Lyf. Hermia, for ought that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or hiftory,

The courfe of true love never did run smooth;
But, either, it was different in blood—————

Her, O crofs!-too high, to be enthrall'd to low!— (1)
Ly. Or elfe mifgraffed, in refpect of years-
Her. O fpight! too old, to be engag'd to young!
Lyf. Or elfe it ftood upon the choice of friends-
Her. O hell! to chufe love by another's eye!
Lyf. Or if there were a fympathy in choice,
War, death, or fickness did lay fiege to it;
Making it momentary as a found,

Swift as a fhadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That (in a spleen) unfolds both heav'n and earth;
And ere a man hath power to fay, Behold!
The jaws of darkness do devour it up;
So quick bright things come to confufion.
Her. If then true lovers have been ever croft,

(1) Too high, to be enthrall'd to love.] This reading poffeffes all the editions, but carries no juft meaning in it. Nor was Hermia difpleas'd at being in love; but regrets the inconveniences, that generally attend the paffion: Either, the parties are difproportion'd, in degree of blood and quality; or unequal, in refpect of years; or brought together by the appointment of friends, and not by their own choice. Thefe are the complaints reprefented by Lyfander; and Hermia, to anfwer to the firft, as she has done to the other two, must neceffarily fay;

O cross! too high, to be enthrall'd to low ! So the antithefis is kept up in the terms; and fo fhe is made to con dole the difproportion of blood and quality in lovers. And this is one of the curfes, that l'enus, on feeing Adonis dead, prophefies fhall always attend love, in our Author's poem, call'd, VENUS and ADONIS. Stanz. 190.

Since thou art dead, lo! here I prophesy,

Sorrow on love hereafter shall attend;
It fhall be waited on with jealoufy;
Find fweet beginning, but unfav'ry end:
Ne'er fettled equally, to high, or low;

That all love's pleafures fhall not match his wre.
And fo the young Prince complains, in the Winter's Tale:

You are married?

Leon.
Flo. We are not, Sir, nor are we like to be:
The ftars, I fee, will kifs the vallies firft:
The odds for bigh and low's alike.

It stands as an edict in deftiny:

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

As due to love, as thoughts and dreams, and fighs,
Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers!

Lyf. A good perfuafion; therefore hear me, Hermia. I have a widow-aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and the hath no child;
From Athens is her house remov'd feven leagues,
And the refpects me as her only fon.

There, gentle-Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the fharp Athenian law
Cannot purfue us.

If thou lov'ft 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
To do obfervance to the morn of May,
There will I ftay for thee.

Her. My good Lysander,

I fwear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the fimplicity of Venus' doves,

By that, which knitteth fouls, and profpers loves;
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage Queen,
When the falfe Trojan under fail was feen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever woman spoke;
In that fame place thou haft appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
Lys. Keep promife, love. Look, here comes Helena.
Enter Helena.

away

Her. God fpeed, fair Helena! whither ? Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unfay; Demetrius loves you, fair; O happy fair! Your eyes are load-ftars, and your tongue's sweet air More tuneable than lark to fhepherd's ear, When wheat is green, when haw-thorn buds appear. Sickness is catching: oh, were favour fo! Your words I'd catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;

My

My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye;
My tongue fhould catch your tongue's fweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The reft I'll give to be to you tranflated.

O teach me, how you look; and with what art
You fway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me ftill.
Hel. Oh, that your frowns would teach my smiles
fuch skill!

Her. I give him curfes, yet he gives me love.

Hel. Oh, that my pray'rs could fuch affection move! Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me. Hel. The more I love, the more he hateth me. Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine. Hel.None, but your beauty; would that fault were miner Her. Take comfort; he no more fhall fee my face Lyfander and myfelf will fly this place.

Before the time I did Lyfander fee,

Seem'd Athens like a paradife to me.
O then, what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell?
Lyf. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold;
To-morrow night, when Phabe doth behold
Her filver vifage in the wat'ry glafs,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass;
(A time, that lovers flights doth ftill conceal)
Through Athens' gate have we devis'd to steal.
Her. And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bofoms of their counfels fweet; (2)
There, my Lyfander and myself shall meet;

(2)

Emptying our befoms of their counfels fwell'd;
There my Lyfander and myself shall meet,
And thence from Athens turn arvay our eyes,
To feek new friends, and frange companions.]

And

This whole fcene is strictly in rhyme; and that it deviates in these two couplets, I am perfuaded, is owing to the ignorance of the firft, and the inaccuracy of the later, Editors: I have therefore ventur'd to reftore the rhymes, as I make no doubt but the Poet first gave them. Sweet was eafily corrupted into fwell'd, becaufe that made an antithe fis to emptying; and frange companions our Editors thought was plain

English

And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
To feek new friends and ftranger companies.
Farewel, fweet play-fellow; pray thou for us,
And good luck grant thee thy Dimetrius!
Keep word, Lyfander; we muft ftarve our fight
From lovers' food, 'till morrow deep midnight.
[Exit Hermia.
Lyf. I will, my Hermia, Helena, adieu;
As you on him, Demetrius doat on you! [Exit Lyfand.
Hel. How happy fome, o'er otherfome, can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as the.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not fo:
He will not know; what all, but he, do know,
And as he errs, doating on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things bafe and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can tranfpofe 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 judgment tafte;
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy hafte.
And therefore is love faid to be a child,
Because in choice he is fo oft beguil'd.

English; but franger companies, a little quaint and unintelligible. It may be neceffary, in proof of my emendation, to fhew, that our Author elfewhere ufes the fubftantive stranger adjectively; and companies, to fignify companions.

King John. Act 5.

Wherein we ftep after a firanger march
Upon her gentle bofom.

Rich. II. A&r.

But tread the franger paths of banishment. Beaumont and Fletcher have ufed it in the like manner; Spanish Curate, Act 3.

To bring into my family, to fucceed me,

The ftranger iffue of another's bed,

2 Henry V. A&i.

Since his addiction was to courses vain,
His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow.

And so, in a parallel word, Merry Wives of Windsor, A&F 3.
My riots paft, my wild focieties.

As

As waggith boys themselves in game forfwear,
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 fome heat from Hermia felt,
So he diffolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go
tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he, to-morrow night,
Purfue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expence.
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his fight thither, and back again.

SCENE changes to a Cottage.

[Exit.

Enter Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snowt, and Starveling.

Quin. IS all our company here to call them generally

Bot. You were beft to

man by man, according to the fcrip.

Quin. Here is the fcrowl of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the Duke and Dutchefs, on his weddingday at night.

Bot. First, good Peter Quince, fay what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and fo grow on to a point.

Quin. Marry, our play is the moft lamentable comedy, and moft cruel death of Pyramus and Thify.

Bot. A very good piece of work, I affure you, and a merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the fcrowl. Mafters, fpread yourfelves. Quin. Anfwer, as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver, Bot. Ready: name what part I am for, and proceed. Quin. You, Nick Bottom, are fet down for Pyramus. Bot. What is Pyramus, a lover, or a tyrant?

Quin. A lover, that kills himself moft gallantly for

love.

Bot. That will ask fome tears in the true performing of it; if I do it, let the audience look to their

eyes;