University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

A Wood. Moonlight.
Enter 2nd Fairy, meeting another Fairy.
4th Fairy.

How now, Spirit! Whither wander
you?

2nd Fairy.
Over hill, over dale,
Through bush, through brier,
Over park, over pale;
Through flood, through fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen
To dew her orbs upon the green:
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
AIR—2nd Fairy.—[Dr. Cooke, and Bishop.]
Farewell, thou wand'ring spirit! I'll begone;
Our Queen and all her elves come here anon.
But soft! who's this? [Looks out.]
Why, ay, is it not he,
That frights the maidens of the villagerie?
Who bootless makes the breathless housewife churn
Skim-milk, and sometimes labour in the quern;
And sometimes makes the drink to bear no barm,
Misleads night-wand'rers, laughing at their harm?
Those that “Hobgoblin” call him, and “sweet Puck,”
He does their work, and they shall have goodluck.

Enter Puck, or, Robin-Good-fellow.
Puck.
So, false Titania's elf!—

2nd Fairy.
And thou, false Oberon's.
I know you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,
Call'd Robin Good-fellow.

Puck.
Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wand'rer of the night:
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
Oft' lurk in gossip's bowl, and her beguile
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale:
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her seat—down topples she,
And rails, or cries, and falls into a cough;
And then, the whole choir hold their hips, and loffe,
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear,
A merrier hour was never wasted there;
But, know, the King doth keep his revels here to-night,
Take heed the Queen come not within his sight:
For they do square, that all their Elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn-cups, and hide them there.

2nd Fairy.
But why is Oberon so fell and wrath?

Puck.
Because, that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;
And she perforce withholds the changeling,
Tho' jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild.
But make room, fairy, here comes Oberon.

2nd Fairy.
And here my mistress: would that he were gone!

[A March.]
Enter, in procession, Oberon, King of the Fairies, at one Wing, with his Train, and the Queen at another, with hers.—Titania is in a Car. —Oberon in another Car.
Ober.
Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania!

Queen.
What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence; (as going.)

I have foresworn his bed and company.

Ober.
Tarry, rash wanton! Am not I thy lord?

Queen.
Then I must be thy lady: why art thou here,
Come from the farthest steep of India?
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskin'd mistress, and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded; and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.

Ober.
How canst thou thus, for shame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolita,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night
From Perigune, whom he ravished,
And make him, with fair Ægle, break his faith
With Ariadne, and Antiopa?

Queen.
These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never since that middle summer's spring
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
The spring, the summer,
The chiding autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the amazed world
By their increase now knows not which is which;
And this same progeny of evil comes
From our debate, from our dissention;
We are their parents and original.

Ober.
Do you amend it then, it lies in you.
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.

Queen.
Set your heart at rest,
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a vot'ress of my order,
And in the spiced Indian air by night
Full often she hath gossip'd by my side;
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking th' embarked traders of the flood,
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,
And grow all pregnant with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty, and with swimming gait,
Would imitate, and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize;
But she being mortal, of that boy did die,
And for her sake I do rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him.

Ober.
Where is the youthful treasure?

Queen.
Still hid in India, far, far from
Oberon's power. Farewell!

Ober.
How long within this wood intend you stay?

Queen.
Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us!
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.

Ober.
Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.

Queen.
Not for thy Fairy kingdom.

[March renewed.]
[Queen and Train, Exeunt.
Ober.
Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove,
Till I torment thee for this injury.
My gentle Puck, come hither; thou remember'st,
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious sounds,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.

Puck.
I remember.

Ober.
That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd! a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west,
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beam of the watery moon!
And the imperial vot'ress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy free—
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,—
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wounds,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness!
Fetch me that flower,—the herb I shew'd thee once;
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly doat
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me that herb, and be thou here again
Ere the Leviathan can swim a league.

Puck.
I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.

[Exit.
Ober.
Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
The next thing which she waking looks upon,
(Be it bear, lion, wolf, bull, ape or monkey),
She shall pursue it with the soul of love:
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
(As I can take it with another herb),
I'll make her render up her Page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible,
And I will over-hear their conference.

Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem.
Where is Lysander? Where is Hermia?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me!
Thou told'st me they had stolen to this wood.

Hel.
I did, Demetrius, and hop'd to have your thanks.

Dem.
My frowns, my scorn! Hence, Helena, pursue me not.

Hel.
You draw me on—I cannot help but follow.

Dem.
Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
Or rather do I not in plainest truth,
Tell you I do not, and I cannot love you?

Hel.
Neglect me,—spurn me—only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you!

Dem.
I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes.
SONG—Demetrius.—[Bishop.]
[Exit Demet.

Hel.
He seeks his Hermia, and she, injurious,
Most ungrateful maid, e'en she conspires against me!
Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd,
The sister-vows, the hours that we have spent,
When we have chid the hasty-footed time
For parting us—Oh! and is all forgot?
All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?
We Hermia, like two artificial Gods,
Created with our needles both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song—both in one key—
As if our hands, our hearts, voices, and minds
Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition!
And now!—But where's Demetrius?—Still I
Must follow—still reverse the fabled chase—
Apollo flies,—but Daphne holds the race!

[Exit.
Ober.
Fare thee well, nymph! ere he doth leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.
Enter Puck.
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer!

Puck.
Ay, there it is.

Ober.
I pray thee, give it me,
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;
There sleeps Titania some times of the night,
Lull'd in these flow'rs, with dances and delight;
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through 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—for when he awakes,
The first he sees, the first his love partakes.
Go, and remember—Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.

Puck.
By his Athenian garments?

Ober.
Ay; and look you meet me ere the first cock crow.

Puck.
Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.

Ober.
Now with all speed to charm Titania.

INVOCATION—Oberon.—[Bishop.]
Spirits, advance! your nightly pastimes leave,
For proud Titania doth her lord deceive.
Spirits, advance! through air and ocean move!
'Tis Oberon calls you, to assert his love.

Enter a Troop of Fairies.
AIR—1st Fairy.—[Bishop.]
Come, follow, follow me,
Ye Fairy Elves that be!
O'er tops of dewy grass
So nimbly do we pass,
The young and tender stalk,
Ne'er bends where we do walk.

QUARTETTO AND CHORUS.—[Dr. Cooke.]
Trip away, trip away!
Make no stay,
Meet we all by break of day.
[Bishop.]
We follow, follow thee,
We Fairy Elves that be!