II. Mcehanicals ] F,.

14- Thefeus] Theseus' Rowe ii.
15. thick-skin ] thick-skull Han.
16. prefented, in their /port,] QqFf. presented in their sport, Coll. Hal. Wh. i.
Sta. Dyce ii, iii. presented, in their sport Rowe et cet.
19. nole ] nowl Johns, nose ‘ Bottom the Weaver.’
21. Mimmick ] F2F3> Minnick Q,. Minnock Q2, Pope, Theob. Warb. Johns. Steev.’85. Mimick F1 et cet. (subs.).
pretty nearly to Steevens’s definition of ‘ night-rule ’ just given. _ W. A. Wright’s
note here reads : ‘ Night-order, revelry, or diversion. “ Rule ” is used in the sense of conduct in Twelfth N. II, iii, 132 : “ Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady’s favour at anything more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule.” ’ It is quite possible, I think, that here too Dyce’s definition will apply, and that ‘ rule ’ means something more than simply conduct. Malvolio certainly intends to use vigorous language, and Sir Toby’s conduct was extremely boisterous. _ Ed.]
ii. patches] Elsewhere in Shakespeare, e. g. Tempest, III, ii, 66, and Mer. of Ven. II, v, 49 (of this ed.) this word has some reference, from the parti-coloured dress, to the domestic fool, but here it means, I think, merely ill-dressed fellows, or as Johnson has it, tatterdemalions. — Ed.
IS- thick-skin] Steevens [note, Mer. Wives, IV, v, 2]: Thus, Holland’s Pliny p. 346 : ‘ Some measure not the finenesse of spirit and wit by the puritie of bloud,' but suppose creatures are brutish, more or lesse, according as their skin is thicker or thinner.’— Halliwell : A common term of contempt for a stupid country bumpkin.
15. barren sort] Steevens : Dull company.
17. in] For other instances where ‘ in ’ is equivalent to into, see Abbott, § 159.
19. nole] W. A. Wright: A grotesque word for head, like pate, noddle. In the Wicliffite versions of Genesis, xlix, 8, where the earlier has ‘thin hondis in the skulles of thin enemyes’; the later has ‘ thin hondis schulen be in the nollis of thin enemyes ’ ; the Latin being cervicibus. Probably ‘ nole,’ like part of the head, and so included the neck. Cotgrave has ‘ Occipital, . . . belonging to the noddle, or hinder part of the head.’
21. Mimmick] Johnson, on the ground that minnock was ‘apparently a word of
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
133
As Wilde-geefe, that the creeping Fowler eye, 22
Or rufled-pated choughes, many in fort
23. ruffed- p at ed] ruffet pated Qt. ruffed pated Qa. ruffet-pated F4 et seq.
contempt,’ believed that this misprint of Q2 was right. — Ritson (p. 44) conjectured mammock, which ‘signifies a huge misshapen thing; and is very properly applied by a Fairy to a clumsy over-grown clown.’ — Malone : 4 Mimmick ’ is used as syn¬ onymous to actor in Decker’s Guls Homebooke, 1609: 4 and draw what troope you can from the stage after you: the Mimicks are beholden to you, for allowing them elbow roome ’ [ — p. 253, ed. Grosart]. — W. A. Wright cites a passage from Herrick’s The Wake, ii, 62, where, again, the word has the same meaning, actor.
23. russed-pated choughes] Whether or not by the name 4 chough,’ one species of bird, and that the 4 Cornish ’ or 4 Red-legged Crow,’ was always meant is doubtful. — Harting (p. 1 18) says that we may infer the existence of ‘various choughs’ from a passage in O’Flaherty’s West or H’lar Connaught, 1684, p. 13: — 4 1 omit other ordinary fowl and birds, as bernacles, wild geese, swans, cocks-of-the-wood, wood¬ cocks, choughs, rooks, Cornish choughs, with red legs and bills,’ &c. 4 Here,’ adds Harting, ‘the first-mentioned choughs were in all probability jackdaws.’ Further¬ more, 4 the jackdaw, though having a grey head, would more appropriately bear the designation 44 russet-pate d ” than any of its congeners. We may presume, therefore, that this is the species to which Shakespeare intended to refer. The head of the chough, like the rest of its body, is perfectly black.’ — The difficulty of reconciling the colour ‘russet’ with what is perfectly black is so grave that W. A. Wright changed the text to 4 russet-patted,’ and remarked : 4 1 have not hesitated to adopt Mr. Bennett’s suggestion ( Zoological Journal, v, 496), communicated to me by Pro¬ fessor Newton, to substitute russet-patted or red-legged (Fr. d pattes rousses) for the old reading, which is untrue of the chough, for it has a russet-coloured bill and feet, but a perfectly black head.’ Hereupon followed a discussion in Notes dr* Queries (5th Ser. xii, 444; 6th Ser. ix, 345, 396, 470; x, 499), whereof the substance is as follows : B. Nicholson maintains that change is needless ; whatever be the colour of 4 russet ’ it is properly applied to the chough ; and in confirmation cites N. Breton, Strange Newes, &c. [p. 12, ed. Grosart], where the 4 Russet-coate ’ of the chough is twice referred to. — F. A. Marshall adopts Harting’s interpretation that the choughs here mentioned are jackdaws, but finds it difficult even then to account for the epithet russet in the sense of ruddy-brown as applied to them. As to the emendation pro¬ posed by Bennett and adopted by W. A. Wright, Marshall maintains that there is no such word as patted, and even if there were Shakespeare would not have applied to the claws what was distinctive of the whole leg ; moreover, he would not have called that 4 russet ’ which is scarlet or vermilion. Hereupon it became necessary to deter¬ mine what the colour really is which 4 russet ’ represents. From the seven or eight references supplied by Richardson’s Diet. s. v. 4 Russet,’ Marshall thinks that his own suggestion is perfectly justified, that 4 russet might apply to the grey colour of the jackdaw’s head,’ but never to the bright red of the Cornish chough’s feet and legs. Moreover he is confirmed, by a reconsideration of all the passages in Shake¬ speare where 4 chough ’ occurs, in the belief that it 4 never meant anything else but jackdaw.' — The discussion was closed by W. A. Wright, who, with a magnanimity unfortunately rare, acknowledged that Marshall was 4 perfectly right in his suggestion
134
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. ii. (Rifing and cawing at the guns report)
Seuer themfelues, and madly fweepe the skye : 25
So at his fight, away his fellowes flye,
And at our ftampe, here ore and ore one fals ; 27
that russet in Shakespeare’s time described the coloured head of the jackdaw; I have, therefore, restored the old reading. I was induced to adopt Mr Bennett’s con¬ jecture, perhaps too hastily, from the feeling that the epithet “ russet ” as usually understood was inappropriate, and from the absence of any satisfactory evidence for another meaning. Lately, however, on looking into the question afresh, I have found proof that “ russet,” although rather loosely used, did bear the meaning of grey or ash-coloured, and I now give the evidence for the benefit of others. In the Prompt. Parv. ( cir . 1440) we find, “Russet, Gresius,” which is the French gris. — Junius’s Nomenclator, trans. Higins (ed. Fleming, 1587), p. 178, gives :—“Rauus . . . Paune, tane, rosset, russet or tawnie colour.” — Rava in Horace [Od. iii, 27, 3) is an epithet of the she-wolf. — “ Grigietto , a fine graie or sheepes russet .” — Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, 1598. “Gris. m. ise. f. Gray, light-russet, grizle, ash-coloured, hoarie, whit¬ ish-” — Cotgrave, Fr. Diet. 1611. — “Also, whosoever have about him hanging to anie part of his bodie the heart of a toad, enfolded within a peece of cloth of a white russet colour [in panno leucophao), hee shall be delivered from the quartane ague.” — Hoi land’s Pliny, 1601, xxxii, 10. “ Contrariwise, that which is either purple or ash-
coloured and russet to see too, &c. ( Purpurea aut leucophaa)." — Ibid., xxiv, 12. In the last passage ash-coloured and russet are evidently synonymous, and equivalent to leucophaa. But to show that russet was rather loosely applied it is sufficient to quote another instance from the same volume. In Holland’s Pliny, xq.37 (vol. i, p. 335), the following is the translation of “ aliis nigri, aliis ravi, aliis glauci coloris orbibus cirumdatis” : — “ This ball and point of the sight is compassed also round about with other circles of sundry colours, black, blewish, tawnie, russet, and red;” the last three epithets being to all appearance alternative equivalents of ravi. Russet, so far as one can judge, described a sad colour, and was applied to various shades both of grey and brown. That chough and jackdaw were practically synonymous may be inferred
from Holland also. In his translation of Pliny, x, 29 (vol. i, p. 285) we find : _
“ And yet in the neighbor quarters of the Insubrians neere adjoining, we shall have infinite and innumerable flockes and flights of choughes and jack dawes [gracculorum monedularumque).” Here graccidus is the chough, and monedula the jackdaw ; but in xvii, 14 (vol. i, p. 516), where the Latin has only monedula, the translator renders,
It is said moreover, that the Chough or Daw hath given occasion hereof by laying up for store seeds and other fruits in crevises and holes of trees, which afterwards sprouted and grew.” If monedula, therefore, can be rendered in one passage by “jackdaw” and in another by “chough or daw,” it is not too much to assume that in the mind of the translator, who was a physician at Coventry in Shakespeare’s own county, the chough and the jackdaw were the same bird.’ [See ‘ gray light,’ line 443, Post.]
23. sort] Company; see line 15.
27. stampe] Theobald [Nichols, 233) : Perhaps ‘ at our stump here,’— pointing to the stump of some tree, over which the frighted rustics fell.— Johnson : Fairies are never represented stamping, or of a size that should give force to a stamp, nor
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
*35
28
He murther cries, and helpe from Athens cals.
Their fenfe thus weake, loft with their fears thus ftrong,
Made fenfeleffe things begin to do them wrong. 30
For briars and thornes at their apparell fnatch,
Some fleeues, fome hats, from yeelders all things catch,
I led them on in this diftrafted feare,
And left fweete Piramus tranflated there :
When in that moment(fo it came to paffe) 35
Tytania waked, and ftraightway lou’d an Affe.
Ob. This fals out better then I could deuife : 37
32. yeelders ] yielders F3F4.
could they have distinguished the stamps of Puck from those of their own compan¬ ions. I read, ‘ at a stump.' So Drayton : ‘A pain he in his head-piece feels, Against a stubbed tree he reels, And up went poor Hobgoblin’s heels, &c. ... A stump doth trip him in his pace, Down fell poor Hob upon his face,’ &c. — \_Nymphidia , p. 166, ed. 174S. The Cambridge Editors record this conj. as adopted in Johnson’s text, and also as anticipated by Theobald. They were possibly misled by the ‘ I read ’ in Johnson’s note, which means merely that he conjectures ; the original ‘ stamp ’ is retained in Johnson’s text; and they overlooked that Theobald’s conj. is ‘ our stump.’ — Ed.] — Ritson : Honest Reginald Scott says : ‘ Robin Goodfellow . . . would chafe exceedingly if the maid or good wife of the house . . . laid anie clothes for him bee- sides his messe of white bread and milke, which was his standing fee. For in that case he saith, What have we here ? Hemton, hamten, here will I never more tread nor stampen.’ — Discoverie of Witchcraft , 1584, p. 85. — Steevens: The stamp of a fairy might be efficacious though not loud ; neither is it necessary to suppose, when supernatural beings are spoken of, that the size of the agent determines the force of the action. See IV, i, 97 : ‘ Come, my queen, take hand with me, And rock the ground,’ &c. — Allen (MS) : It cannot be ‘ our ’ ; there was no we in the case ; no fairy but Puck alone; and it was nobody’s stamp that made the boors scatter; it was merely the sight of Bottom’s new head. Perhaps : * at one stamp,’ — as we might say : at one bound, at one rush ; for they started so instantly, all together, that all their feet struck the ground, on starting to run, with one stamp, one noise (Anticipa- tive of stampede !). [If change be needed, Allen’s conj. is worthy of adoption. That Shakespeare has nowhere else thus used 1 stamp ’ amounts to but little. Puck’s sud¬ den change to ‘our,’ when he was the sole agent, is somewhat unaccountable. W. A. Wright interprets the phrase ‘ at hearing the footsteps of the fairies,’ but we have no authority for the presence of any other fairy than Puck, who says, ‘7 did him at this advantage take,’ ‘7 fixed an asses nole,’ and ‘7 led them on,’ &c. The misprint of ‘ our ’ for one is of the simplest. Since the foregoing note was written, the Second Edition of the Cambridge Edition has appeared ; in it ‘ our stamp ’ is duly credited as Theobald’s conj., but ‘ a stamp,’ as Johnson’s reading, is still retained. — Ed.]
28. He] Abbott, § 217 : Used like hie (in the antithesis between hie . . . Me) .
30. senselesse] Dyce (Rem. 47) asks why Collier has a comma after this word. It was probably an oversight; it is corrected in Collier’s third edition. —Ed
136 MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. ii.
But haft thou yet lacht the Athenians eyes, 38
38. lacht\ latcht Q,FSF4. lech' d Han. washed Orger.
Cap. streak'd or bath'd D. Wilson. 38. Athenians] Athenian F4, Rowe L
38. lacht] Hanmer : Or letch’d, lick’d over, lecher , Fr. to lick. — Steevens : In the North it signifies to infect. — Staunton, referring to Hanmer’s note, says that he has found no instance of the word thus used. — Dyce, however, gives no other mean¬ ing than this of Hanmer, and cites Richardson’s Diet, as adopting it. — Halliwell gives the meaning to catch. ‘ Hence, metaphorically,’ he continues, ‘ to infect. “ Latching , catching, infecting,” Ray’s English IVords, ed. 1674, p. 29. The word occurs in the first sense in Macbeth [IV, iii, 196]. I believe the usual interpretation, licked over , is quite inadmissible ; but it is to be observed that the direction was to anoint the eyes. The love-juice literally caught the Athenian’s eyes.’ — W. A. Wright: In the other passages where ‘latch’ is used by Shakespeare it has the sense of catch, from A.-S. Iteccan, or gelceccan. See Macbeth, and Sonn. 113, 6, of the eye : ‘ For it no form delivers to the heart Of bird, of flower, or shape, which it doth latch. Compare also Holland’s Pliny, viii, 24, of the Ichneumon: ‘In fight he sets up his taile, & whips about, turning his taile to the enemie, & therein latcheth and receiveth all the strokes of the Aspis.’ In the present passage ‘ latch’d ’ must signify caught and held fast as by a charm or spell, like the disciples going to Emmaus {Luke xxiv, 16) : ‘their eyes were holden, that they should not know him.’ There appears to be no evidence for Hanmer’s interpretation. On the other hand, a ‘ latch- pan in Suffolk and Norfolk is a dripping-pan, which catches the dripping from the meat ; and Bailey gives ‘ latching ’ in the sense of catching, infectious ; as it is still used in the North of England.— Daniel (p. 32) : Perhaps the right word should be hatch d. In Beaumont and Fletcher it is a word of frequent occurrence, meaning generally to cover thinly, as in gilding, lackering, varnishing, or staining. [Here follow seven or eight examples of the use of hatch, all of which corroborate Gifford’s definition . Literally, to hatch is to inlay ; metaphorically, it is to adorn, to beautify, with silver, gold, &c.’— Note on ‘ thy chin is hatched with silver,’ Shirley, Love in a
Maze, II, ii, cited by Dyce. Daniel’s suggestion is upheld by Deighton.] _ W. W.
Skeat {Academy, 11 May, 1889): The word here used has nothing to do with latch, to catch. Mr W. A. Wright cites latch-pan, so called because it ‘ catches the dripping ’ ; and the Prov. English latching, catching. Halliwell remarks on latch- pan that ‘ every cook in Suffolk could settle the dispute,’ and adds, ‘ the Athenian’s eyes were Puck’s latch-pans.’ The fact is that the whole trouble has arisen from this etymology of ‘latch-pan.’ The explanation depends upon the fact that there are two distinct verbs, both spelt ‘ latch,’ which are wholly unrelated to each other. Shake¬ speare’s ‘latch’ is related to ‘latch-pan’ precisely because a latch-pan is totally unconnected with ‘ latch,’ to catch. It correctly means dripping-pan, because ‘ latch ’ means to drip, or to cause to drop or to dribble. To 1 latch with love -juice’ is to drop love-juice upon, to distil upon, to dribble on, or simply to moisten. If we will give up the Anglo-Saxon gelceccan, and consider the common Eng. verb * to leak,’ we shall soon come to a satisfactory result. To ‘ leak ’ means to admit drops of water ; and latch is practically the causal form. The use of the latter occurs in Prov. Eng. latch on, ‘ to put water on the mash when the first wort is run off,’ says Halliwell. It means merely to dribble on, to pour on slowly. The Swedish has the very phrase. Widegren’s Swedish Diet. (1788) gives us Taka, to distil, to fall by drops.’ This
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
137
With the loue iuyce, as I did bid thee doe ?
Rob. I tooke him fleeping (that is finifht to) 40
And the Athenian woman by his fide,
That when he wak’t, of force fhe mull be eyde.
Enter Demetrius and Hermia.
Ob. Stand clofe, this is the fame Athenian.
Rob. This is the woman, but not this the man. 45
Dem. O why rebuke you him that loues you fo ?
Lay breath fo bitter on your bitter foe.
Her. Now I but chide, but I fhould vfe thee worfe.
For thou (I feare) haft giuen me caufe to curfe,
If thou haft flaine Lyfander in his fleepe, 50
Being ore fhooes in bloud, plunge in the deepe, and kill
me too : 52
40, 45. Rob.] Puck. Rowe et seq.
40. Jleeping (that.. Jo)"] sleeping ; that .too ; Rowe + . to] too Ff.
42. wak't] wakes Pope-f .
43. Scene V. Pope + .
44, 45. Aside. Cap. They stand apart.
Coll, ii (MS).
51. the deepe] knee-deep Coleridge (ap. Walker), Maginn, Phelps, Dyce ii, iii, Ktly, Huds.
51, 52. and kill me too ] Sep. line, Rowe ii et seq.
52. too] to Qq.
laka gives us the original a ; the mutated a occurs in Swed. laka, * to leak.’ Ice¬ landic has the strong verb leka, * to drip, to dribble, also to leak.’ Koolman’s E. Friesic Diet, also helps us. He gives : lek, ' a drop, a dripping from a roof ’ ; lek-ber, fat, ‘ a drop-vessel,’ i. e. a vessel in which drops are collected. The connexion of the latter with * a latch-pan ’ is obvious. The nearest-related Anglo-Saxon word is leccan, ‘ to moisten, wet, irrigate.’ This would have given a verb to letch, with the sense ‘ to moisten.’ The Prov. Eng. latch seems to be due to some confusion between this form and the base lak, which appears in the Swedish laka, Danish lage, and in the past tense of the Icel. strong verb ; or else, as is common in English, ‘ latch,’ to catch, and the less-known ‘ letch,’ to moisten, were fused under one (viz. the com¬ moner) form. Whatever the true history of the form of the word may be, I think we need have no doubt now as to its true sense.
