VII. Warb. Johns.

187. Ir] Ff.
188. Lyfander] Lyfander, Qt.
189. brought] brooght F3.
that] thy Qq, Pope et seq. x93- [that. ..bide]] No parenthesis, Rowe et seq.
bide] ’bide Theob. ii,Warb. Johns. 195. oes] o’s F4, Rowe + . orbs Grey. eies] eyes F3F4.
the last syllable, there can be no objection to following the Qt here. But where a line is divided between two speakers, the inevitable pause is, I think, to be preferred in scansion to the stop-gap of an ill-accented word. — Ed.
l8*. abide] The First Quarto’s aby is here correct, the form ‘abide’ in the pres¬ ent phrase, according to Skeat, is ‘ a mere corruption.’ — W. A. Wright [reading ‘ aby it,’ thus interprets :] That is, pay for it, atone for it. See below, line 353, and Spenser, Faerie Queene, IV, i, 53 : ‘ Yet thou, false squire, his fault shalt deare aby.’ The Ff read ‘ abide ’ in both passages, as does Qa here. There is another word aby , in an entirely different sense, which is etymologically the same as ‘ abide ’ ; but our word is from the A.-S. abicgan, to redeem. And ‘ abide,’ which is synonymous with the former, is often confounded with the latter. [See also line 452, below.]
181. it deare] Walker ( Crit. i, 307) : Possibly^,- [heere— deare).
195. oes] Steevens: Shakespeare uses O for a circle. So in Hen. V, Prol. 13: may we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt.’ Again, in John Davies of Hereford’s Microcosmos, 1605, p. 233 : ‘ Which silver oes and spangles over-ran.’ — Staunton : ‘ Oes ’ were small circular bosses of shining metal.— Halliwell cites : ‘ and oes, or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so are they of most glory.’— Bacon’s Essay, xxxvii, p. 157, ed. Wright
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MID SOMMER NIGHTS D RE A ME
Why feek’ft thou me ? Could not this make thee know, The hate I bare thee, made me leaue thee fo ?
Her. You fpeake not as you thinke; it cannot be. Hel. Loe, the is one of this confederacy,
Now I perceiue they haue conioyn’d all three,
To fafhion this falfe fport in fpight of me.
Iniurious Hermia, moft vngratefull maid ,
Haue you confpir’d, haue you with thefe contriu’d To baite me, with this foule derifion ?
Is all the counfell that we two haue fhar’d,
The fillers vowes, the houres that we haue fpent,
When wee haue chid the hafty footed time ,
For parting vs ; O, is all forgot ?
All fchooledaies friendlhip, child-hood innocence ?
We Hermia, like two Artificial! gods,
149
196
200
205
210
197. bare] bear F4, Rowe+, Dyce, Coll. Sta. Cam. i, Ktly, White ii.
201. of me] to me Johns.
206. fijlers vowes] QqFf, Rowe+. sister vows Cap. sister-vows Dyce ii, iii. sisters’ vows Steev. et cet.
208. O, is all ] O and is all Ff, Rowe + , Cap. Steev. Knt, Hal. Sta. Dyce ii, iii, Huds. O, is all now Mai. O , now, is all Var. Oh, is this all Ktly. Oh, is
this then Ktly conj. 0, is it all Sped- ding (ap. Cam.), Glo. White ii. O, is all this Huds. conj.
209. fchooledaies] school-day Cap. Steev. ’85, Dyce ii, iii, Huds.
child-hood] child-hoods FF, Rowe i.
210. two Artificiall gods] to artificer gods or two artificial buds D. Wilson.
[Here, at least, we have a word which our German brothers must paraphrase. They cannot translate it literally, albeit Schlegel ventured it. The German capital O is apparently a circle drawn from the depths of the German consciousness ; of course there had to be an aesthetic flourish in it. Is the supposition too fanciful that the punning on o' s and i’s begins with ‘ fwgilds ’ ? — Ed.]
206. sisters vowes] Dyce (ed. ii) : Here the old eds. have ‘sisters vowes,’ and a little below, ‘ schoole daies friendship ’ (though in the same line with innocence ’).
208. O, is all forgot] The Text. Notes show the harmless attempts to bring this line into the right butter- woman’s rank to market. The break in the line gives ample pause for supplying a lost syllable. Moreover, the emotion expressed by ‘ O ’ can easily prolong the sound enough to fill the gap, and that, too, without lengthening it into an ‘ Irish howl,’ as Steevens, with a malicious glance at Malone’s nationality, once termed a similar suggestion by the latter. — Ed.
208. forgot] Reed : Mr Gibbon observes that in a poem of Gregory Nazianzen, on his own life, are some beautiful lines which burst from the heart, and speak the pangs of injured and lost friendship, resembling these. He adds, ‘ Shakespeare had never read the poems of Gregory Nazianzen ; he was ignorant of the Greek lan¬ guage; but his mother-tongue, the language of nature, is the same in Cappadocia and in Britain.’ — Gibbon’s Hist, iii, 15.
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act hi, sc. ii.
150
Haue with our needles, created both one flower, 21 1
Both on one fampler, fitting on one cufliion,
Both warbling of one fong, both in one key ;
As if our hands, our fides, voices, and mindes
Had beene incorporate. So we grew together, 215
Like to a double cherry feeming parted ,
But yet a vnion in partition, 217
211. Haue...botIi\ Created with our needles both Pope + .
needles ] neelds Rann, Mai. ’90, Steev.’93, Var. Knt, Sta. Dyce ii, iii. 214. our fides] and sides Cap.
215. beene'] bin Qq.
217. yet ] Om. F3F4-
a vnion ] an vnion QqF4, Rowe 1 Coll. Hal. White, Cam.
210. Artificiall] Walker ( Crit. i, 96) : This is here used with reference to the agent; deabus artificibus similes. — Walker (lb. i, 154) in his valuable chapter on ‘ Ovid’s influence on Shakespeare ’ suggests that there is in these lines an unconscious allusion to the story of Arachne and Minerva (‘ with a variety ’) which had impressed Shakespeare in reading. — For a list of adjectives which have both an active and a passive meaning, see Abbott, § 3.— Geo. Gould (p. 15): Read ‘artificial girls,' viz. Helena and Hermia, who are like a pair of girls in waxwork. [Gifford’s vocation of censor is as necessary as it is unenviable. Gifford should have died here¬ after. — Ed.]
2x1. needles] Steevens : This was probably written by Shakespeare neelds (a common contraction in the Inland counties at this day), otherwise the verse would be inharmonious. — Abbott, § 465 • ‘ Needle,’ which in Gam7ner Gurton rhymes with ‘ feele,’ is often pronounced as a monosyllable. ‘ Deep clerks she dumbs, and with her need/,? composes.’ — Per. V, Gower, 5 ; ‘ I would they were in Affic both together ; myself by with a need/? that I might prick.’ — Cym. I, i, 168; ‘Or when she would with sharp need/? wound.’ — Per. IV, Gower, 23. In the latter passage ‘needle wound’ is certainly harsh, though Gower does bespeak allowance for his verse. A. J. Ellis suggests 'Id for ‘ would,’ which removes the harshness. ‘And grl | ping It | the nb.tA.le | his fin | ger pricks.’ — R. of L. 319; ‘Their nSed/« | to lkn | ces, And [ their g£nt | le hearts.’ — King John, V, ii, 157 ; ‘ To thread | the p6st | em 6f | a smkll | need/?’s bye.’— Rich. II: V, v, 17. ‘ Needle’s ’ seems harsh, and it would
be more pleasing to modern readers to scan ‘ the p6st | ern df a [ small neS | die’s bye.’ But this verse, in conjunction with Per. IV, Gower 23, may indicate that ‘ needle ’ was pronounced as it was sometimes written, very much like neeld, and the d in neeld, as in vild (vile), may have been scarcely perceptible. — Cambridge Edi¬ tors : Pope’s reading is rendered extremely improbable by the occurrence of the word ‘ Have ’ at the beginning of the line in all the old copies, and could only have been suggested by what Pope considered the exigencies of the metre. ‘ Needles ’ may have been pronounced as Steevens writes it, neelds ; but, if not, the line is har¬ monious enough. [One instance of ‘ needle ’ no one, I believe, has noticed, where it must be pronounced as a disyllable. It occurs in R. of L., within two lines, strangely enough, of the line cited by Abbott : ‘ Lucretia’s glove, wherein the needle sticks,’ line 217. This proves, I think, that the word was pronounced by Shakespeare eithet ns a monosyllable or as a disyllable, according to the needs of his rhythm. _ Ed.]
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
151
Two louely berries molded on one ftem,
So with two teeming bodies, but one heart, Two of the firft life coats in Heraldry,
218
220
218. louely] loving Coll, ii, iii (MS).
219. So] Or Han.
Pope, first, like Folks, Theob. et seq. 220, 221. Om. Coll. MS.
220. firjl life'] first life, Ff, Rowe,
218. louely] Collier (ed. ii) : It is unlikely that Helen would call herself a lovely berry. The change to loving is in the MS, and it is precisely the thought which the speaker is carrying on; we have no doubt Shakespeare wrote loving. Elsewhere the same misprint occurs. — Dyce (ed. ii) : But was not ‘lovely’ some¬ times used as equivalent to loving ? Compare our author’s Tam. of the Shr. Ill, ii : ‘ And seal the title with a lovely kiss ’ ; also, ‘ And I will give thee many a lovely kiss.’ — Peele’s Arraignment of Paris— Works, p. 358, ed. Dyce, 1861. ‘A father, brother, and a vowed friend. K. of Eng. Link all these lovely styles, good king, in one.’ — Greene’s James IV— Works, p. 189, ed. Dyce, 1861. [Collier might not unreasonably answer Dyce, that all these three examples are exactly the misprints which he said might be found elsewhere, and that they corroborate the emendation of the MS, which seems, it must be confessed, unusually happy to the present Ed.]
220. of the first life] Theobald: The true correction of this passage [the change of ‘ life ’ to like] I owe to the friendship and communication of the ingenious Martin Folks, Esq. Two of the first, second, & c. are terms peculiar to Heraldry to distinguish the different Quarterings of Coats. — M. Mason : Every branch of a fam¬ ily is called ‘ a house,’ and none but the ‘ first ’ of the ‘ first house ’ can bear the arms of a family without some distinction. ‘ Two of the first,’ therefore, means two coats of the first house , which are properly ‘ due but to one.’ [This explanation seems to have satisfied no subsequent editor except Knight.] — Ritson ( Cursory Crit. 44) : The two ‘ seeming bodies ’ united by ‘ one heart ’ are resembled to coats in heraldry, crowned with one crest. And this happens either where the heir keeps his paternal and maternal coats, or the husband his own and his wife's in separate shields, as is done on the Continent; or, as at present with us, in the quarterings of the same shield ; in both cases there are ‘ two coats, due but to one, and crowned with one crest,’ which is clearly the author’s allusion. But I am sorry to add that he must have entirely misunderstood, since he has so strangely misapplied, the expression * Two of the first,’ which, in heraldical jargon, always means two objects of the first colour mentioned, that is, the field. For instance, in blazoning a coat they will say, Argent, upon a fesse gules, two mullets of the first, that is, argent, the colour of the field. These words are, therefore, a melancholy proof that our great author some¬ times retained the phrase after he had lost the idea or [applied] the former without sufficient precaution as to the latter. [If the ‘ heraldical jargon ’ of the whole passage is confined to these two lines, and if ‘ first ’ is a technical term, which can refer only to colour, then Ritson is technically right, and the greatness of a name cannot excuse a blunder. But Douce (i, 194) thinks that a deeper heraldic meaning is here im¬ puted to Shakespeare than he intended, and that ‘ first ’ does not refer to colour. ‘ Helen,’ says Douce, ‘ exemplifies her position by a simile, — “ we had two of the first, i. e. bodies, like the double coats in heraldry that belong to man and wife as one per¬ son, but which, like our single heart, have but one crest." ’ This is certainly a com¬ mon-sense explanation. W. A. Wright says it is ‘the correct one.’ Staunton,
152
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act hi, sc. ii.
Due but to one and crowned with one creft. 221
And will you rent our ancient loue afunder,
To ioyne with men in fcorning your poore friend ?
It is not friendly, ’tis not maidenly.
Our fexe as well as I, may chide you for it, 225
221. creft~\ creajl Qf. 222. rent"] rend Rowe + , Coll. White i.
however, shows that there is more ‘ heraldical jargon ’ in the passage than had been hitherto supposed, and that ‘first’ may perhaps apply neither to ‘colour’ nor to 4 bodies,’ but to heraldical ‘ partitions.’]— Staunton : The plain heraldical allusion is to the simple impalements of two armorial ensigns, as they are marshalled side by side to represent a marriage ; and the expression ‘ Two of the First ’ is to that par¬ ticular form of dividing the shield, being the first in order of the nine ordinary par¬ titions of the Escutcheon. These principles were familiarly understood in the time of Shakespeare by all the readers of the many very popular heraldical works of the period, and an extract from one of these will probably render the meaning of the passage clear. In The Accidence of Armorie, by Gerard Leigh, 1597, he says, ‘ Now will I declare to you of IX sundrie Partitions : the First whereof is a partition from the highest part of the Escocheon to the lowest. And though it must be blazed so, yet it is a joining together. It is also as a mariage, that is to say, two cotes ; the man’s on the right side, and the woman’s on the left; as it might be said that Argent had married with Gules.’ In different words, this is nothing else than an amplification of Helena’s own expression, — ‘seeming parted; But yet a union in partition.’ The shield bearing the arms of two married persons would of course be surmounted by one crest only, as the text properly remarks, that of the husband. In Shakespeare’s day the only pleas for bearing two crests were ancient usage or a special grant. The modem practice of introducing a second crest by an heiress has been most improperly adopted from the German heraldical system; fot it should be remembered that as a female cannot wear a helmet, so neither can she bear a crest. [The solitary objec¬ tion which I can see to Staunton’s explanation, and it is one of small moment, is that ‘ partition is in the singular. Had Helen’s phrase been ‘ a union in partitions,’ Staun¬ ton’s argument would be, I think, indisputable. As the text stands, however, I doubt if Shakespeare’s thoughts were turned thus early to heraldry; ‘partition’ was the logical word to use after ‘ parted ’ in the preceding line ; but the very sound of the word in Shakespeare’s mental ear may have started a train of heraldical imagery which found expression later on. Although ‘ partition ’ is a technical term, I do not think the real heraldry begins until we come to ‘ Two of the first,’ when, having men¬ tioned ‘ partition and referred to bodies before he referred to hearts, he used ‘ first ’ as satisfying the former, ‘ partition,’ and as pointing to the latter, ‘ bodies.’ So that Douce and Staunton may be measurably harmonised, and Ritson is wrong in thinking that Shakespeare blundered. So far from being remiss in his heraldry, he was so at home in it that he could play with its terms. Dyce merely quotes Douce and Staun¬ ton at length, but expresses no opinion. — Ed.]
222. rent] W. A. Wright: The old form of rend. Compare A Lover's Com¬ plaint, 55 : ‘ This said, in top of rage the lines she rents.’ It occurs also in several passages of The Authorised Version, but has been modernised in later editions, and i* left only in Jer. iv, 30.
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
Though I alone doe feele the iniurie.
Her . I am amazed at your paflionate words,
I fcorne you not ; It feemes that you fcorne me.
Hel. Haue you not fet Lyfander , as in fcorne To follow me, and praife my eies and face ?
And made your other loue, Demetrius (Who euen but now did fpurne me with his foote) To call me goddefle, nimph, diuine, and rare, Precious, celeftiall ? Wherefore fpeakes he this To her he hates ? And wherefore doth Lyfander Denie your loue (fo rich within his foule)
And tender me (forfooth) afifedtion,
But by your fetting on, by your confent ?
What though I be not fo in grace as you,
So hung vpon with loue, fo fortunate ?
(But miferable moft, to loue vnlou’d)
This you fhould pittie, rather then defpife.
Her. I vnderftand not what you meane by this.
153
226
230
235
240
243
227. I am] Helen, I am Pope, Han. 240,241 . fortunate ?...vnlou'd)]fortu-
pajjionate] Om. Qq, Pope, Han. nate ;... unlov'd ? Theob. /intimate,...
240. loue] loves Cap. unlov'd! Knt. fortunate, ...unlov'd,
Coll, fortunate, ...unlov'd... Ktly.
225. for it] Walker ( Vers. 79) : It may be remarked that on't, for't, and the like, at the end of verses, have in many instances been corrupted into of it, for it, &c. So with it, in general, at the end of a line. An ear properly imbued with the Shake¬ spearian rhythm in general, and with certain plays in particular, — I mean the earlier dramas (the Mid. N. D. for instance) in which double endings to the lines occur comparatively seldom, — invariably detects the fault. [In the present line ‘ for it ’] sensibly infringes on the ‘ monosyllabo-telcutic ' flow of the poem. Read foVt.
227. passionate] The omission of this emphatic word in Q2, from which the Folio was printed, is another cumulative proof that this Qto had been a play-house copy, and had in it omissions supplied and corrections made, before it came to be used as the original from which the Folio was set up. — Ed.
230. me . . . my] See 4 my,’ I, i, 200.
232. euen but now] Abbott, § 38 : ‘ Even now ’ with us is applied to an action that has been going on for some long time and still continues, the emphasis being laid on 4 now.’ In Shakespeare the emphasis is often to be laid on even, and 4 even now ’ means 4 exactly or only now,’ i. e. scarcely longer ago than the present ; hence 4 but now.’ We use fust now ’ for the Shakespearian 4 even now,’ laying the emphasis on ‘just.’ [See Mer. of Ven. Ill, ii, 176, and As You Like It, II, vii, 4 of this ed., where this same note of Abbott is quoted.]
240. hung vpon] Allen (MS) : May not this be here used as it is in Sonn. xxxi, 10 : 4 Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,’ and in Jul. Cces. I, i, 74 : 4 let no images Be hung with Caesar’s trophies ’ ?
154
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act III, sc. ii.
Hel. I, doe, perfeuer, counterfeit fad lookes,
Make mouthes vpon me when I turne my backe,
Winke each at other, hold the fweete ieft vp :
This fport well carried, (hall be chronicled.
If you haue any pittie, grace, or manners,
You would not make me fuch an argument:
But fare ye well, *tis partly mine owne fault,
Which death or abfence foone fhall remedie.
Lyf. Stay gentle Helena , heare my excufe,
My loue, my life, my foule, faire Helena.
Hel. O excellent!
Her. Sweete, do not fcorne her fo.
Dem. If the cannot entreate, I can compell.
Lyf. Thou canft compell, no more then the entreate. Thy threats haue no more ftrength then her weak praife. Helen , I loue thee, by my life I doe ;
245
250
255
2;q
244- I perfeuer] I doe. Perfeuet Q,. I do, perfever F4. Ay, do, persevere Rowe, Johns. Ay do, persever Pope. I do ; — perceive D. Wilson. Ay, do, per¬ sever Theob. et seq.
245. mouthes ] mows Steev. Var. Knt.
246. iejl] ieajl Qq.
248. haue ] had Coll, ii (MS), Huds.
250. fare ye ivelT\ faryewell Q2. mine] my QI, Cam. White ii.
253. my life] Om Ff, Rowe.
255. [To Lys. Cap.
256. cannot] can not Cap. (Errata). 257- compell, no more] compell no
more, Qt. compell no more F3F4, Rowe et seq.
258. praife] prays Cap. Mai. ’90. prayers Theob. et cet.
259. Helen,] Helen. F4 (as though Helena were the speaker).
244. I, doe,] Hunter ( Illust . i, 296) pronounces the usual reading, ‘Ay, do,’ ‘ bad,’ and upholds Q,, wherein he hears the ‘ grave and serious tone ’ in which Helen replies to Hermia’s assertion : ‘ I understand not what you mean by this.’
244. perseuer] For other examples of this same accent, see Abbott, § 492.
246. hold . . . vp] W. A. Wright: That is, keep it going, carry it on. Com¬ pare Merry Wives, V, v, 109 : ‘ I pray you, come, hold up the jest no higher.’ And Much Ado, II, iii, 126: ‘ He hath ta’en the infection; hold it up’; that is, keep up the sport. ’
249. argument] Johnson: Such a subject of light merriment.
258. praise] Theobald: In the preceding line there is an antithesis betwixt ‘ compel ’ and ‘ entreat ’ ; this contrast is wanting in ‘ threats ’ and * praise ’ ; wherefore we need make no difficulty of substituting prayers. Indeed, my suspicion is that the poet might have coined a substantive plural (from the verb to pray), prays, i. t. pray¬ ings, entreaties, beseechings ; and the identity of sound might give birth to the corrup¬ tion of it into ‘ praise.’— Capell (who adopted Theobald’s conjecture) : ‘ Prays ’ (a nomen verbal ’e) is a bold coinage, but proper; has the sense of prayers, but with more contempt in it ; the sound perfectly of the word it gave birth to, and its form nearly when that word was writ— prayse. [Theobald’s conjecture is plausible. It is quite
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
155
260
I fweare by that which I will lofe for thee,
To proue him falfe, that faies I loue thee not.
Dem. I fay, I loue thee more then he can do.
Lyf. If thou fay fo, with-draw and proue it too.
Dem. Quick, come.
Her. Lyfander, whereto tends all this ?
Lyf. Away, you Ethiope.
Dem. No, no, Sir, feeme to breake loofe ;
Take on as you would follow, 268
260. lofe] loofe Qt.
263. too] to Qq. true Anon. conj.
264. come.] come, — Cap. come ! Dyce.
266. Ethiope] Etkiop, you Heath.
[Holding him. Coll.
267. No, no. Sir, feeme] No, no ; heele Seeme Q,. No, no, hee'l feeme Qa. No no, he’ll seem Pope + , Steev.’85, Hal. No, no; he’ll not come. — Seem Cap. Rann. No no ; he'll — sir, Seem Mai. Var. No, no, sir : — he will Seem Steev.’93. No, no, sir: — seem Knt, Sing, ii, Dyce i, White i, Rolfe. No, no, he'll — Seem Coll. Sta. White ii. No, no; he'll... Seem Cam. Cla. No, no, sir ; you Seem
Lettsom, Dyce ii, iii. No, no, sir: — do; Seem Huds. No, no; he'll but Seem Nicholson (ap. Cam.). No! no, sir; thou' It Seem Kinnear. No, no: he'll not stir (or not budge ) Seem or No, no, sir, no : Seem Schmidt. Her. No, no ; he'll — Dem. Seem Joicey (N. Qu. 11 Feb.’93).
