SONG.

6

1 Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;1
Come not near our fairy queen:

CHORUS.

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

II.

2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence:
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor snail, do no offence.

CHORUS.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

1 Fai. Hence, away; now all is well:

6

One, aloof, stand sentinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. TITA. sleeps.

Enter OBERON.

Obe. What thou seest, when thou dost wake,

[Squeezes the flower on TITA.'s eye-lids.

with double tongue,] The same epithet occurs in a future scene of this play:

66

- with doubler tongue

"Than thine, thou serpent," &c.

Again, in The Tempest:

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adders, who, with cloven tongues,

"Do hiss me into madness."

By both these terms, I suppose, our author meanss-forked; as the tongues of snakes are sometimes represented in ancient tapestry and paintings, and, it may be added, are so in nature. Steevens.

7 Newts, and blind-worms,] The newt is the eft, the blind-worm is the Cecilia or slow-worm. They are both ingredients in the cauldron of Macbeth. See Macbeth, Act IV, sc. i. Steevens.

3 Hence, away; &c.] This, according to all the editions, is made part of the song; but, I think, without sufficient reason, as it appears to be spoken after the song is over. In the quarto, 1600, it is given to the second Fairy; but the other division is better. Steevens.

C c

Do it for thy true love take;
Love, and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak'st, it is thy dear;
Wake, when some vile thing is near.

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.

Lys. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood; And to speak troth, I have forgot our way: We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day.

Her. Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed; For I upon this bank will rest my head.

Lys. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both: One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth. Her. Nay, good Lysander: for my sake, my dear, Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

Lys. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;1 Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.2 I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit; So that but one heart we can make of it:

9 Be it ounce,] The ounce is a small tiger, or tiger-cat.

Johnson. 1 O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;] Lysander, in the language of love, professes, that as they have one heart, they shall have one bed: this Hermia thinks rather too much, and intreats him to lie further off. Lysander answers:

"O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;" Understand the meaning of my innocence, or my innocent meaning. Let no suspicion of ill enter thy mind. Johnson.

2 Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.] In the conver sation of those who are assured of each other's kindness, not suspicion, but love, takes the meaning. No malevolent interpretation is to be made; but all is to be received in the sense which love can find, and which love can dictate. Johnson.

The latter line is certainly intelligible as Dr. Johnson has explained it; but, I think, it requires a slight alteration to make it connect well with the former. I would read:

Love take the meaning in love's conference. That is, Let love take the meaning. Tyrwhitt.

There is no occasion for alteration. The idea is exactly simi. lar to that of St. Paul: "Love thinketh no evil." Henley.

Two bosoms interchained3 with an oath;
So, then, two bosoms, and a single troth.
Then, by your side no bed-room me deny.;
For, lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

Her. Lysander riddles very prettily :-
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say, Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in human modesty
Such separation, as, may well be said,
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid:
So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend:
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end!
Lys. Amen, amen, to that fair pray'r, say I;
And then end life, when I end loyalty!
Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest!

Her. With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!

3

Enter PUCK.

Puck. Through the forest have I gone,
But Athenian found I none,5
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence! who is here!
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,

Despised the Athenian maid;

[They sleep.

And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.

interchained—] Thus the quartos; the folio interchanged.

Steevens.

4 Now much beshrew, &c.] This word, of which the etymology is not exactly known, implies a sinister wish, and means the same as if she had said "now ill befall my manners," &c. It is used by Heywood in his Iron Age, 1632:

Again:

"Beshrew your amorous rhetorick."

"Well, Paris, I beshrew you with my heart." Steevens. See Minsheu's etymology of it, which seems to be an imprecation or wish of such evil to one, as the venomous biting of the shrew-mouse. Tollet.

5 But Athenian found I none,] Thus the quarto, 1600, printed by Fisher. That by Roberts, and the folio, 1623, read: "— find

I none." Steevens.

Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy."
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe:7
When thou wak'st, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.
So awake, when I am gone;

For I must now to Oberon.

[Exit.

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running. Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius. Dem. I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus. Hel. O, wilt thou darkling leave me?" do not so. Dem. Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go.

[Exit DEM. Hel. O, I am out of breath in this fond chase! The more my pray'r, the lesser is my grace.1

Near this lack-love, kill-courtesy.] The old copies read:
"Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy."

Mr. Theobald and Sir T. Hanmer, for the sake of the measure, leave out this lack-love. I have only omitted this. Steevens. Might we not adhere to the old copy, and at the same time preserve the measure, by printing the line thus:

"Near this lack-love, this kill-court'sy."

We meet with the same abbreviation in our author's Venus and Adonis:

66

They all strain court'sy, who shall cope him first."

Malone.

Court'sy can never be admitted at the end of a verse, the penult being always short.

Steevens.

7 All the power this charm doth owe:] i. e. all the power it posSo, in Othello:

sesses.

8

9

"Shall never med'cine thee to that sweet sleep

"Which thou ow'dst yesterday." Steevens.

let love forbid

Sleep his seat on thy eye-lid.] So, in Macbeth:

"Sleep shall neither night nor day

"Hang upon his pent-house lid." Steevens.

wilt thou darkling leave me?] i. e. in the dark. So, in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599: "we 'll run away with the torch, and leave them to fight darkling." The word is likewise used by Milton. Steevens.

Again, in King Lear: "And so the candle went out, and we were left darkling." Ritson.

1

my grace.] My acceptableness, the favour that I can gain. Johnson.

Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

For beasts that meet me, run away for fear:
Therefore, no marvel, though Demetrius
Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?—
But who is here?-Lysander! on the ground!
Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound:—
Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.

Lys. And run through fire I will, for thy sweet sake.

Transparent Helena! Nature here shows art,2

[Waking.

That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
Is that vile name, to perish on my sword!

Hel. Do not say so, Lysander; say not so:
What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
Lys. Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia, but Helena I love:

Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season:
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;3

2

Nature [here] shows art,] Thus the quartos. The folio reads-Nature her shows art,-perhaps the error of the press for -Nature shows her art. The editor of the second folio changed her to here. Malone.

I admit the word—here, as a judicious correction of the second folio. Here, means—in the present instance. On this occasion, says Lysander, the work of nature resembles that of art, viz. (as our author expresses it in his Lover's Complaint) an object "glaz'd with crystal" Steevens.

3

till now ripe not to reason;] i. e. do not ripen to it. Ripe, in the present instance, is a verb. So, in As you like it: "And so, from hour to hour, we ripe, and ripe —”

Steevens.