As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire;
I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
Quin.
Ninus' tomb, man; why you must not speak that yet:
That you answer to Pyramus: You speak all your part at
once, cues and all. Pyramus enter; your cue is past: It is,
Never tire.
Enter Puck, and Bottom with an Ass's head.
This.
O, as true as truest horse that yet would never tire.
Pyr.
If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine.
Quin.
O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted: Pray
masters, fly masters, help!
[Exeunt Clowns.
Puck.
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Thro' bog, thro' bush, thro' brake, thro' briar;
Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometimes a fire,
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
[Exit.
Enter Bottom.
Bot.
Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to
make me afeard.
Enter Snout.
Snout.
O Bottom, thou art chang'd: What do I see on
thee?
Bot.
What do you see? You see an ass's head of your own,
do you?
Enter Quince.
Quin.
Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated.
[Exit.
I see their knavery; this is to make an ass of me; to
fright me if they could; but I will not stir from this place, do
what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing,
that they shall hear I am not afraid.
AIR.
With orange-tawny bill,
The throstle, with his note so true,
The wren with little quill.
Queen.
What angel wakes me from my flow'ry bed?
Bot.
(Sings.)
The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plain-song cuckow grey,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay.
For indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird? Who
would give a bird the lie, though he cry cuckow never so?
Queen.
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again,
Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape,
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
Bot.
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for
that; and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little
company together now-a-days. The more the pity, that some
honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can
gleek upon occasion.
Queen.
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
Bot.
Not so neither: But if I had wit enough to get out of
this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
Queen.
Out of this wood do not desire to go;
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state,
And I do love thee; therefore go with me,
I'll give thee Fairies to attend on thee;
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing, while thou on pressed flow'rs doth sleep:
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so,
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
Peaseblossom, Cob, Moth, Mustardseed!
Four Fairies.
1st. Fai.
Ready.
2d Fai.
And I.
3d Fai.
And I.
4th Fai.
And I. Where shall we go?
Queen.
Be kind and courteous to this Gentleman;
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricots and dewberries;
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal from the humble bees,
And for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worms eyes,
To have my love to-bed, and to arise:
Nod to him, Elves, and do him courtesies.
1st Fai.
Hail, mortal, hail!
2d Fai.
Hail!
3d Fai.
Hail!
Bot.
I cry your worship's mercy, heartily; I beseech your
worship's name.
Cob.
Cobweb.
Bot.
I shall desire of you more acquaintance, good master
Cobweb: If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.
Your name, honest gentleman.
Pease.
Peaseblossom.
Bot.
I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash your
mother, and to Master Peasecod your father: Good Master
Peaseblossom, I shall desire of you more acquaintance too.
Your name, I beseech you, Sir?
Must.
Mustardseed.
Bot.
Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:
That same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef, hath devour'd many
a gentleman of your house. I promise you, your kindred hath
made my eyes water ere now. I desire more of your acquaintance,
good Master Mustardseed.
Queen.
Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bow'r.
The moon, methinks, looks with a watry eye,
And when she weeps, weep ev'ry little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently.
[Exeunt.
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | |