Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,

All with weary task fordone.'
Now the wasted brands do glow,

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,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide:
And we fairies, that do run

By the triple Hecat's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house :
I am sent, with broom, before,

To sweep the dust behind the door.

Enter OBERON and TITANIA with their train.
Ob. Through this house give glimmering light,
By the dead and drowsy fire.

Every elf, and fairy sprite,

Hop as light as bird from brier;
And this ditty, after me,

Sing, and dance it trippingly.
Tit. First, rehearse the song by rote:
To each word a warbling note,
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.

or its neighbouring kingdoms, Shakespeare would never have thought of intermix ing the exotic idea of the hungry lion roaring, which can be heard no nearer than in the deserts of Africa. if he had not read in the 104th Psalm "Thou makest darkness that it may be night, wherein all the beasta of the forest do move; the lions roaring after 'heir prey, do seek their meat from God" MALONE.

I do not perceive the justness of the foregoing anonymous writer's observation. Puck, who could encircle the earth in forty minutes, like his fairy mistress, might have snuffed the spiced Indian air:" and consequently an image, foreign to Europeans, might have been obvious to him. Our poet, however, inattentive to little proprieties, has sometimes introduced his wild beasts in regions where they are never found. STEEVENS.

[1] Fordone-i. e. overcome. STEEVENS.

[2] Cleanliness is always necessary to invite the residence and the favour of the fairies:

"These make our girls their slutt'ry rue,
"By pinching them both black and blue,

"And put a penny in their shoe

"The house for cleanly sweeping." Drauton. JOHNSON

SONG, AND DANCE.

Ob. Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue, there create,
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:

And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand;
Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.-
With this field-dew consecrate,

Every fairy take his gait :

And each several chamber bless,"
Through this palace with sweet peace :

E'er shall it in safety rest,

And the owner of it blest.

[3] I am afraid this song is gone after many other things of greater value. The truth is that two songs are lost. The series of the scene is this; after the speech of Puck, Oberon enters, and calls his fairies to a song, which song is apparently wanting in all the copies. Next Titania leads another song, which is indeed lost like the former, though the editors have endeavoured to find it. Then Oberon dismisses his fairies to the despatch of the ceremonies.

The songs, I suppose were lost, because they were not inserted in the players' parts, from which the drama was printed. JOHNSON.

[4] This defect in children seems to have been so much dreaded, that numerous were the charms applied for its prevention. The following might be as efficacious as any of the rest. "If a woman with chylde have her smocke slyt at the neather ende or skyrt thereof, &c. the same chylde that she then goeth withall, shall be safe from having a cloven or hare lippe." Thomas Lupton's Fourth Book of Notable Thinges, 4to. bl. 1. STEEVENS.

[5] Prodigious has here its primitive signification of portentous. STEEVENS. [6] i. e. take his way, or direct his steps. STEEVENS.

Gait, for a path or road, is commonly used at present in the northern counties. HARRIS.

17 The same superstitious kind of benediction occurs in Chaucer's Miller's Tale, v. 3479, Tyrwhitt's edition:

"I crouche thee from elves, and from wightes.
"Therwith the nightspel said he anon rightes
"On four halves of the hous aboute,

"And on the threswold of the dore withoute.

"Jesu Crist, and Seint Benedight,

"Blisse this hous from every wicked wight,

"Fro the nightes mare, the wite Paternoster" &c. STEEVENS

Trip away;
Make no stay }

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exe. OBER. TITA. und Train.

Puck. If we shadows have offended,
Thank but this, (and all is mended,)
That you have but slumber'd here,
While these visions did

appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And as I'm an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,9
We will make amends ere long:
Else the puck a liar call.

So, good night unto you

all.

Give me your hands,' if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

STEEVENS.

(8) 1. e. if we have better fortune than we have deserved.
[9] That is, if we be dismissed without hisses. JOHNSON.
That is, Clap your hands. Give us your applause. JOHNSON

[Exit.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

OBSERVATIONS.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.] IT is true, as Mr. Pope has observed, that somewhat resembling the story of this play is to be found in the fifth book of the Orlando Furioso. In Spenser's Fairy Queen, as remote an original may be traced. A novel, however, of Belleforest, copied from another of Bandello, seems to have furnished Shakespeare with his fable, as it approaches nearer in all its particulars to the play before us, than any other performance known to be extant. I have seen so many versions from this once popular collection, that I entertain no doubt but that a great majority of the tales it comprehends have made their appearance in an English dress. Of that particular story which I have just mentioned, viz. the 18th history in the third volume, no translation has hitherto been met with.

This play was entered at Stationers' Hall, Aug. 23, 1600. STEEVENS.

Ariosto is continually quoted for the fable of Much Ado about Nothing; but I suspect our poet to have been satisfied with the Geneura of Turberville. "The tale (says Harrington) is a pretie comical matter, and hath bin written in English verse some few years past, learnedly and with good grace, by M. George Turbervil." Ariosto, fol. 1591, p. 39. FARMER.

This play may be justly said to contain two of the most sprightly characters that Shakespeare ever drew. The wit, the humourist, the gentleman, and the soldier, are combined in Benedick. It is to be lamented, indeed, that the first and most splendid of these distinctions, is disgraced by unnecessary profaneness; for the goodness of

his heart is hardly sufficient to atone for the license of his tongue. The too sarcastic levity, which flashes out in the conversation of Beatrice, may be excused on account of the steadiness and friendship so apparent in her behaviour, when she urges her lover to risque his life by a challenge to Claudio. In the conduct of the fable, however, there is an imperfection similar to that which Dr. Johnson has pointed out in The Merry Wives of Windsor:-the second contrivance is less ingenious than the first :-or, to speak more plainly, the same incident has become stale by repetition. I wish some other method had been found to entrap Beatrice, than that very one which before had been successfully practised on Benedick.

STEEVENS.