46, 48. you . . . thee] Note that Demetrius uses the respectful ‘ you,’ while Her¬ mia replies with the contemptuous ‘ thou.’ — Ed.
51. bloud] Steevens: So in Macb. Ill, iv, 136: ‘I am in blood Stepp’d in so far,’ &c.
51. the deepe] Walker {Crit. iii, 49): Read, with Coleridge, ‘knee- deep.’ Compare Hey wood, Woman Killed with Kindness, Dodsley, vii, 268 : ‘ Come, come, let’s in ; Once over shoes, we are straight o’er head in sin.’ Qu. Is it a proverbial phrase ? — Halliwell quotes a note by Phelps in which this emendation ‘ knee-deep’ is given, but no reference to Coleridge as the author. If Coleridge be the author, he
138
A M1DSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. ii.
The Sunne was not fo true vnto the day, 53
As he to me. Would he haue ftollen away,
From fleeping Hermial He beleeue as foone 55
This whole earth may be bord, and that the Moon'*
May through the Center creepe, and fo difpleafe Her brothers noonetide, with th ’Antipodes.
It cannot be but thou haft murdred him,
So fhould a mutrherer looke, fo dead, fo grim. 60
Deni. So fhould the murderer looke, and fc> fhould I,
Pierft through the heart with your ftearne cruelty :
Yet you the murderer looks as bright as cleare,
As yonder Venus in her glimmering fpheare. 64
54. away ,] away Rowe et seq.
55- From ] Frow Q .
57- difpleafe] disease Han. displace!). Wilson, disseise Annandale ap. Marshall.
58. with th.' ] i’ th? Warb. with the Cap. Steev. Mai. Knt, Dyce, Cam. Wh. ii.
60. mutrherer] F,. murderer Q,, dead ^ dread Pope + .
61. murderer ] F2F3. murtherer F4 Rowe, murthered Q,. murdered Qa. mwrther’d or murdered Pope et cet.
63. looks'] looke Qq, Rowe et seq.
must antedate Phelps; I am unable, however, to say where in Coleridge’s notes the emendation is to be found. Dyce, who adopts it, states no more than the fact that it is Coleridge’s, and that Walker approved of it. The instances are extremely rare where Dyce does not cite volume and page, and his omission to cite them in regard to Coleridge leads me to think that Walker alone was his authority. I strongly suspect that it was not Coleridge, after all, who proposed the amendment, but Maginn. In a foot-note {Shakespeare Papers, p. 138, ed. i860) Maginn says: ‘Should we not read “ knee deep ” ? As you are already over your shoes, wade on until the bloody tide reaches your knees. In Shakespeare’s time knee was generally spelt kne ; and between the and kne there is not much difference in writing.’ In Phelps’s note, quoted by Halliwell, this last sentence of Maginn is repeated word for word. The objection to this emendation, not absolutely fatal, but still serious, is one that Maginn evidently felt when he substituted wade for ‘plunge’; in water knee-deep we can certainly wade, but it can hardly be said that we can plunge into it. _ En.
5D 52- and kill me too) Of course Rowe was right in making a separate line of these words. Probably some dramatic action, such as offering her breast to him to strike, completed the line. — Schmidt, however, conjectures {Programm, &c., p. 5) that some words have dropped out, because ‘ even in a tragedy, where there is talk of real killing, Shakespeare would not have laid so strong an emphasis on such a phrase as “And kill me too” as to let it interpose between two rhyming couplets.’ The cheap plea of an omission should be our very last resort. _ Ed.
56. whole] W. A. Wright : Solid. Compare Macb. Ill, iv, 22 : ‘ Whole as the marble.’
60. dead] Steevens: Compare .2 Henry IV: I, i, 71 : ‘Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone.’ — Capell : Pope’s change to dread is implied in ‘ grim ’ ; by ‘ dead ’ is meant pale.
61, 63. murderer . . . looks] Corrected in the Qq.
ACT II r, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME 139
Her. What’s this to my Ly fancier ? where is he ? 65
Ah good Demetrius , wilt thou giue him me ?
Dem. I’de rather giue his carkaffe to my hounds.
Her. Out dog, out cur, thou driu’ft me paft the bounds Of maidens patience. Haft thou flaine him then?
Henceforth be neuer numbred among men. 70
Oh, once tell true, euen for my fake,
Durft thou a lookt vpon him, being awake ?
And haft thou kill’d him fleeping ? 0 braue tutch :
Could not a worme, an Adder do fo much ?
An Adder did it : for with doubler tongue 73
Then thine(thou ferpent) neuer Adder flung.
Dem. You fpend your paffion on a mifpri’sd mood,
I am not guiltie of Lyfanders blood :
Nor is he dead for ought that I can tell.
Her. I pray thee tell me then that he is well. 80
67. I' dc] Ff. Ide Q2. I'd Rowe, Hal. Wh. i, Sta. I' ad Pope + . I had Q, et cet.
68. bounds] bonds Q3.
71. tell true] tell true, and Ff, Rowe, Pope, Theob. Han. Warb. tell true : tell true Qx, Johns, et seq. (subs.).
72. a] haue Qq, Rowe ii et seq.
73. tutch] touch Rowe et seq.
75. An] And Fs.
77. on a. ..mood] in a. ..flood Coll. MS. 79. ought] aught Theob. ii, Warb. Johns. Mai. Steev. Knt, Coll. Dyce et seq.
64. glimmering] W. A. Wright: Faintly shining ; this epithet seems in contra¬ diction to ‘ bright ’ and ‘ clear ’ of the previous line.
69. him then ?] Does not the wildness of Hermia’s grief suggest that we should thus punctuate : ‘ Hast thou slain him ? Then Henceforth be never,’ &. ? — Ed.
71. tell true] We must again look to the Quartos for the rhythmical completion of this line.
72. thou a lookt] I am not sure that this * a,’ the mere suggestion of have, does not permit an increased emphasis of scorn to be thrown on ‘ looked.’ I am quite sure, however, that Capell did not improve the vigour of the line when he took away the interrogation mark at the end and substituted a comma, wherein he has been gen¬ erally followed. — Ed.
