MOTH,.

MUSTARDSEED,-)

Other fairies attending their King and Queen. Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta.]

Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword, And won thy love, doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. Enter Egeus and his daughter Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius.

Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned Duke! 20 The. Thanks, good Egeus; what's the news with thee?

Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander: and, my gracious
Duke,

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This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child.

Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,

And interchang'd love-tokens with my child. Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung With feigning voice verses of feigning love, 31 And stolen the impression of her fantasy

With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,

Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats,-messengers

Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth. 35 With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,

Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness and, my gracious Duke,
Be it so she will not here before your Grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,

I beg the ancient privilege of Athens.
As she is mine, I may dispose of her;
Which shall be either to this gentleman,
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case.

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To you your father should be as a god,

yield

Thy crazed title to my certain right.

Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,

As well possess'd; y love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';

ΙΟΙ

Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, Know of your yout., examine well your blood, Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,

But, being over-full of self-affairs,

My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me, 115
I have some private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
Or else the law of Athens yields you up
(Which by no means we may extenuate)
To death, or to a vow of single life.
Come, my Hippolyta; what chcer, my love?
Demetrius and Egeus, go along;

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I must employ you in some business Against our nuptial and confer with you Of something nearly that concerns yourselves. Ege. With duty and desire we follow you.

Exeunt all but Lysander and Hermia. 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

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Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
Lys. Ay me! for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
But, either it was different in blood,-
Her. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.
Lys. Or else misgraffed in respect of years,-
Her. O spite! too old to be engag'd to young.
Lys. Or else it stood upon the choice of
friends,-

Her. O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.
Lys. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, 141
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night, 145
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and
earth,

And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
The jaws of darkness do devour it up;
So quick bright things come to confusion.
Her. If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as an edict in destiny.

Then let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary cross,

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As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,

Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers. Lys. A good persuasion; therefore, hear Hermia.

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and she hath no child. From Athens is her house remov'd leagues;

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me,

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Sickness is catching; O, were favour so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your
eye,

My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.

Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, The rest I'll give to be to you translated. 191 O, teach me how you look, and with what art You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart. Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still. Hel. O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!

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And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lov'st me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow
night;

And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena

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were mine!

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Her. Take comfort. He no more shall see my face;

Lysander and myself will fly this place.
Before the time I did Lysander see,

As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!

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Exit Lysander. Hel. How happy some o'er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know; And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes, 230 So I, admiring of his qualities. Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind, And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste; 237 And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd. As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjur'd every where: For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne, He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,

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So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt. I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight; 246 Then to the wood will he to-morrow night Pursue her; and for this intelligence

If I have thanks, it is a dear expense.

Enter Quince the Carpenter, Snug the Joiner, Bottom the Weaver, Flute the Bellows-mender, Snout the Tinker, and Starveling the Tailor. Quin. Is all our company here?

Bot. You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip.

Quin. Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is thought fit through all Athens to play in our interlude before the Duke and the Duchess, on his wedding-day at night. Bot. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow on to a point.

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