At a fair vestal 14, throned by the west; In maiden meditation, fancy-free 15 Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: Before, milk-white; now purple with love's wound- Fetch me that flower: the herb I show'd thee once: Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth [Exit PUCK. Obe. upon 14 It is well known that a compliment to Queen Elizabeth was intended in this very beautiful passage. Warburton has attempted to show, that by the mermaid in the preceding lines, Mary Queen of Scots was intended. It is argued with his usual fanciful ingenuity, but will not bear the test of examination, and has been satisfactorily controverted. It appears to have been no uncommon practice to introduce a compliment to Elizabeth in the body of a play. 15 Exempt from the power of love. 16 The tricolored violet, commonly called pansies, or heartsease, is here meant; one or two of its petals are of a purple colour. It has other fanciful and expressive names, such asCuddle me to you; Three faces under a hood; Herb trinity, &c. She shall pursue it with the soul of love. I'll make her render up her page to me. Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him. Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood, Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant 18 Dem. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth Tell you—I do not, nor I cannot love you? Hel. And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you: 17 Mad, raving. 18There is now a dayes a kind of adamant which draweth unto it fleshe, and the same so strongly, that it hath power to knit and tie together two mouthes of contrary persons, and drawe the heart of a man out of his bodie without offending any part of him.' Certaine Secrete Wonders of Nature, by Edward Fenton, 1569. (And yet a place of high respect with me), Than to be used as you do use your dog? Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick, when I do look on thee. Hel. And I am sick, when I look not on you. Dem. You do impeach 19 your modesty too much To leave the city, and commit yourself Into the hands of one that loves you not; And the ill counsel of a desert place, Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that. When all the world is here to look on me? Dem. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. Hel. 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; The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind Makes speed to catch the tiger: Bootless speed! When cowardice pursues, and valour flies. Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go: Or, if thou follow me, do not believe But I shall do thee mischief in the wood. Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field, You do me mischief. Fye, Demetrius ! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex: We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. 19 i. e. bring it into question. I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, [Exeunt DEM. and HEL. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove, Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. Re-enter PUCK. Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. Puck. Ay, there it is. Obe. And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; May be the lady: Thou shalt know the man 20 To die upon, &c. appears to have been used for 'to die by the hand.' So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : 'I'll die on him that says so, but yourself.' 21 The greater cowslip. 22 Steevens thinks this rhyme of man and on a sufficient proof that the broad Scotch pronunciation once prevailed in England. But our ancient poets were not particular in making their rhymes correspond in sound, and I very much doubt a conclusion made upon such slender grounds. Effect it with some care, that he may prove SCENE III. Another part of the Wood. Tita. Come, now a roundel1, and a fairy song; SONG. 1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue, Newts, and blindworms 5, do no wrong; CHORUS. Philomel, with melody, Sing in our sweet lullaby; Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby: So, good night, with lullaby. 1 The roundel, or round, as its name implies, was a dance of a circular kind. Ben Jonson, in the Tale of a Tub, seems to call the rings which such fairy dances are supposed to make in the grass, rondels: 2 Bats. 'I'll have no rondels, I, in the queen's paths.' 3 Sports. Dr. Farmer has shown that spirit was used for sport in Decker's play, If It be Not Good, the Devil is in It: Now, Shalcan, some new spirit?-Ruff. A thousand wenches stark naked, to play at leap-frog.-Omnes. O rare sight!' 5 Slow-worms. 4 Efts. |