267, 2 68 . y teme . . follow] One line, Qr, Cap. et seq.
to... follow] One line, Pope +, Ktly (the latter readingy
267. to break loofe] To break away Pope + .
268. you] he Pope+, Coll. iii.
in Shakespeare’s manner to form such nouns from verbs, and in the present case, as Theobald says, prays is idem sonans with the text. — Ed.]
266. Ethiope] From this we learn that Hermia is a brunette, just as we are shortly told that she is low of stature. — Ed.
267. No . . . seeme] Malone: This passage, like almost all in which there is a sudden transition or the sense is hastily broken off, is much corrupted in the old copies. . . . Demetrius, I suppose, would say, No, no ; he’ll not have the resolution to disengage himself from Hermia. But, turning abruptly to Lysander, he addresses him ironically : ‘ Sir, seem to break loose,’ &c. [See Text. Notes for Malone’s com¬ posite text.] — Halliwell [who follows the Qq] : The opening of this speech seems to be in relation, very ironically, to Lysander’s previous one, implying that he is making no real effort to detach himself from the lady. Demetrius then personally addresses Lysander in the most provoking language that presents itself. — Hudson modifies Lettsom’s conjecture, adopted by Dyce, by substituting do for you, and thus justifies it : Demetrius is taunting Lysander, as if the latter were making believe that he wants to break loose from Hermia, who is clinging to him, and go apart with Demetrius and fight it out. This sense, it seems to me, is much better preserved by do than by you. We have had a like use of do a little before : ‘Ay, do, persever,’ &c. Also in King Lear, I, i : ‘ Do ; kill thy physician,’ &c. — W. A. Wright : Unless a line has fallen out, this reading [see Text. Notes] gives as good a sense as any. Demet¬ rius first addresses Hermia, and then breaks off abruptly to taunt Lysander with not showing much eagerness to follow him. — D. Wilson (p. 255) : A pair of distracted
156
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act III, sc. u.
But yet come not : you are a tame man, go.
Lyf. Hang off thou cat, thou bur ; vile thing let loofe, 270 Or I will fhake thee from me like a ferpent.
Her . Why are you growne fo rude ?
What change is this fweete Loue?
Lyf. Thy loue ? out tawny Tartar , out ;
Out loathed medicine ; O hated poifon hence. 275
Her. Do you not ieft ?
Hel. Yes footh, and fo do you.
Lyf. Demetrius'. I will keepe my word with thee.
Dem. I would I had your bond : for I perceiue A weake bond holds you ; lie not trust your word. 280
Lyf. What, fhould I hurt her, ftrike her, kill her dead ? Although I hate her, lie not harme her fo.
Her. What, can you do me greater harme then hate? 283
269. tame man ] tameman Walker (Crit. ii, 136).
270. off ] ofQ,. bur ] but Ff.
272, 273. Why ...this\ One line, Qx, Pope et seq.
273. this fweete Loue ?] this ? Sweet love / Pope + . this ? Sweet love , — Cam. White ii.
275. 0] 6 Qq. Om. Pope+, Cap. Steev. Mai. Knt, Cam. Dyce ii, iii, Ktly, White ii.
poifon ] potion Qx, Cap. Steev. Mai. Coll. Dyce, Sta. Cam. Ktly .White ii.
281, 283. What,] What ? Qx. What l Coll, ii, iii.
283. What. ..harme] What greater harm can you do me Han. hate] harm F^.
lovers, set at cross purposes by Puck’s knavish blundering, are giving vent to the most
extravagant violence of language. Helena says, a very little before, ‘ O spite ! O hell ! I see you all are bent,’ &c. In like fashion, as it appears to me, Demetrius now exclaims, in language perfectly consistent with the rude epithets Lysander is heaping on Hermia, * No, no ; hell Seems to break loose ; take on as you would, fel¬ low !’ Bulloch (p. 62) : The utterances of Demetrius at what is passing are aston¬ ishment, interpretation of it, sarcastic advice, a summons to a challenge, and an iron¬ ical compliment, ending with a contemptuous dismissal. [Therefore read] ‘ Now, now. Sir ! Heir s abyss Seems to break loose ; take on as you would flow, But yet come on.' Lysander would appear to be as Sebastian, in The Tempest, standing water ; and Demetrius as Antonio would excite him to action and teach him how to flow. [With the majority of editors I think the whole line is addressed to Lysander, but I do not think that ‘ No, no, Sir ’ has any reference to Hermia’s having been called an ‘ Ethiop.’ Demetrius shows no such zeal when Lysander afterward showers opprobrious epithets on the damsel. To my ears * No, no, Sir’ is a taunting sneer, in modem street-lan¬ guage, ‘ No you don’t ! You can’t come that game over me !’ and Lettsom’s emenda¬ tion follows well : * You merely seem to break loose,’ &c. — Ed.]
274. tawny] Another reference to Hermia’s brunette complexion. _ Ed.
280. weake bond] Alluding to Hermia’s arms, which were clinging around Lysan¬ der. Demetrius scornfully intimates that Lysander, from cowardice, does not really wish to be free. This explains Lysander’s vehement reply _ Ed.
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
157
Hate me, wherefore ? 0 me, what newes my Loue? Am not I Hermial Are not you Ly fancier?
I am as faire now, as I was ere while.
Since night you lou’d me; yet fince night you left me. Why then you left me (O the gods forbid In earned;, (hall I fay ?
285
289
284. newes ] means Coll, ii, iii (MS), 288. forbid ] forbid ) QqFf. forbid l
Sing, ii, Ktly, Marshall. Rowe, forbid it ! Theob. Warb. Johns.
281, 283. In the way of punctuation, I prefer the interrogative ‘What?’ of Q to the * What !’ of Collier and the ‘ What ’ of all the rest. — Ed.
284. wherefore] For other instances where the stronger accent is on the second syllable, see Walker ( Vers, in), or Abbott, § 490.