73- tutch] Johnson : The same with our exploit, or rather stroke. A brave touch, a noble stroke, un grand coup. ‘ Mason was verie merie, . . . pleasantlie playing, both, with the shrewde touches of many courste boyes, and with the small discretion of many leude Scholemasters.’ — Ascham [ The Scholemaster, p. 18, ed. Arber].
77. mispris’d mood] Johnson : That is, mistaken ; so below [line 93], ‘ mis¬ prision ’ is mistake. — Malone : ‘ Mood ’ is anger, or perhaps rather, in this place, capricious fancy. — Steevens : I rather conceive that ‘ on a mispris’d mood' is put for in a mistaken manner.' See Abbott, § 180, for instances of the use of ‘ on ’ for in. — Allen (MS) : It might be ‘ on a mispris’d word ,’ — you have mistaken the meaning of my word ‘ murder’d ’ or ‘ carcase.’
140
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act hi, sc. ii.
Dem. And if I could, what fhould I get therefore ? 8 1
Her. A priuiledge, neuer to fee me more ;
And from thy hated prefence part I : fee me no more.
Whether he be dead or no. Exit.
Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vaine, 85
Here therefore for a while I will remaine.
So forrowes heauineffe doth heauier grow:
For debt that bankrout flip doth forrow owe,
Which now in fome flight meafure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make fome ftay. Lie downe. go
81. And ] QqFf, Rowe + . And, Coll. Wh. i. An Cap. et cet.
82. fee me] see him Steev.’85 (mis¬ print ?).
83. part /:] part I so : Pope et seq. ^3> §4- fee. ..no.] Sep. line, Pope et
seq.
84. he be] he's Pope + .
88. bankrout flip] bankrout flippe Qt. bankrupt sleep Rowe et seq.
90. Lie downe.] Ly doune. Qf. Lies down. Rowe.
[Scene VI. Pope, Han.
81. And if] The rule is so uniform in the Ff and Qq that ‘ and if’ is ‘an if,’ that any exception must find unusual support in the meaning or force of the phrase. ‘An if’ is not a mere reduplication of ‘if’; it adds much to the uncertainty of the doubt. Wherefore, I think, before we can decide that ‘ and if’ is equivalent to an if in any given example, we must be sure that this added doubt is intended. Is this the case here ? The emphatic thought in this line is ‘ what should I get therefor?’ and the emphatic word is ‘ what.’ There is no such emphasis on the doubt that the ‘ if’ need be dupli¬ cated. The sense would be quite as good, perhaps even better, if a comma were placed after ‘And,’ a shade of contempt might be then detected: ‘And, if I could, what should,’ &c. Wherefore, if an exception to the rule is to be made, I should' make it here. It is in such cases as this that we feel the need of the Greek Moods and Particles. — Ed.
83. part I :] Every editor, I believe, since Pope has adopted the latter’s change for rhyme’s sake, ‘ part I so :' That so is the word which the compositor has omitted I have no doubt, but whether or not we should adopt Pope’s punctuation I have strong doubts. Hermia is at the height of her passion, and I cannot imagine her as using a phrase like ‘part I so!’ where so has really not only little meaning, but actually detracts from the force of her vigorous determination to part. I prefer a full stop, and read, ‘ from thy hated presence part I. So, See me no more,’ &c.— Ed.
84. Whether] For instances of the very common contraction in scanning into Whe'er, see Walker, Vers. 103; Abbott, §466; it is certainly better to make this contraction than to change ‘ he be ’ into he's, with Pope.— Ed.
87. So] Deighton : ‘ So ’ seems out of place here, it not being correlative to any¬ thing ; possibly it is a mistake for since, the so of ‘ sorrow ’ being caught by the tran¬ scriber’s eye.
88-90. debt . . . bankrout . . . tender] Marshall thinks that the ‘prosaic and legal character ’ of these words ‘ smells ’ of an attorney’s office. The fondness of Shakespeare for similes drawn from bankruptcy, even in the most impassioned pas-
act in, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
Ob. What haft thou done? Thou haft miftaken quite And laid the louc iuyce on fome true loues fight :
Of thy mifprifion, muft perforce enfue
Some true loue turn’d, and not a falfe turn’d true.
Rob. Then fate ore-rules, that one man holding troth, A million faile, confounding oath on oath.
Ob. About the wood, goe fwifter then the winde, And Helena of Athens looke thou finde.
All fancy ficke the is, and pale of cheere,
With fighes of loue, that cofts the frefh bloud deare.
141
91
95
100
91. [Coming forward with Puck. Coll.
92. the] thy F4, Rowe + , Steev.’73. louc] F, (ap. Editor’s copy). true loues] true-love’s Cap. et seq.
94. turn'd , and] turn'd false Han. true loue] true-love Var.’2l et seq.
95. Rob.] Puck. Rowe et seq.
95. that] for Han.
96. A million] And million Del. (mis¬ print ?).
97. Ob.] Rob. Fa.
98. looke] see Rowe + .
100. cofls] cost Theob. ii + , Steev. Mai. Knt, Coll. Sing. Hal. Dyce, Sta.
sages, may be learned from Mrs Cowden-Clarke’s, and Mrs Furness’s Concordances —Ed.
88. slip] Collier calls attention to a similar spelling, which sometimes occurs, of * ship ’ for sheep.
90. Lie downe] Another stage-direction in the imperative, betraying the stage- house copy. — Ed.
93. Of ] For instances where ‘ of,’ meaning from , passes naturally into the mean¬ ing resulting from , as a consequence of, see Abbott, § 168.
93. misprision] Mistake. See * mispris’d,’ line 77.
95. 96- Then . . . oath] Deighton : Puck’s excuse for his carelessness does not seem to be very logical. Possibly the meaning is : Then, if that happens, the fault is fate’s, who so often is too strong for men’s intentions that, for one man who keeps faith, a million, whatever their intentions, give way and break oath after oath, i. e. any number of oaths.— Gervinus (p. I96,trans.): The poet further depicts his fairies as beings of no high intellectual development. Whoever attentively reads their parts will find that nowhere is reflection imparted to them. Only in one exception does Puck make a sententious remark upon the infidelity of man, and whoever has pene¬ trated into the nature of these beings will immediately feel that it is out of harmony. [Or, in other words, it does not happen to fadge with the scheme of fairydom which the learned German has evolved ; and christened Shakespeare’s. — Ed.]
95. that] For instances where ‘ that ’ means in that, see Abbott, § 284.
