Ob. Sound, mufic; come, my Queen, take hand
with me,

And rock the ground whereon thefe fleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will to morrow midnight folemnly
Dance in Duke Thefeus' houfe triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair * pofterity; 8
There fhall thefe pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Thefeus, all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy King, attend and mark;
I do hear the morning lark.

Ob. Then, my Queen, in filence fad; 9
Trip we after the night's fhade;
We the globe can compafs foon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my lord, and in our flight
Tell me how it came this night,
That I fleeping here was found,
With these mortals on the ground.

Enter Thefeus, Egeus, Hippolita, and all his Train.

The. Go one of you, find out the forefter, For now our obférvation is perform'd, 1

I

I. Profperity.

8 Dance in Duke Thefeus' boufe triumphantly, And bless it to all FAIR pofterity;] We should read, to all FAR pofterity. i, e. to the remoteft pofterity. WARBURTON. 9 Then, my Queen, in filence fad, Trip we after the night's fhade.] Mr. Theobald fays, why fad? Fairies are pleafed to follow night. He will have it fade; and fo, to mend the rhime,

[Sleepers lie ftill. [Exeunt. [Wind borns within.

And

fpoils both the fenfe and gram-
mar. But he mistakes the mean-
ing of fad; it fignifies only grave,
fober; and is opposed to their
dances and revels, which were
now ended at the finging of the
morning lark. So Winter's
Tale, A&t 4. My father and the
gentleman are in SAD talk. For
grave or ferious. WARBURTON.

1 Our obfervation is performed.]
The honours due to the morn-
ing of May. I know not why
Shakespear calls this play a Mid-
Jummer-

And fince we have the vaward of the day,
My love fhall hear the mufic of my hounds.
Uncouple in the western valley, go
Difpatch, I fay, and find the forefter.
We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the mufical confufion

Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta; never did I hear
Such gallant chiding. For befides the groves,
The fkies, the fountains, ev'ry region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So mufical a difcord, fuch sweet thunder.

The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So* flew'd, fo† fanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that fweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Theffalian bulls;
Slow in purfuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never hallo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Theffaly:

Judge, when you hear. But soft, what nymphs are
these?

Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep,
And this Lyfander, this Demetrius is,
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena ;
I wonder at their being here together.

The. No doubt, they rofe up early to obferve
The Rite of May; and, hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our Solemnity.
But fpeak, Egeus, is not this the day,
That Hermia fhould give answer of her choice?
Ege. It is, my lord.

Jummer-Night's Dream, when he fo carefully informs us that it happened on the night preceding May day.

So flewed. That is, fo

mouthed. Flews are the large
Chaps of a deep mouthed Hound.
HANMER.
+ So fanded. So marked with
fmall spots.

The.

The. Go bid the huntfmen wake them with their horns.

Horns, and Shout within: Demetrius, Lyfander, Hermia and Helena, wake and start up.

The. Good morrow, friends; Saint Valentine is
paft;

Begin thefe wood-birds but to couple now?
Lyf. Pardon, my lord.

The. I pray you all, ftand up:

I know, you two are rival enemies.
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is fo far from jealoufy,
To fleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lyf. My lord, I fhall reply amazedly,
Half fleep, half waking. But as yet, I fwear,
I cannot truly fay how I came here :
But as I think, for truly would I speak,
And now I do bethink me, fo it is;

I came with Hermia hither. Our intent

Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be
Without the peril of th' Athenian law..

Ege. Enough, enough; my lord, you have enough; I beg the law, the law upon his head:

They would have ftoll'n away, they would, Demetrius, Thereby to have defeated you and me;

You, of your wife; and me, of my confent;

Of my confent, that the fhould be your wife.

Dem. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth, Of this their purpofe hither to this wood; And I in fury hither follow'd them; Fair Helena in fancy following me. 2

2 Fair Helena in fancy following me.] Fancy is here taken for love or affection, and is oppofed to fury, as before.

But

Sighs and tears poor Fancy's followers.

Some now call that which a man takes particular delight in his

Fancy.

But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
But by fome power it is, my love to Hermia
Is melted as the fnow; feems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaude,
Which in my childhood I did doat upon,
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betrothed ere I Hermia faw;

But like a fickness did I loath this food;
But as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it;
And will for evermore be true to it.

The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met :
Of this difcourfe we fhall hear more anon.
Egeus, I will over-bear your will;
For in the temple, by and by with us,
Thefe couples fhall eternally be knit;
And, for the morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd hunting fhall be set aside.
Away, with us to Athens; three and three,
We'll hold a feaft in great folemnity.
Come, Hippolita.

[Exe. Duke, Hippol. and Train. Dem. These things feem fmall and undistinguishable, Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

Her. Methinks I fee thefe things with parted Eye; When every thing feems double.

Hel. So, methinks;

And I have found Demetrius like a Jewel, 3

Fancy. Flower fancier, for a florist, and Bird fancier, for a lover and feeder of birds, are colloquial words.

3 And I have found Demetrius

like a JEWEL, Mine own, and not mine own.] Hermia had obferv'd that things

Mine

appeared double to her. Helena replies, fo methinks; and then fubjoins, that Demetrius was like a jewel, her own and not her own. He is here, then, compared to fome thing which had the property of appearing to be one thing when it was another. Not

Mine own, and not mine own.
Dem. It feems to me,

That yet we fleep, we dream. Do not you think,
The Duke was here, and bid us follow him?
Her. Yea, and my father.
Hel. And Hippolita.

Lyf. And he did bid us follow to the temple.
Dem. Why then, we are awake; let's follow him;
And, by the way, let us recount our dreams. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

As they go out, Bottom wakes.

Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will anfwer. My next is, moft fair Pyramus ———————— hey, ho, Peter Quince, Flute the bellows-mender! Snout the tinker! Starveling! god's my life! ftoll'n hence, and left me asleep? I have had a moft rare vifion. I had a dream, paft the wit of man to fay what dream it was: man is but an afs, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was, there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had

-But man is but a patch'd fool, 4 if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not feen; man's hand

Not the property fure of a Jewel: or if you will, of none but a falfe one. We should read,

And I have found Demetrius like a GEMELL,

Mine own, and not mine own. From Gemellus a Twin. For Demetrius had that night acted two fuch different parts, that the could hardly think them both played by one and the fame Demetrius; but that there were twin Demetrius's like the two Sofia's in the Farce. From Gemel

lus comes the French, Gemeau or Jumeau, and in the feminine, Gemelle or Jumelle: So in Macon's tranflation of the Decameron of Bocace-Il avoit trois filles plus aage es que les males, des quelles les deux qui estoient juMELLES avoient quinze Quatrieme Jour. Nov. 3. WARBURTON. This emendation is ingenious enough to deferve to be true.

ans.

4 Patch'd fool. That is, a fool in a patticoloured coat.

is