284. newes] Collier (ed. ii) : For more than two hundred years the text here was the ridiculous question ‘ what news, my love ?’ It has been repeated in edition after edition, ancient and modem ; and so it might have continued but for the discovery of the MS, which shows that means has always been misprinted ‘ news.’ — Lettsom ( Blackwood's Maga. Aug. 1853) thinks that this change of the MS ‘ seems to be right.’ — Halliwell thinks it ‘ very plausible, but unnecessary. “ What news ?” here means What novelty is this ?’— Dyce (ed. ii) : We have a passage in Tam. of the Skr. I, i, which makes the alteration of Collier’s MS a doubtful one : there Lucentio exchanges dress with his servant Tranio ; presently Lucentio’s other servant, Biondello, enters, and exclaims in great surprise, ‘ Master, has my fellow Tranio stol’n your clothes ? Or you stol’n his ? or both ? pray, what’s the news ?’— R. G. White (ed. i) : Collier’s MS substitution is one of the most plausible readings (in the list]. But when we also consider that as this is Hermia’s first interview with her lover since Puck’s application of the flower to his eyes, she may well express surprise at the novelty of his declara¬ tion that he hates her; and when, besides, we find the same word, ‘newes,’ in the QqFf, there does not seem to be sufficient warrant for a change in the authentic text. — Marshall ( Irving Sh.) : I cannot find a single instance in which ‘ What news?’ or ‘ What news with you ?’ is not addressed to some person who has only just appeared on the scene. . . . But Hermia is here under the influence of strong emotion. Is it likely, under such circumstances, that she would employ such a colloquial phrase ? Were she less in earnest, less deeply wounded, and playing the part of an indignant coquette, whose philanderings had been discovered, she might say, ‘ What new-fangled notion is this of your hating me ?’ But she is too much in earnest to play with words. The exclamation ‘ O me !’ is not one of skittish and affected suspense ; it is a cry of real mental anguish ; and I cannot think any one with a due sense of dramatic fitness would admit the reading ‘ what news ?’ in the sense accepted by all the commentators. [We must doggedly shut our eyes to the substitution of any phrase, which is merely an alleged improvement where the sense of the original texts is clear. It seems to have been generally supposed that ‘ What news ?’ can be uttered only in an idle, indifferent way, but it is conceivable that very tragic pathos can be imparted to the word * news.’ Moreover, the continuity of thought upholds the original text in contrasting the new present with the old past : ‘ I am as fair now as I was,’ & c. Above all, the sound rule that durior lectio preferenda est should be ever present —Ed.]
I5«
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act III, sc. ii.
Lyf. I, by my life ; 290
And neuer did defire to fee thee more.
Therefore be out of hope, of queftion, of doubt ;
Be certaine, nothing truer : ’tis no ieft,
That I doe hate thee, and loue Helena.
Her. O me, you iugler, you canker bloffome, 295
You theefe of loue; What, haue you come by night,
And ftolne my loues heart from him ?
Hel. Fine yfaith :
Haue you no modefty, no maiden fhame, 299
292. of doubt\ doubt Pope + , Cap. Steev. Mai. Sta. Dyce ii, iii, Coll, iii, Om. Anon. (ap. Cam.).
293. certaine, ] certaine : Qq.
295. iugler, you\jugler, oh you Pope + , Steev.’8S. jugler,you ! you Cap. juggleer, you Ktly.
298. yfaith\ Ifaith Q,. ifaith Q2.
292. Therefore . . . doubt] To cure this Alexandrine, Pope omitted ‘of’ before
* doubt ’ ; which is effective if ‘ question ’ be pronounced as a disyllable, as is allow¬ able. — Walker ( Crit . iii, 49) proposed to print ‘ Therefore ’ as a separate line, which is merely a deference paid to the eye. — In support of Pope, Lettsom (ap. Dyce) cites : ‘Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field.’ — Schmidt ( Programm , p. 6) trans¬ posed the words, so as to read, ‘Therefore be out of hope, of doubt, of question,’ which is good. But, after all, it seems to me to be better to accept it as an incor¬ rigible Alexandrine, necessitated by the need that each clause should have its fullest effect and be cumulative up to the climax. — Ed.
295. iugler] Malone, Walker ( Vers. 8), Abbott, § 477, all pronounce this word juggeler — a needless deformity, when an exclamation-mark can take the place of a syllable. — Ed.
295. canker-blossom] Steevens : This is not here the blossom of the canker or wild rose , alluded to in Much Ado , I, iii, 28 : ‘ I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace,’ but a worm that preys on the buds of flowers. So in II, ii, 4 of this play : ‘ Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds.’ [Albeit there is abun¬ dant evidence to show that Steevens was acquainted with Capell’s Notes, no blame can attach to him for overlooking explanations imbedded in that gnarled and almost unwedgeable mass. Witness the following, on the present line : ‘ Judges of nature’s language in situations like that of the speaker will be at no loss to decide instantan¬ eously which line should have preference, theirs [i. e. other editors], or that of this copy : The first component of the word it [». e. the line] concludes with is a verb; the compound was overlook’d, or had had a place in the Glossary [* *. Capell’s own Glos- sary] ; what is said of it now will make it clear to all Englishmen.’ In reference to these notes well did Lettsom parody Johnson’s panegyric on Addison : ‘ Whoever wishes to attain an English style uncouth without simplicity, obscure without concise¬ ness, and slovenly without ease, must give his nights and days to the Notes of Capell.’ The provoking part of it is that Capell’s meaning is too good to be disregarded. We cannot afford to overlook it. In the present instance he is exactly right. ‘ You canker- blossom ’ is not ‘ you blossom eaten by a canker,’ but ‘ you who cankers blossoms ’— Ed.]
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
No touch of bafhfulneffe / What, will you teare Impatient anfwers from my gentle tongue ?