96. confounding] Schmidt (Lex.) will supply many examples where ‘confound’ means to ruin, to destroy. Here the meaning is ‘ breaking oath upon oath.’
99. fancy] That is, love. See I, i, 165.
99. cheere] Skeat (Diet.) : Middle English chere, commonly meaning the face ; hence mien, look, demeanour. Old French chere, chiere, the face, look.
100 , costs] Many excellent modern editors follow Theobald in needlessly
142
A MID SOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. ii.
By fome illufion fee thou bring her heere, ioi
lie charme his eyes againft the doth appeare.
Robin. I go, I go, looke how I goe,
Swifter then arrow from the Tartars bowe. Exit.
Ob. Flower of this purple die , 105
Hit with Cupids archery,
Sinke in apple of his eye,
When his loue he doth efpie,
Let her fhine as glorioufly
As the Venus of the sky. 1 10
When thou wak’ft if the be by,
Beg of her for remedy.
Enter Pucke.
Puck. Captaine of our Fairy band,
Helena is heere at hand, 1 15
And the youth, miftooke by me,
102. doth\ doe Qq, Cap. Steev. Mai. Coll. Sing. Dyce, Cam. Wh. ii.
103. Robin.] Rob. Ff. Puck. Rowe et seq.
looke~\ look, master, Han.
104. Exit.] Om. Qt.
106. [Squeezes the flower on Demet¬ rius’s eyelids. Dyce.
112. of her\ of her, Q,.
changing ‘costs’ into ‘cost.’ W. A. Wright explains the singular here as by attraction, but Abbott, § 247, gives so many examples of that with a plural ante¬ cedent followed by a verb in the singular, where attraction cannot apply, that it is perhaps better to explain examples like the present as the result of an idiom, and that the principle of attraction applies when the clause is not dependent. — Ed.
100. dear] Steevens : So in 2 Hen. VI : III, ii, 61 : ‘ Might liquid tears or heart- offending groans, Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life, I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans, Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs.’ Again, 3 Hen. VI: IV, iv, 22 : ‘Ay, ay, for this I draw in many a tear And stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs.’ All alluding to the ancient supposition that every sigh was indulged at the expense of a drop of blood. [See also to the Same effect: ‘ Dry sorrow drinks our blood.’ — Rom. &■» Jul. Ill, v, 59 ; ‘ Like a spendthrift sigh That hurts by easing.’ — Ham. IV, vii, 123; ‘let Benedick, like cover’d fire, Consume away in sighs.’ — Much Ado, III, i, 78.] — Staunton : The notion that sighing tends to impair the animal powers is still prevalent.
104. Tartars] Douce: So in Golding’s Ovid, Bk 10: ‘And though that she Did fly as swift as Arrow from a Turkye bowe.’ — W. A. Wright : Compare Rom. Jul. I, iv, 5 : ‘ Bearing a Tartar’s painted bow of lath.’ Also Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, Bk II, xiv, ii : ‘Yet certain it is that words, as a Tartar’s bow, do shoot back upon the understanding of the wisest.’
106. See II, i, 171.
107. in apple] For similar omissions of the article, see Abbott, § 89.
(vcr iii, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
143
Pleading for a Louers fee. 117
Shall we their fond Pageant fee ?
Lord, what fooles thefe mortals be !
Ob. Stand afide : the noyfe they make, 120
Will caufe Demetrius to awake.
Puck. Then will two at once wooe one,
That muft needs be fport alone :
And thofe things doe belt pleafe me ,
That befall prepofteroufly. I2t>
Enter Lyfander and Helena.
Lyf. Why fhould you think y I fhould wooe in fcorn? 127
125. prepofleroufly\ prepojl' roujly Qz, 125. [Scene VII. Pope, Han. Scene Theob. + , Cap. VI. Warb. Johns.
[They stand apart. Coll. ii.
117. Louers fee] Halliwell : Three kisses were properly a lover’s fee. ‘ How many, saies Batt ; why, three, saies Matt, for that’s a may den’s fee,’ MS Ballad, circa 1650. [No great weight can be attached, I think, to post-Shakespearian quotations, especially when there is but a single one. Moreover, I doubt if ‘lover’s fee’ here means an honorarium , but its meaning is rather, estate, right by virtue of his title as lover. — Ed.]
123. sport alone] Collier: A coarse character, under the name of Robin Good- fellow, is introduced into the play of Wily Beguiled, the first edition of which is dated 1606, but which must have been acted perhaps ten years earlier; there one of Robin Goodfellow’s frequent exclamations is, ‘ Why this will be sport alone,’ meaning such excellent sport that nothing can match it. — Halliwell : A vernacular phrase signi¬ fying excellent sport. ‘ This islande were a place alone for one that were vexed with a shrewd wyfe.’ — Holinshed, 1577- ‘ Now, by my sheepe-hooke, here’s a tale alone.’ — Drayton’s Shepherd's Garland , 1593. [Collier’s interpretation is the better. ‘Sport alone ’ means sport all by itself, that is, unparalleled. Abbott, § 18, gives as its equivalent above all things, and cites in addition to the present passage, ‘ I am alone the villain of the earth.’ — Ant. &■= Cleop. IV, vi, 30; ‘So full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical.’ — Twelfth Night, I, i, 15. — Ed.]
125. preposterously] Staunton [Note on Tam. of the Shr. Ill, i, 9] : Shake¬ speare uses ‘ preposterous ’ closer to its primitive and literal sense of inverted order , vorepov •k pdrepov, than is customary now. With us, it implies monstrous, absurd, ridiculous, and the like ; with him it meant misplaced, otit of the natural or reason¬ able course.
127. should wooe] Abbott, § 328, thinks that there is no other reason for the use of ‘ should ’ here than that it denotes', like sollen in German, a statement not made by the speaker. It may be so, and yet the idea of ought to, equally with sollen, may be imputed to it here. ‘ Why should you think that I ought to woo in scorn ?’ As was said in The Tempest on the phrase ‘ where should he learn our language ?’ the use cf ‘ should ’ in Shakespeare is of the subtlest. — Ed.
144
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act hi, sc. ii.
Scorne and derifion neuer comes in teares : 128
Looke when I vow I weepe ; and vowes fo borne,
In their natiuity all truth appeares. 130
How can thefe things in me, feeme fcorne to you ?
Bearing the badge of faith to proue them true.
Hel. You doe aduance your cunning more & more,
When truth kils truth, O diuelifh holy fray !
Thefe vowes are Hermias. Will you giue her ore? 135
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh.
