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And that fame dew, which fometime on the buds.
Was wont to fwell, like round and orient pearls;
Stood now, within the pretty flouriet's eyes,
Lile tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had at my pleasure taunted her,
And fhe in mild terms begg'd my patience,
I then did afk of her her changeling child,
Which ftrait she gave me, and her Fairy fent
To bear him to my bower in Fairy-land.
And now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed fcalp.
From off the head of this Athenian fwain ;
That, he, awaking, when the others do,
May all to Athens back again repair;
And think no more of this night's accidents,
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
But, firft, I will releafe the Fairy Queen;

Be, as thou waft wont to be;

See, as thou waft wont to fee :
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower

Hath fuch force and bleffed power. (24)

Now, my Titania, wake you, my fweet Queen.
Queen. My Oberon! what vifions have I leen!
Methought, I was enamour'd of an ass.

Ob. There lies your love.

(24) Dian's bud, or Cupid's flow'r.] Thus all the editions had tupidly exhibited this paffage. The ingenious Dr. Thirlby gave me the correction, which I have inferted in the text, and which, doubt Jefs, reflores us the Author. Oberon in Act the 2d, where he first propofes q enchant his Queen's eyes and fenfe, tells us, he has an antidote to take off the charm.

And e'er I take this charm from off her fight,

As I can take it with another herb, &c.

And again, towards the end of the 3d Act, where he is giving Fuck directions for disenchanting Lyfander, he fays;

Then crush this herb into Lyfander's eye,
Whofe liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with its might,
And make his eye-balls rowl with wanted fight.

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Queen. How came these things to pass ?
Oh, how mine eyes do loath this vifage now!
Ob. Silence, a while; Robin, take off his head;
Titania, mufick call; and ftrike more dead (25)
Than common fleep of all these five the fenfe.
Queen. Mufick, ho, mufick; fuch as charmeth fleep.
Still Mufick.

Puck. When thou awak'ft,with thine own fool's eyes peep.
Ob.Sound,mufick; come, my Queen, take hand with me,
And rock the ground whereon thefe fleepers be..
Now thou and I are new in amity;

And will to-morrow midnight folemnly
Dance in Duke Thefeus' houfe triumphantly
And blefs it to all fair pofterity:

There fhall thefe pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Thefeus, all in jollity.

Puck. Fairy King, attend and mark;
I do hear the morning lark.

Ob. Then, my Queen, in filence fade; (26)
Trip we after the night's fhade;

We the globe can compass foon,.

Swifter than the wand'ring moon.

Queen. Come, my Lord, and in our flight-
Tell me how it came this night,

(25) Titania, mufick call, and ftrike more dead

Than common Sleep. Of all thefe fine the fenfe.] This, mot certainly, is both corrupt in the text, and pointing. Would mufick, that was to ftrike them into a deeper fleep than ordinary, contribute to fine (or, refine) their fenfes? My emendation, I am perfuaded, -needs no juftification. The five, that lay afleep on the ftage, were, Demetrius, Lyfander, Hermia, Helena, and Bottom.-I ought to acknow-ledge, that Dr. Thirlby likewife ftarted and communicated this very

correction.

(26) Then, my Queen, in filence fad,] Why, fad? Fairies, according to the receiv'd notion, are pleas'd to follow night. For that reafon, and for bettering the rhyme, I think it very probable that our Author wrote;-in filence fade; i. e. vanifh, retreat. fenfe our Author has elfewhere employ'd this word. fpeaking of the ghoft's difappearing.

It faded at the crowing of the cock.

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In which As in Hamlet,

That

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That I fleeping here was found,

With thefe mortals on the ground.

[Sleepers lie Aill [Exeunt

[Wind borns within.

Enter Thefeus, Egeus, Hippolita, and all bis Train.

The. Go one of you, find out the forefter, For now our obfervation is perform'd,

And fince we have the vaward of the day,

My love fhall hear the mufick of my hounds.
Uncouple in the western valley, go,

Difpatch, I fay, and find the forefter.

We will, fair Queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the mufical confufion

Of hounds and echo in conjunction.

Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Creet they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta; never did I hear
Such gallant chiding. For befides the groves,
The kies, the fountains, ev'ry region near, (27)

(27) The skies, the fountains, ev'ry region near,

Seem'd all one mutual cry.] It has been propos'd to me, that the Author probably wrote mountains, from whence an echo rather proceeds than from fountains: but as we have the authority of the ancients for lakes, rivers, and fountains returning a found, I have been diffident to diflurb the text. To give a few inftances that occur at prefent.

Cvid. Metam. 1. 3. ver. 500.

Ultima vux foitam fuit hæc fpe&tantis in undam,

** Heu fruftra dilc&te puer !" totidemque remifit
Verba lacus.

For fo Burmann has corrected it: the common editions have locus neid: 12. verf. 886,

Virgil

Tam vero exoritur clamor, rifæque lacufque

Refponfant circà, & cælum tonat omne tumultu.

Aufon. in Mofellâ. verf. 167.

adftrepit ollis

Et rupes, & fylva tremens, & concavus amnis.

And again, verf, 296.

Refonantia utrimque
Verba refert, mediis concurrit flu&t bus Echo.
Propert. lib. 1. Eleg. 20. verf. 49.

Cui procul Alcides iterat responsa ; fed illi
Nomen ab extremis fontibus aura iefert.

Seem'd

Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So mufical a difcord, fuch fweet thunder.

Thef. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, fo fanded, and their heads are hung.
With ears that fweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lap'd, like Thessalian bulls
Slow in purfuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable

Was never hallo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Creet, in Sparta, nor in Theffaly:

Judge, when you hear. But foft, what nymphs are thefe ?
Ege. My Lord, this is my daughter here asleep,
And this Lyfander, this Demetrius is,

This Helena, old Nedar's Helena;

I wonder at their being here together.

Thef. No doubt, they rofe up early to obferve
The rite of May; and hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our folemnity.

But fpeak, Egeus, is not this the day,

That Hermia fhould give anfwer of her choice?
Ege. It is, my Lord.

Thef. Gobid the huntfmen wake them with their horns

Horns and fhout within; Demetrius, Lyfander, Hermia> and Helena, wake and start up.

Thef. Good morrow, friends; Saint Valentine is pafte Begin thefe wood-birds but to couple now? Lyf Pardon, my Lord.

1

Thef. I pray you all, stand up:

I know, you two are rival enemies.

How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is fo far from jealoufy,
To fleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lyf My Lord, I fhall reply amazedly,
Half fleep, half waking. But as yet, 1 fwear,
I cannot truly fay how I came here:
But as I think, (for truly would I fpeak,)
And now I do bethink me, fo it is;

I came with Hermia hither. Our intent

Was to be gone from Athens, where we might be
Without the peril of th' Athenian law.

Ege. Enough, enough; my Lord, you have enough; I beg the law, the law upon his head:

They would have ftoll'n away, they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me ;

You, of your wife; and me, of my confent;
Of my confent, that the fhould be your wife.
Dem. My Lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpofe hither to this wood;
And I in fury hither follow'd them;
Fair Helena in fancy following me:

But, my good Lord, I wot not by what power,
But by fome power it is, my love to Hermia
Is melted as the fnow; feems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaude,
Which in my childhood I did doat upon :
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleafure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my Lord,
Was I betrothed ere I Hermia faw;
But like a fickness did I loath this food;
But, as in health come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it;
And will for evermore be true to it.

The Fair lovers, you are fortunately met,
Of this difcourfe we shall hear more anon.
Egeus, I will over-bear your will;
For in the temple, by and by with us,
Thefe couples fhall eternally be knit;
And for the morning now is fomething worn,
Our purpos'd hunting fhall be fet afide.
Away with us to Athens; three and three,
We'll hold a feaft in great folemnity.

Come, Hippolita. [Exe. Duke, Hippol. and Train.
Dem. These things feem fmall and undiftinguishable,
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.

Her. Methinks, I fee these things with parted eye; When every thing feems double.

Hel. So, methinks;

And

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