Fie, fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you.
Her . Puppet ? why fo ? I, that way goes the game. Now I perceiue that fhe hath made compare Betweene our ftatures, fhe hath vrg’d her height,
And with her perfonage, her tall perfonage,
Her height (forfooth) fhe hath preuail’d with him.
And are you growne fo high in his efteeme,
Becaufe I am fo dwarfifh, and fo low ?
How low am I, thou painted May-pole? Speake,
How low am I ? I am not yet fo low,
But that my nailes can reach vnto thine eyes.
Hel. I pray you though you mocke me, gentlemen, Let her not hurt me ; I was neuer curft :
159
300
305
310
3H
302. counterfeit] counterfoil Qx. coun- 303. way goes'] ways go Rowe, Pope.
terfet Qa. 306. tall perfonage] tall parfonage Q2.
303. whyfo ?] why, so : Theob. Warb. 313. gentlemen] gentleman Q .
Johns. Dyce. 1
301. tongue?] Note tbe genesis of a sopbistication. This interrogation mark became in F3, by accident, a parenthesis : ‘ tongue)’ This caught tbe eye of the compositor of F4 in setting up from F3, and supposing that the preceding half of the parenthesis had been omitted, supplied it, and enclosed the whole line in parentheses, to the confusion of the sense. — Ed.
304. compare] For other instances of the conversion ot one part of speech into another, see Abbott, § 451.
306. And . . . personage] Abbott, § 476, thus scans : ‘And with | her person | age, h£r | tall p6r | sonhge,’ as an illustration of his rule that when a word is repeated twice in a verse, and increases in emphasis, it receives one accent the first time and two accents the second. The result here is, I think, neither smoothness nor due emphasis. I prefer, ‘And with | her p£r | sdnage | her tb.ll | pfershnage,’ that is, the two strongly emphasized words are, the first ‘ personage ’ and ‘ tall.’ _ Ed.
310. painted May-pole] Steevens : So in Stubbes’s Anatomie of Abuses, 1583 [p. 149, ed. New Sh. Soc.] : ‘They haue twentie or fortie yoke of Oxen, euery Oxe hauing a sweet nose-gay of flouers placed on the tip of his homes ; and these Oxen drawe home this May-pole (this stinking Ydol, rather) which is couered all ouer with floures and hearbs, bound round about with strings from the top to the bottome, and sometime painted with variable colours.’ — Halliwei.l gives many extracts to show the antiquity and fashion of painted May-poles, and quotes an observation by Fairholt that ‘ the term applied by Hermia to Helena is a sort of inseparable conjunction, when the old custom of painting the May-pole is duly considered, and conveys a deeper satire than that applied to her height alone.’ [This is doubtless true, but, at the same time, it is possible that in the epithet ‘painted’ there may be an allusion ti¬ the clear red and white of Helena’s blonde complexion. — Ed.]
i6o
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ill, sc. ii.
I haue no gift at all in fhrewifhneffe ;
I am a right maide for my cowardize ;
Let her not ftrike me : you perhaps may thinke,
Becaufe fhe is fomething lower then my felfe.
That I can match her.
Her . Lower ? harke againe.
Hel. Good Hermia , do not be fo bitter with me,
I euermore did loue you Hermia ,
Did euer keepe your counfels, neuer wronged you,
Saue that in loue vnto Demetrius ,
I told him of your Health vnto this wood.
He followed you, for loue I followed him,
But he hath chid me hence, and threatned me To ftrike me, fpurne me, nay to kill me too ;
And now, fo you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I beare my folly backe,
And follow you no further. Let me go.
You fee how Ample, and how fond I am.
Her. Why get you gone : who ift that hinders you ? Hel. A foolifh heart, that I leaue here behinde.
Her. What, with Lyfander ?
Her. With Demetrius.
Lyf. Be not afraid, fhe fhall not harme thee Helena. Dem. No fir, fhe fhall not, though you take her part.
315
320
325
330
335
338
318. fhe is] QqF2F3, Coll. White, Cam. Jhe's F^ et cet.
323. wrotiged~\ wrongd Qt, Rowe et seq. (subs.).
325. vnto this] into this F4, Rowe i. into the Rowe ii, Pope, Han.
326. followed you] follow'd you Rowe et seq.
326. followed him ] followd him F„ Rowe et seq.
328. too] to Qq.
333. Why] Why ? Qt.
336. Her.] F„. Hel. QqF3F4 et cet. 337- fhall] will F4, Rowe, Pope, Han. Helena] Helen Walker, Dyce ii iii.
314. curst] Steevens : That is, shrewish or mischievous. — W. A. Wright: So in Tam. of the Shr. I, i, 186 : ‘ Her eldest sister is so curst and shrewd ’ ; in Mut i Ado, II, i, 22 : ‘ For it is said, God sends a curst cow short horns.’ Cotgrave de¬ fines, froward.’
316. right] Abbott, § 19: This was used by Shakespeare with the indefinite article, to mean real, Awn-right.
329. so] See I, i, 47.
332. fond] That is, foolish. See Shakespeare passim.
337. Helena] See II, ii, no.
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
161
Hel. O when fhe’s angry, fhe is keene and fhrewd.
She was a vixen when (he went to fchoole, 340
And though fhe be but little, fhe is fierce.
Her. Little againe ? Nothing but low and little ?
Why will you fuffer her to flout me thus ?
Let me come to her.
Lyf. Get you gone you dwarfe, 345
You minimus , of hindring knot-grafle made,
You bead, you acorne.
Dem. You are too officious,
In her behalfe that fcornes your feruices.
Let her alone, fpeake not of Helena , 350
Take not her part. For if thou doft intend
3 39. Jhc's~\Jhe is Q,. 346. minimus] Minim, you, Theob. ii,
Han.