Your vowes to her, and me, (put in two fcales)
Will euen weigh, and both as light as tales.
Lyf. I had no iudgement, when to her I fwore.
Hel. Nor none in my minde, now you giue her ore. 140 Lyf. Demetrius loues her, and he loues not you. Awa.
128. comes] come Qq, Rowe et seq.
129. borne ] born F3F4.
134. truth kils truth] trueth killes truth
Q,-
134. diuelijh holy] devilish-holy Cap. et seq.
141. Awa.]Om. Qq. Awaking. Rowe. Starting up. Coll.
128. comes] Is there any necessity to change this to the plural, with the Qq ? Cannot ‘ scom-and-derision ’ be conceived of as one mingled emotion of the mind ? — Ed.
129, 130. vowes so borne . . . appears] Walker (frit, i, 56) thinks that there is here ‘ an instinctive striving after a natural arrangement of words inconsistent with modern English grammar’; and Abbott, §§417, 376, classes ‘vows so bom’ either as a ‘ noun absolute ’ or as a ‘ participle used with a Nominative Absolute.’ I cannot but think that both critics, misled by the singular ‘ appears,’ have mistaken the con¬ struction. ‘Appears ’ should be, according to modern grammar, in the plural ; its sub¬ ject is ‘ vows,’ it is singular merely by attraction ; ‘ all truth ’ is the predicate, not the subject. My paraphrase, therefore, is: ‘vows, thus bom, appear, from their very nativity, to be all pure truth.’ The next lines seem to confirm it. It can hardly be supposed that Lysander means to assert that ‘ all truth,’ universal truth, is to be found in such vows. — Ed.
132. badge] Steevens : This is an allusion to the ‘ badges ’ (*'. e. family crests) anciently worn on the sleeves of servants and retainers. So in Temp. V. i, 267 • ‘ Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, Then say if they be true ’"
134. When . . . fray] W. A. Wright: If Lysander’s present protestations are true, they destroy the truth of his former vows to Hermia, and the contest between these two truths, which in themselves are holy, must in the issue be devilish and end m the destruction of both.
138. tales] W. A. Wright: Or idle words. There is the same contrast between truths and tales in Ant. dr* Cleop. II, ii, 136: ‘ Truths would be tales, Where now
not ‘ tales ’ here mean stories of the imagination, pure
141. Walker {Crit. iii, 49) : There \s perhaps a line lost after this line.— Schmidt
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME 145
Dem. O Helen , goddefle, nimph, perfe6l, diuine, 142
To what my, loue, (hall I compare thine eyne !
Chriftall is muddy, O how ripe in fhow,
Thy lips, thofe kifling cherries, tempting grow! 145
That pure congealed white, high Taurus fnow,
Fan’d with the Eafteme winde, turnes to a crow;
When thou holdft vp thy hand. O let me kiffe This Princeffe of pure white, this feale of bliffe.
Hell . O fpight/ O hell ! I fee you are all bent 150
To fet againft me, for your merriment :
If you were ciuill, and knew curtefie ,
You would not doe me thus much iniury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you doe, 154
142. perfect, diuine ] perfefl diuine
Q,-
143. To what my ,] To what ? my F3F4. 146. congealed ] coniealed Q,.
149. Princeffe] pureness Han. Warb. impress Coll, ii (MS), Sta. purest Lett-
som (ap. Dyce). Empress Marshall conj.
149. Princeffe of pure] quintessence of Bailey (withdrawn).
white ] whites Bailey.
150. are all ] all are Qq, Pope et seq.
(Programm, &c., p. 5) makes the same conjecture, which is, I think, needless. The emphasis with which Lysander pronounces the name Demetrius may have awakened the bearer of it, and in the new turn given to the dramatic action the loss of a rhym¬ ing line was not felt. — Ed.
141. Awa.] Evidently the abbreviation of Awake; another mandatory stage- direction of a play-house copy. — Ed.
145. kissing cherries] Knight: These ‘kissing cherries ’ gave Herrick a stock in trade for half a dozen poems. We would quote the ‘ Cherry Ripe,’ had it not passed into that extreme popularity which almost renders a beautiful thing vulgar. [Knight here quotes ‘ The Weeping Cherry,’ which the inquisitive reader may find in Herrick’s Hesperides, &c., vol. i, p. 10, ed. Singer.]
146. Taurus] Johnson : The name of a range of mountains in Asia.
149. Princesse] Heath (p. 53) : I can see no objection to this reading. ’Tis not an unusual expression to call the most excellent and perfect in any kind the prince of the kind. [This note Capell properly quotes with approval.] — Collier (ed. i) : It may be doubted from the context whether impress were not Shakespeare’s word. — Ib. (ed. ii) : This emendation [ impress ] of the MS can hardly be wrong ; the old reading, ‘ princess,’ cannot be right. Impress and ‘ seal ’ are nearly the same thing ; and, in consistency with this alteration, it may be observed that in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Double Marriage, IV, iii, Virolet calls Julianna’s hand ‘ white seal of vir¬ tue ’ — Dyce (Rem. p. 48) : When Mr Collier offered [his] very unnecessary conjec¬ ture, impress, he did not see that these two rapturous encomiums on the hand of Helena have no connexion with each other. Demetrius terms it ‘ princess of pure white,’ because its whiteness exceeded all other whiteness ; and ‘ seal of bliss,’ because it was to confirm the happiness of her accepted lover.
146
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act III, sc. ii.
But you muft ioyne in foules to mocke me to? 155
If you are men, as men you are in fhow,
Y ou would not vfe a gentle Lady fo ;
To vow, and fweare, and fuperpraife my parts,
When I am fure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are Riuals, and loue Hermia ; 160
And now both Riuals to mocke Helena.
A trim exploit, a manly enterprize ,
To coniure teares vp in a poore maids eyes,
With your derifion ; none of noble fort,
Would fo offend a Virgin, and extort 165
IS5- ioyne in foules) ioyne, in foules, Qj. join in flouts Han. join in scorns or scoffs Johns, conj. (withdrawn), join, ill souls, Tyrwhitt. join in scouls Black- stone (ap. Var.’S 5). join in skoals T. H. W. ( Gent . Mag. lv, p. 278, 1785). join in soul Mason, Rann. join, in sooth Bailey (ii, 202). join in taunts Elze (Athen. 26 Oct. ’67). join in sport Wetherell {Athen. 2 Nov. ’67). join in sports D. Wilson, join insults Spedding (ap. Cam.), Leo {Athen. 27 Nov.’8o).
