Queen. Thefe are the forgeries of jealousy;
And never fince that middle fummer's fpring
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rufhy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the fea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou haft disturb'd our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have fuck'd up from the fea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,
Have every pelting river made fo proud,
That they have overborne their continents.
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman loft his sweat; and the green corn
Hath rotted, ere its youth attain'd a beard.
The fold ftands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain-flock;
The nine-mens morris is fill'd up with mud,
And the queint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread, are undiftinguishable.
The human mortals want their winter heried,
No night is now with hymn or carol blefs'd:
Therefore the moon, the governefs of floods,.
Pale in her anger, washes all the air;
That rheumatic difeafes do abound.
And thorough this diftemperature, we fee
The feafons alter; hoary-headed frofts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rofe;
And on old Hyems' chin and icy crown,
An od❜rous chaplet of sweet summer-buds
Is, as in mockery, fet. The fpring, the fummer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and th' amazed world,
By their inchase, now knows not which is which;
And this fame progeny of evil comes
From our debate, from our diffenfion;
We
We are their parents and original.
Ob. Do you amend it then, it lies in you.
Why fhould Titania cross her Oberon ?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.
Queen. Set your heart at reft,
The Fairy-land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votress of my order,
And, in the fpiced Indian air by night,
Full often the hath goflipp'd by my fide;
And fat with me on Neptune's yellow fands,
Marking th' embarked traders on the flood,
When we have laugh'd to see the fails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:
Which the, with pretty and with fwimming gate,
Follying (her womb then rich with my young fquire)
Would imitate; and fail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage rich with merchandize.
But fhe, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And, for her fake, I do rear up her boy;
And, for her fake, I will not part with him.
Ob. How long within this wood intend you stay?
Queen. Perchance till after Thefeus' wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us;
If not, fhun me, and I will fpare your haunts.
Ob. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy Fairy kingdom. Elves, away:
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.
[Exeunt Queen and her train. Ob. Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove, Till I torment thee for this injury.
My gentle Puck, come hither; thou remember'st
Since once I fat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong;
And certain ftars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's music.
Ob. That very time I saw, but thou cou'dst not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid alarm'd a certain aim he took
At a fair Vestal *, throned by the weft,
* A compliment to QElifabeth; as it feems probable that Mary Queen of Scots was pointed at in the preceeding fpeech of Oberon.
And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery fhaft
Quench'd in the chafte beams of the wat'ry moon,
And the Imperial votrefs paffed on,
In maiden-meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell,
It fell upon a little western flower;
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound;
And maiden's call it love in idleness.
Fetch me that flow'r; the herb I fhew'd thee once;
The juice of it, on fleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man, or woman, madly doat
Upon the next live creature that it fees.
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again,
Ere the Leviathan can fwim a league.
Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
Ob. Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when fhe is afleep.
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
The next thing which the waking looks upon,
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on bufy ape),
She fhall purfue it with the foul of love:
And ere I take this charm from off her fight,
(As I can take it with another herb),
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invifible;
And I will overhear their conference.
Enter Demetrius, Helena following him. Dem. I love thee not, therefore purfue me not, Where is Lyfander, and fair Hermia?
The one I'll flay; the other flayeth me.
Thou told'ft me, they were ftol'n into this wood;
And here am I, and wood within this wood;
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant,
But yet you draw not iron;
for my heart
Leave you your pow'r to draw, And I fhall have no pow'r to follow you.
Dem. Do I entice you? do I fpeak you fair? Or rather do I not in plainest truth
Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot, love you?
Hel. And ev'n for that do I love thee the more;
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lofe me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worfer place can I beg in your love,
(And yet a place of high refpećt with me),
Than to be used as you use your dog?
Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am fick when I do look on thee.
Hel. And I am fick when I look not on you.
Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much,
To leave the city, and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not;
To truft the opportunity of night,
And the ill counfel of a defart place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.
Hel. Your virtue is my privilege; for that
It is not night when I do fee your face;
Therefore I think I am not in the night.
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company;
For you in my respect are all the world.
Then how can it be faid I am alone,
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 wildeft hath not fuch a heart as you;
Run when you will, the ftory thall be change'd:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chace;
The dove purfues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tyger. Bootlefs fpeed!
When cowardice purfues, and valour flies.
Dem. I will not ftay thy queflions; let me go:
Or if thou follow me, do not believe
But I fhall do thee mifchief in the wood.
Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius,
Your wrongs do fet a fcandal on my fex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We fhou'd be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I follow thee, and make a heav'n of hell;
To die upon the hand I love fo well.
Ob. Fare thee well, nymph; ere he doth leave this
Thou fhalt fly him, and he shall feek thy love.
Haft thou the flow'r there? welcome, wanderer,
Enter Puck.
Puck. Ay, there it is.
Ob. I pray thee give it me.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lip and the nodding violet grows,
O'er-canopy'd with lufcious woodbine,
With fweet mufk-rofes, and with eglantine.
There fleeps Titania, fome time of the night,
Lull'd in thefe flow'rs with dances and delight;
And there the fnake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a Fairy in:
And with the juice of this I'll ftreak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantafies.
Take thou fome of it, and feek through this grove;
A fweet Athenian lady is in love
With a difdainful youth; anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he efpies
May be the lady. Thou fhalt know the man,
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with fome care, that he may prove
More fond of her, than fhe upon her love;
And look you meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck. Fear not, my Lord, your servant shall do so,
[Exeunt,
SCENE V. Enter Queen of Fairies, with her train.
Queen. Come, now a roundel, and a Fairy fong: Then, for the third part of the midnight, hence; Some to kill cankers in the mufk-rofe buds,
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