University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

SCENE I.

An open plain, bordered with wood.
Enter Oberon.
OBERON.
Who comes here? I am invisible,
And I will hear their conference.

Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
DEMETRIUS.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
You do impeach your modesty too much,
To leave the city, and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not,
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a desart place.

HELENA.
It is not night when I do see your face,
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For you, in my respect, are all the World.

DEMETRIUS.
I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

HELENA.
The wildest hath not such a heart as you;
Run when you will the story shall be chang'd;
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase.

DEMETRIUS.
I will not stay thy questions, let me go,
Or if you follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

AIR.
HELENA.
Love made the lovely Venus burn,
In vain, and for the cold youth mourn;
A youth as cold as you, but he
At least pursued no other she.
So have I seen the lost Clouds pour,
Into the sea a useless shower,
And the vexed sailors curse the rain,
For which poor shepherds pray'd in vain.

[Exeunt Dem. and Hel.
OBERON.
Fare thee well, nymph, ere he doth leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.

SCENE II.

Enter Puck.
PUCK
Ay, there it is.

OBERON.
I pray thee give it me;
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
There sleeps Titania, some time of the night;
I with the juice of this will streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek thro' this grove;
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the Lady. Thou shalt know the man,
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond of her, than she upon her love.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

Enter Queen with her Train.
QUEEN.
Come, now a roundel, and a Fairy song:
Then for a 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.
AIR.

[Exeunt Fairies.
Enter Oberon.
OBERON.
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.

[Oberon squeezes the juice on her eyes, and exit.

SCENE IV.

Enter Lysander and Hermia.
LYSANDER.
Fair love, you're faint with wandring 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.

HERMIA.
Be't so, Lysander; find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.

LYSANDER.
One turf shall serve as pillow for us both,
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.

DUETTE.
Not the silver doves that fly,
Yoak'd in Cytherea's car;
Are so beauteous to the eye,
Are so choicely match'd by far.
Not the Wings that bear aloft
The gay sportive God of love,
Are so lovely bright and soft,
Or with more consent do move.

LYSANDER.
There will I lie; sleep give thee all his rest.

HERMIA.
With half that wish, the wisher's eyes be prest.

[They sleep.

SCENE V.

Enter Puck.
PUCK.
Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian find I none,
On whose eyes I might approve,
This flower's force in stirring love:
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.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw,
All the power this charm doth owe:
When thou wak'st, let love forbid,
Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid:
So awake when I am gone,
For I must now to Oberon.
[Exit Puck.

SCENE VI.

Enter Demetrius, and Helena following.
HELENA.
Stay, tho' thou kill me, sweet Demetrius!

DEMETRIUS.
I charge thee hence, and do not haunt me thus.

HELENA.
O wilt thou, darling, leave me? do not so.

DEMETRIUS.
Stay, on thy peril, I alone will go.
[Exit Demetrius.

HELENA.
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? not with salt tears,
If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
But who is here? Lysander, on the ground:
Dead or asleep, I see no blood, no wound:
Lysander if you live, good Sir, awake.

AIR.
LYSANDER.
Say, lovely dream, where couldst thou find
Shades to counterfeit that face;
Colours of this glorious kind,
Come not from any mortal place;
In heaven itself thou sure wert drest,
With that angel-like disguise,
Thus deluded am I blest,
And see my joy with closed eyes.

Transparent Helen, nature here shews art,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart:
Where is Demetrius? Oh, how fit a word
Is that vile name, to perish on my sword?
HELENA.
Do not say so, Lysander, say not so?
What tho' he loves your Hermia, yet you know,
That Hermia still loves you; then be content.

LYSANDER.
Content with Hermia? no, I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent;
Not Hermia, but Helena now I love:
Who will not change a raven for a dove?

HELENA.
Wherefore was I to this keen mock'ry born?
When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
But fare you well. Perforce I must confess,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
[Exit Helena.

LYSANDER.
She sees not Hermia, Hermia sleep thou there,
Helen is now Lysander's only Care.
[Exit Lysander.

SCENE VI.

HERMIA.
Help me, Lysander, help me, do thy best,
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast:
Ay me, for pity, what a dream was here?
Lysander, speak, I almost swoon with fear;
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey:
Lysander, what remov'd? Lysander, lord!
What out of hearing, gone? no sound, no word?
Where are you, speak? alas! he is not near.
AIR.
[Exit Hermia.

SCENE VII.

Enter Oberon and train, meeting Puck.
PUCK.
Hail, and welcome, gracious king,
And all the Fairies that you bring;
But wherefore do you thus delay?
The gentle night is prest to pay
The usury of long delights,
She owes to our protracted rites.

OBERON.
My fairy sprights, brief be your sports to night,
Much business we have yet to do ere light.
The queen in slumber wrapt near yonder brake,
At cautious distance watch her till she wake;
Then know, what 'tis that first comes in her eye,
That she must doat on in extremity:
Her new-born flame will all her thoughts employ,
Then I for asking, get her Indian boy.
This done, I will her charmed eye release
From vision gross, and all things shall be peace.
AIR.
By the Star's glimmering light,
Aided by the glow-worm's fire,
Every elf and fairy spright,
Hop as light as bird from briar.
Now, now, begin to set
Your spirits in an active heat;
Instruct your nimble feet,
The velvet ground to beat:
To-morrow be it seen
Where we to-night have been.
Sing and dance around this place,
Hand in hand, with Fairy grace.
[Dance.
AIR.
[Exeunt.