As they go out, BOTTOM awakes. Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer :-my text is, Most fair Pyramus. Enter BOTTOM. Bot. Where are these lads? where are these hearts ? Quin. Bottom! O most courageous day! O most happy hour! Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what; for, if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I will tell you every thing, right as it fell out. Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom. Bot. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you, is, that the duke hath dined: Get your apparel together; good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look o'er his part; for, the short and the long is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen; and let not him, that plays the lion, pare bis nails, for they shall hang out of the lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions, nor garlick, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt, but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words: away; go, away. [Exeunt. ACT V. ment of THESEUS. Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Hip. 'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these The. More strange than true. I never may believe --Hey, ho!-Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows- SCENE 1.—The same.-A Room in the Apartmender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life stolen hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream,-Past the wit of man to say what dream it was: Man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was-there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I bad,-But man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man bath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen; man's band is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream It shall he called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke; Peradventure to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death. [Exit. SCENE 11-Athens.-A Room in QUINCE's House. Enter QUINCE, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVE- Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet? Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt, he is transported. Flu. If he come not, then the play is marred; It goes not forward, doth it? Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man in all Athens, able to discharge Pyramus, but he. Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any bandycraft man in Athens. Quin. Yea, and the best person too: and he is a very paramour, for a sweet voice. Flu. You must say, paragon: a paramour is, God bless us, a thing of nought. Enter SNUG. Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies more married: if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made men. Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day during his life; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a-day: an the duke had not given him sixpence a-day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged; he would have deserved it: sixpence a-day, in Pyramus, or nothing. These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. And, as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen A local habitation and a name. Hip. But all the story of the night told over, HELENA. By an Athenian eunuch to the harp. We'll none of that: that have I told my love, In glory of my kinsman Hercules. The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary. A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, Which is as brief as I have known a play; The. What are they, that do play it? Which never laboured in their minds till now; mories With this same play, against your nuptial. The. And we will hear it. Philost. No, my noble lord, me It is not for you: I have heard it over, The. I will bear that play; Jadies. fend, But with good will. To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end. Consider then, we come but in despite, We do not come as minding to content you, Our true intent is. All for your delight, We are not here. That you should here repent you, The actors are at hand; and, by their show, You shall know all, that you are like to know. The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt, he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: It is not enough to speak, but to speak true. Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue, like a child on a recorder; † a sound, but not in government. The. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, WALL, MOON- Go, bring them in :-and take your places," And duty in his service perishing. Hip. He says, they can do nothing in this The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake: Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. "Presenteth moonshine: for, if you will know, By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn "To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to Woo. "This grisly beast, which by name lion hight, "The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, "Did scare away, or rather did affright: "And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall; "Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain: Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall, "And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain : "Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; "And, Thisby tarrying in mulberry shade "His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, "Let lion, moonshine, wall, and lovers twain, "At large discourse, while here they do remain." [Exeunt PROLOGUE, THIS BE, LION, and MOONSHINE. The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak. Dem. No wonder, my lord: One lion may, when many asses do. Wall. "In this same interlude, it doth befall, " That I, one Snout by name, present a wall: "And such a wall, as I would have you think, "That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink, "Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, "Did whisper often very secretly. "This loan, this rough-cast, and this stone doth show, "That I am that same wall; the truth is so: "And this the cranny is, right and sinister, "Through which the fearful lovers are whisper." to The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord. The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence! This. "O wall, f! often hast thou heard my moans, "For parting my fair Pyramus and ine: "My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones; "Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee." Pyr. "I see a voice: now will I to the chink, "To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. "Thisby !" This. "My love! thou art my love, I think." Pyr. "Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; And like Limander am I trusty still." This." And I like Helen, till the fates me kill." Pur. "Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true." This. "As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you." Pyr. "O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall." This. "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all." Pyr. "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?" This. "Tide life, tide death, I come without Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. The. The best in this kind are but shadows: and the worst, are no worse, if imagination amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not their's. The. If we imagine no worse of them, than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts in, a moon and a lion. Enter LION and MOONSHINE. Lion. "You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear "The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, "May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. "Then know, that 1, one Snug the joiner, am "" A lion fell, or else no lion's damn: "For if I should as lion come in strife 66 Into this place, 'twere pity on my life." The. A very gentle beast and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw. Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. The. True; and a goose for his discretion. Dem. Not so, my lord: for his valour cannot carry his discretion; and the fox carries the goose. The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon. Moon. This lantern doth the horned moor. present :" Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the circumference. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon present; "Myself the man i'the moon do seem to be." The. This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man should be put into the lantern: How is it else the man i'the moon? Dem. He dares not come there for the candle: for, you see, it is already in snuff. • Hip. I am weary of this moon: Would, he would change! The. It appears, by his small light of discre tion, that he is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time. Lys. Proceed, moon. Moon. All that I have to say, is, to tell you, that the lantern is the moon; I, the mau in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thoru-bush; and this dog, my dog. Dem. Why, all these should be in the lantern; for they are in the moon. But, silence; here comes Thisbe. Hip. Well shone, moon.-Truly, the moon shines with a good grace. The. Well moused, lion. [The LION tears THISBE's mantle, and erit. Dem. And so comes Pyramus. Lys. And then the moon vanishes. Pyr. Enter PYRAMUS. "Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams; In anger; a quibble. "I thank thee, moon, for shining now so bright: "For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering streams, "I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight. "But stay;-O spite! "What dreadful dole is here? "O dainty duck! O dear! "What, stain'd with blood? "Approach, ye furies fell! O fates! come, come; "Cut thread and thrum; "Quail, crush, conclude, and quell! +” The. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look Hip. Besbrew my heart, but I pity the sad. "Which is no, no-which was dame, the fairest 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? 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 [Here a dance of Clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve :fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn, Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. As much as we this night have overwatch'd. This palpable-gross play hath well beguil'd alone. "That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd The heavy gait of night.-Sweet friends, to with cheer. t Come, tears, confound; Out, sword, and wound "The pap of Pyramus : Ay, that left pap, "Where heart doth hop: Thus die 1, thus, thus, thus. "Now am I dead, "Now am I fled; My soul is in the sky: "6 Tongue, lose thy light! "Moon, take thy flight! "Now die, die, die, die, die. [Dies.-Exit MOONSHINE. Dem. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one. Lys. Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing. The. With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover, and prove an ass. Hip. How chance moonshine is gone, before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover? The. She will find him by star-light.-Here she comes; and her passion ends the play. Enter THISBE. Hip. Methinks, she should not use a long one, for such a Pyramus: I hope, she will be brief. Dem. A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which Thisbe, is the better. Lys. She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes. Dem. And thus she inoans, videlicet.-- "What, dead, my dove? "O Pyramus, arise, "Speak, speak. Quite dumb! "Must cover thy sweet eyes. "This cherry nose, "These yellow cowslip cheeks, "His eyes were green as leeks. "With shears bis thread of silk. bed. Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud, Now it is the time of night, That the graves, all gaping wide, By the triple Hecat's team, Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with their Obe. Through this house give limmering 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. Tita. First, rehearse this song by rote; To each word a warbling note, Hand in hand, with fairy grace, SONG, and DANCE. Puck. If we shadows have offended, So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, [Ezit. |