155. to? ] too? QaFf.
156. are men ] were men Qq, Han. Cap. et seq.
rS7. fo;~\fo? Ff.
160, 1 61. Riuals ] Riuals... Riualles
Qi-
164. derifion; none~\ derifion None, Qt. derifion, none Qa. derision l None Theob. + , Steev. et seq. (subs.).
noble~\ nobler Rowe i, Theob. ii, Warb. Johns. Steev.’85.
155. in soules] Warburton : This line is nonsense. It should read thus : ‘But must join insolents to mock me too ?’ — Steevens : ‘ Join in souls ’ is to join heartily, unite in the same mind. [See Text. Notes for sundry emendations of a phrase which needs no help whatsoever. The notes attending these emendations are not here recorded ; having no obscurity in the text to explain, they amount to but little else than an announcement by their authors of a preference of their own words to Shake¬ speare’s. — Ed.]
160, 161. As a warning against rearing any theory based on the spelling in the old eds., note the different spelling of ‘rivals’ in two consecutive lines in Q .
162. trim] Schmidt {Lex.) says that as an adjective this is ‘ mostly used with irony.’ ‘ Mostly ’ is, I think, a little too comprehensive ; that ‘ trim ’ is sometimes used ironically is true, but the same may be said of fine, pretty, and of many another adjective. — Ed.
164. sort] Malone: Here used for degree or quality. [Not necessarily referring to rank, although W. A. Wright quotes Cotgrave: ‘Gens de mise. Persons of worth, sort, qualitie.’ — Ed.]
165. extort] Schmidt (Lex.) defines this by To wring, wrest, and calls attention to the parallel meaning of to move or wake a person’s patience, and therefore to make impatient, in Much Ado, V, i, 102 : * We will not wake your patience ’ ; and in Rich.
Ill : I, iii, 248 : ‘ end thy frantic curse, Lest to thy harm thou move our patience.’ _
Allen (MS) : May this not possibly mean : to produce by torture the suffering of a poor soul. To take away from a poor soul her patience, seems to me commonplace. For ‘patience ’ compare ‘ I know your patience well,’ III, i, 199.
act III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
14 7
166
A poore foules patience, all to make you fport.
Lyfa. You are vnkind Demetrius ; be not fo,
For you loue Hermia’, this you know I know;
And here with all good will, with all my heart,
In Hermias loue I yeeld you vp my part; 1 70
And yours of Helena , to me bequeath,
Whom I do loue, and will do to my death.
Hel. Neuer did mockers waft more idle breth.
Dem. Ly fancier, keep thy Herynia, I will none :
If ere I lou’d her, all that loue is gone. 175
My heart to her, but as gueft-wife foiourn’d,
And now to Helen it is home return'd,
There to remaine.
Lyf. It is not fo. 179
169. here] heare Q,. heere Qs.
1 7 1 . yours of I your3 s ofRovre i. your's in Coll, ii (MS).
172. will do] will love Cam. Edd. conj. to my] till my Q1# Coll. White,
Cam.
173. wajl] wajle QqFf.
176. to her] with her Johns. Steev. Mai. Var. Knt, Sing. Hal. Coll, ii, Dyce ii, iii, Ktly.
177. it £r] is it QJ( Cap. Mai. Var. Coll. Dyce, White, Sta. Cam.
178. There] There ever Pope + .
179. It m] Helen, it is Qt, Cap. et seq.
172. will do] The Cam. Edd. conjecture ‘will love ,’ which is certainly an improvement, but then —
174. none] Abbott, § 53: ‘None’ is still used by us for nothing, followed by a partitive genitive, ‘ I had none of it ’ ; and this explains the Elizabethan phrase, ‘ She will none of me.’ — Twelfth Night, I, iii, 113.
176. to her] Collier ‘reluctantly abandoned’ this ‘to’ for Johnson’s emenda¬ tion with, because ‘ the phrase is sojourned with, not sojourned to, although there was formerly great license in the use of prepositions.’ — Dyce adopted with because the ‘ to ’ in this line was ‘ an error occasioned by the “ to ” immediately below.’ — R. G. White refused to change because it does not appear sufficiently clear that ‘ to ’ was not the old idiom. — Delius interprets ‘ to her ’ as generally equivalent to as to her, and in the present instance, by attraction from ‘ guestwise,’ the phrase is equivalent to as a guest to her. — W. A. Wright : There are other instances of ‘ to ’ in Shakespeare in a sense not far different from that in the present passage. Compare Meas. for Meas. I, ii, 186 : ‘ Implore her in my voice that she make friends To the strict deputy.’ Two Gent. I, i, 57 : ‘ To Milan let me hear from thee by letters.’ Com. of Err. IV, i, 49 : ‘ You use this dalliance to excuse Your breach of promise to the Porpentine.’ In all these cases the sense is quite clear, but there is a confusion in the construction. In the Devonshire dialect ‘ to ’ is frequently used for ‘ at,’ and it is a common Amer¬ icanism. — Allen (MS) : May not this be like a familiar Greek construction ? My heart [went away from its proper home] to her, and sojourned [with her] merely as a guest. Confirmed by : Now it has returned to me. Cf. Robert Browning’s Straf¬ ford (p. 309), V, ii : ‘ You’ve been to Venice, father?’
179. It is not so] If one likes the pronunciation of ‘ Helen’ with the accent on
148
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ill, sc. ii.
De. Difparage not the faith thou doft not know, 1 80
Left to thy perill thou abide it deare.
Looke where thy Loue comes, yonder is thy deare.
Enter Hermia.
Her. Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
The eare more quicke of apprehenfion makes , 185
Wherein it doth impaire the feeing fenfe ,
Ir paies the hearing double recompence.
Thou art not by mine eye, Ly fancier found ,
Mine eare (I thanke it) brought me to that found.
But why vnkindly didft thou leaue me fo ? (to go? 190
Lyfan. Why fhould hee Itay whom Loue doth preffe Her. What loue could preffe Lyfander from my fide ?
Lyf. Lyfanders loue (that would not let him bide)
Faire Helena ; who more engilds the night,
Then all yon fierie oes, and eies of light. 195
18 1. Leji] Leajl Qq.
abide] aby it Qr, Cap. Steev. Mai. Knt, Coll. Dyce, White, Sta. Cam. Ktly.
182. Scene VIII. Pope, Han. Scene