If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.

Ober. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Tit. Not for thy fairy kingdom. --Fairies, away:
We shall chide down-right, if I longer stay.

Thou remember'st

[Exeunt TITANIA and her train.
Ober. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove,
Till I torment thee for this injury.-
My gentle Puck, come hither.
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song;
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's musick.

Puck.

I remember.

Ober. That very night I saw (but thou couldst not),
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west ;*

And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might seen young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon:
And the imperial votaress pass'd 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,

*At a fair vestal throned by the west.-An allusion to Queen Elizabeth. See in the Rev. Mr. Halpin's remarks on this passage, published by the Shakspeare Society, a most ingenious speculation on the hidden meaning of it, as a bit of secret court history.

And maidens call it Love-in-idleness.*

Fetch me that flower: the herb I show'd thee once:

The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,

Will make or man or woman madly dot

Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb: and be thou here again,
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.

Ober.

I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes :

The next thing then she waking looks upon,
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,

Or meddling monkey, or on busy ape,)

She shall pursue it with the soul of love,
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,

Having once this juice,

(As I can take it with another herb,)

I'll make her render up her page to me.

Another part of the Wood.

[Exit PUCK.

[Exit OBERON.

Enter TITANIA and her train.

Tit. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy song:
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;
Some, to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds;
Some, war with rear mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves' coats; and some keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint spirits: Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me rest.

Love-in-idleness.-The heart's-ease.

SONG.

1st Fai. You spotted snakes with double tongue,

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen.

Newts and blind worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen.

Chorus. Philomel with melody

Sing in our sweet lullaby,

Lulla, lulla, lullaby: lulla, lulla, lullaby;
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night—with lullaby.
2nd Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence you long-legged spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm nor snail, do no offence.
Chorus. Philomel with melody, &c.
1st Fai. Hence, away; now all is well :
One, aloof, stand sentinel.

[Exeunt FAIRIES. TITANIA sleeps.

Enter OBERON.

Ober.-What thou seest when thou dost awake

[Squeezes the flower on Titania's eyelids.
Do it for thy true love take;
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak'st, it is thy dear;
Wake, when some evil thing is near.

[Exit.

Enter BOTTOM, singing; PUCK having clapt on him an ass's head.

SONG.

Bot.-The ousel-cock, so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill,

The throstle with his note so true,

The wren with little quill—

Tit.—What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?

I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again ;

Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;

So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;

[Wakes.

And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,

On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee.

Bot. Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that, and yet to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days. The more the pity that some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek* upon occasion.

*Gleek.-Banter.

Tit.-Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

Bot.-Not so, neither; but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.

Tit. Out of this wood do not desire to go;
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;

The summer still doth tend upon my state,
And I do love thee; therefore go with me;
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;

And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing, while thou on pressèd flowers dost sleep :
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so,

That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

Peas-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-seed!

Enter four Fairies.

1st Fai. Ready.

2nd Fai.

3rd Fai.

4th Fai.

Tit. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries:
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed, and to arise:
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him elves and do him courtesies.

And I.

And I.

Where shall we go?

1st. Fai. Hail, mortal!

2nd Fai. Hail!

3rd Fai. Hail!

4th Fai. Hail!

Bot. I cry your worship's mercy, heartily. I beseech your worship's name.

Cob. Cobweb.

Bot. I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. If I cut my finger I shall make bold with you. Your name, honest gentleman?

Peas. Peas-blossom.

Bot. I pray you commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peas-blossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance too. you, sir?

Your name, I beseech

Mus. Mustard-seed.