Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes. Dem. And thus she moans, videlicet. This. " Asleep, my love? 66 What, dead, my dove? "O Pyramus, arise, Speak, speak. Quite dumb? "These lily brows, "This cherry nose, "His eyes were green as leeks. "Come, come, to me, 66 "Since you have shore "With shears his thread of silk. Tongue, not a word: "Come, trusty sword; "Thus Thisbe ends: "Adieu, adieu, adieu." [Dies. The. Moonshine and lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and wall too. Bot. No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance,' between two of our company? a Bergomask dance,] A dance after the manner of the peasants of Bergomasco, a country in Italy, belonging to the Venetians. The. No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your epilogue alone. [Here a dance of Clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn, 2 The heavy gait of night.-Sweet friends, to bed.A fortnight hold we this solemnity, In nightly revels, and new jollity. [Exeunt. 2 3 SCENE II. Enter PUCK. Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud, Puts the wretch, that lies in woe, In remembrance of a shroud. Now it is the time of night, That the graves, all gaping wide, In the church-way paths to glide: heavy gait-] i. e. slow passage, progress. -fordone.] i. e. overcome. And we fairies, that do run Following darkness like a dream, Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with their Train. Obe. Through this house give glimmering By the dead and drowsy fire: Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty, after me, Sing, and dance it trippingly. Tita. First, rehearse this song by rote: To each word a warbling note, Hand in hand, with fairy grace, Will we sing, and bless this place. SONG, AND DANCE. Obe. Now, until the break of day, And the blots of nature's hand I am sent, with broom, before, To sweep the dust behind the door.] Cleanliness is always necessary to invite the residence and the favour of the fairies. Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar, Nor mark prodigious, such as are Shall upon their children be.- Every fairy take his gait ;" And each several chamber bless, And the owner of it blest. Make no stay; Meet me all by break of day. [Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train. Puck. If we shadows have offended, Think but this, (and all is mended,) So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, 5 Nor mark prodigious,] Prodigious for portentous. 6 7 [Exit.' take his gait;] i. e. take his way, or direct his steps. unearned luck-] i. e. if we have better fortune than we have deserved. Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,] That is, if we be dismissed without hisses. 9 Give me your hands,] That is, Clap your hands. Give us you applause. JOHNSON. 1 Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their various modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author designed. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and Spenser's poem had made them great. JOHNSON. Johnson's concluding observation on this play, is not conceived with his usual judgment. There is no analogy or resemblance whatever between the Fairies of Spenser, and those of Shakspeare. The Fairies of Spenser, as appears from his description of them in the second book of the Fairy Queen, canto x. were a race of mortals created by Prometheus, of the human size, shape, and affections, and subject to death. But those of Shakspeare, and of common tradition, as Johnson calls them, were a diminutive race of sportful beings, endowed with immortality and supernatural power, totally different from those of Spenser. M. MASON. |