340. vixen] W. A. Wright: Properly, a she-fox. The form of the word is especially interesting as being the only instance in which the feminine termination -en has been preserved. See Morris, English Accidence, c. x, § 73. It occurs in Anglo- Saxon as fixen, and in German as fuchsin.
346. minimus] Theobald : This is no term of art, that I can find ; and I can scarce be willing to think that Shakespeare would use the masculine of an adjective to a woman. I doubt not but he might have wrote, ‘ You Minim, you,’ i. e. you diminutive of the creation, you reptile. — Nares : The word came into use probably from the musical term minim, which, in the very old notation, was the shortest note, though now one of the longest.
346. knot-grasse] Steevens: It appears that ‘knot-grass’ was anciently sup¬ posed to prevent the growth of any animal or child. See Beaumont & Fletcher’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle [II, ii, p. 157, ed. Dyce] : ‘ Should they put him into a straight pair of gaskins, ’twere worse than knot-grass ; he would never grow after it.’ Again, in The Coxcomb [II, ii, p. 150, ed. Dyce]: ‘We want a boy extremely for this function, Kept under for a year with milk and knot-grass.’ — Ella- COMBE (p. 101) : The Polygonum aviculare , a British weed, low, straggling, and many-jointed, hence its name of Knot-grass. There may be another explanation of * hindering ’ than that given by Steevens. Johnstone tells us that in the North, ‘ being difficult to cut in the harvest time, or to pull in the process of weeding, it has obtained the sobriquet of the Deil’s-lingels.’ From this it may well be called ‘ hindering,’ just as the Ononis, from the same habit of catching the plough and harrow, has obtained the prettier name of ‘ Rest-harrow.’ [To the same effect Grey (i, 61). ‘ Hindering ’ applies not only to ‘ knot-grass,’ but also to Hermia ; hence it becomes, in reality, a botanical pun. — Ed.]
347. bead] W. A. Wright : As beads were generally black, there is a reference here to Hermia’s complexion as well as to her size.
351. intend] Steevens: That is, pretend. So in Much Ado, II, ii, 35: ‘Intend a kind of zeal both to the Prince and Claudio.’
11
1 62
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act hi, sc. ii.
Neuer fo little fhew of loue to her, 352
Thou (halt abide it.
Lyf. Now fhe holds me not,
Now follow if thou dar’ft, to try whofe right, 355
Of thine or mine is moft in Helena.
Dem. Follow/ Nay, lie goe with thee cheeke by iowle. Exit Lyfander and Demetrius.
Her. You Miftris, all this coyle is long of you.
N ay, goe not backe. 360
Hel. I will not truft you I,
Nor longer ftay in your curft companie.
Your hands then mine, are quicker for a fray,
My legs are longer though to runne away. 364
Her. I am amaz’d, and know not what to fay. Exeunt?] 364
353. abide] able Q2. aby QJf Pope et Beq.
356. Of] Or Theob. Warb. Johns. Steev. Mai. Var. Knt, Sing. Coll, ii, iii (MS), Sta.
358. Exit...] Exit. Q2. Om. Qx.
359. long] ’ long Cap. et seq. (except
Hal. Dyce).
361. you I,] you, I, Qx. you Rowe i. 364. away.] away. Exeunt. Ff. away. Exeunt : Herm. pursuing Helena. Theob.
* Her. Iam amaz'd , and know not what to fay. Qq, Pope, Han. Cap. et seq. (except White i).
353. abide] See line 181, supra.
356. Of thine or mine] Malone: If the line had run Of mine or thine, I should have suspected that the phrase was borrowed from the Latin : Now follow, to try whose right of property — of meum or tuum — is greatest in Helena. [See The Tem¬ pest, II, i, 32 of this edition, where is given the following note:] Walker (Crit. ii, 353)> a paragraph on the use of former, the comparative, to which foremost is the superlative, quotes this passage from Sidney’s Arcadia, B. i, p. 63 : « the question arising, who should be the former against Phalantus, of the blacke, or the ill-appar¬ elled knight,’ &c., ‘ i. e.’ explains Walker, ‘ whether the blacke or the, &c. should be the first to wage combat with Phalantus.’ Whereupon Lettsom, Walker’s editor, remarks that this example ‘ shows that the First Folio is right in « Which of he or Adrian.” ’ ’
358. iowle] W. A. Wright: Side by side, close together, as the cheek to the jole or jaw.
359- coyle] That is, confusion, turmoil. See Shakespeare passim.
364* Theobald’s stage-direction ‘ Exit Hermia pursuing Helena ’ cannot be right. That this line was accidentally omitted by the printers of Ft is clear, I think, from the fact that there is no Exit or Exeunt for the two girls.— R. G. White, in his first edi¬ tion, justified the omission, but in his second edition inserted the line, without a note. In the first edition it stands : ‘ The line is so unsuited to Hennia’s quickness of tem¬ per and tongue, to the state of her mind, and to the situation, and so uncalled for by Helena’s speech, which elicits it, that we should gladly accept the testimony of the authentic copy, that it is either the interpolation of some player who did not want to
ACT III, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
163
365
Enter Oberon and Pucke.
Ob. This is thy negligence, Hill thou miftak’ft,
Or elfe committ’ft thy knaueries willingly.
Puck. Beleeue me, King of fhadowes, I miftooke, Did not you tell me, I fhould know the man,
By the Athenian garments he hath on ?
And fo farre blameleffe proues my enterpize,
That I haue nointed an Athenians eies,
And fo farre am I glad, it fo did fort,
As this their iangling I efteeme a fport.
Ob. Thou feeft thefe Louers feeke a place to fight , Hie therefore Robin , ouercaft the night,
The ftarrie Welkin couer thou anon,
With drooping fogge as blacke as Acheron ,
370
375
378
365. [Scene IX. Pope, Han. Scene