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

with me,

And rock the ground whereon these fleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity;
And will to morrow midnight folemnly
Dance in Duke Thefeus' houfe triumphantly,
And blefs it to all fair* pofterity; s
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 sad; 9
Trip we after the night's fhade ;
We the globe can compass soon,
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 thefe mortals on the ground.

[Sleepers lie ftill. [Exeunt.

[Wind borns within.

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

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

I

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 fweet 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 foft, 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.

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

So flewed. That is, fo

mouthed. Flers are the large Chaps of a deep mouthed Hound. HANMER.

+ So fanded. So marked with fmall spots.

The.

The. Go bid the huntsmen wake them with their

horns.

Herns, 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 fpeak, 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 purpose hither to this wood; And I in fury hither follow'd them; Fair Helena in fancy following me.

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

2

But

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 fet afide.
Away, with us to Athens; three and three,
We'll hold a feaft in great folemnity.

Come, Hippolita.

1;

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

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

Hel. So, methinks;

And I have found Demetrius like a Jewel, 3

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.

Lys. 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 anMy next is, moft fair Pyramus

fwer. - 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, pait the wit of man to fay what dream it was man is but an ass, 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 fay 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,

For

And I have found Demetrius like a GEMELL, Mine own, and not mine own. From Gemellus a Twin. 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

las 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 ans. Quatrieme Jour. Nov. 3.

WARBURTON. This emendation is ingenious enough to deferve to be true.

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

is