Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword, With pomp, with triumph1, and with revelling. Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke?! The. Thanks, good Egeus: What's the news with thee. Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, 1 A triumph was a public show, such as a mask, pageant, procession, &c. In The Duke of Anjou's Entertainment at Antwerp,' 1581: Yet notwithstanding, their triumphes [i. e. those of the Romans] have so borne the bell above all the rest, that the word triumphing, which cometh thereof, hath beene applied to all high, great, and statelie dooings.' 2 Duke, in our old language, was used for a leader or chief, as the Latin Dux. 3 The old copies read, 'This man hath bewitched.' The alteration was made in the second folio for the sake of the metre; but a redundant syllable at the commencement of a verse perpetually occurs in our old dramas. + Baubles, toys, trifles. Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me, To stubborn harshness:-And, my gracious duke, The. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair To The. and one In himself he is: But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice, Her. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. The. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. Her. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. The. Either to die the death, or to abjure For ever the society of men. 5 This line has a smack of legal common place. Shakspeare is supposed to have been placed while a boy in an attorney's office; at least he often displays that he was well acquainted with the phraseology of lawyers. Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd, Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon. But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd, The. Take time to pause: and, by the next new moon (The sealing-day betwixt my love and me, Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would: For aye, austerity and single life. Dem. Relent, sweet Hermia;-And, Lysander, yield Thy crazed title to my certain right. Lys. You have her father's love, Demetrius; Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him. Ege. Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love, And what is mine my love shall render him; And she is mine; and all my right of her I do estate unto Demetrius. 6 Ever. 7 Earthlier happy for earthly happier, which Capel proposed to substitute. Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he, And, which is more than all these boasts can be, Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena, Upon this spotted and inconstant man. The. I must confess, that I have heard so much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof; But, being over-full of self-affairs, My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come; I must employ you in some business 8 As spotless is innocent, so spotted is wicked. So in Cavendish's Metrical Visions: 'The spotted queen causer of all this strife.' and again: 'Spotted with pride, viciousnes, and cruelty.' Lys. How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale? How chance the roses there do fade so fast? Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could well Beteem9 them from the tempest of mine eyes. Lys. Ah me! for aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth: Her. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low! Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; 11 Brief as the lightning in the collied 11 night, Her. If then true lovers have been ever cross'd, It stands as an edíct in destiny: Then let us teach our trial patience, Because it is a customary cross; 9 Bestow, give, afford, or deign to allow. The word is used by Spenser : 'So would I, said the Enchanter, glad and fain Beteem to you his sword, you to defend.' Thus also in Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2: 'That he might not beteeme the winds of heaven 10 Momentary. 11 Blackened, as with smut, coal, &c. ; figuratively, darkened. See Othello, Act ii. Sc. 3. |