X. Theobald (Nichols, IJlust. ii, 237) conjectured that the Fifth Act should begin

here, and was the first to point out that the scene must be shifted from the Palace Wood to Athens.
4. Staru.] Collier : In the Ff, as in the Qq, there is some confusion of per¬ sons, owing, perhaps, to the actor of the part of Thisbe being called This, in the prefixes.
5. transported] Staunton : Or, as Snout expressed it when he first saw Bottom, adorned with an ass’s head, translated , that is, transformed. — Schmidt ( Lex.) in his third section of the meanings of this word, defines the present passage by ‘ to remove from this world to the next, to kill (euphemistically) ’ ; and cites, in confirmation, Meas. for Meas. IV, iii, 72, where the Duke says of Bamardine ‘to transport him in the mind he is were damnable.’ Of course it would be temerarious to say outright that Schmidt is downright wrong, but I submit that it does not follow that a meaning which is appropriate in the Duke’s mouth is appropriate in Starveling’s. The pre¬ sumption is strong that if ‘transported ’ means killed, Starveling would not have used it. It is the mistakes of these rude mechanicals which, as Theseus says, we must take. Therefore, Starveling’s ‘ transported ’ means Snout’s ‘ translated,’ which means our ‘ transformed.’ — Ed.
6. This.] Ebsworth (Introd. to Griggs's Roberts's Qto, p. xi) : The first error of the Qq was the omission to mark (not Thisbie, but) Thisbie’ s mother; a character that had been allotted to the timid Robin Starveling, although she does not speak when the Interlude is afterwards acted. Her part is dumb-show, and therefore especially suited to the nervous tailor, who fears his own voice and shadow.
ACT IV, sc. ii.] A M1DS0MMER NIGHTS DREAME
Quin. It is not poflible : you haue not a man in all Athens , able to difcharge Piramus but he.
Thif. No, hee hath limply the beft wit of any handy- craft man in Athens.
Qum. Yea, and the beft perfon too, and hee is a very Paramour, for a fweet voyce.
Thif. You muft fay, Paragon. A Paramour is ( God bleffe vs) a thing of nought.
Enter Snug the Ioyner.
Snug. Mafters, the Duke is comming from the Tem¬ ple, and there is two or three Lords & Ladies more mar¬ ried : If our fport had gone forward, we had all bin made men.
Thif. O fweet bully Bottome : thus hath he loft fixe- pence a day, during his life; he could not haue fcaped ftx-
197
8
10
*5
20
22
12. Quin.] Snout. Phelps, Hal. White too] to Qx.
14. Thif.] Quince. Phelps, Hal.
15. nought] naught Ff, Rowe, Theob.
Han. Warb. Cap. Knt, Plal. Dyce, Sta. Cam. White ii.
16. the Ioyner] Orn. Rowe et seq.
19. bin] beene Qq. been Ff.
22. fcaped] scraped Grey.
22, 24, 25. a day] a-day Pope.
12. Quin.] Phelps (ap. Halliwell) : We give this speech to Snout, who has other¬ wise nothing to say, and to whom it is much more appropriate than to Quince. Quince, the playwright, manager, and ballad-monger, himself corrects the pronunciation of Bottom in III, i. The next speech by Flute [line 14] should also, we think, be given to Quince, as the best informed of the party. [As far as Snout is concerned, R. G. White, in his first edition, agreed with Phelps, and in his second edition followed him.]— Ebsworth ( Introd . to Griggs's Roberts's Qto, p. xii) : It is Flute who habit¬ ually mistakes his words (witness his repetition of ‘ Ninny’s tomb,’ despite the cor¬ rection earlier administered to him by Quince). Therefore we may be sure that the awkward misreading of ‘ Paramour ’ for ‘ Paragon ’ comes from Flute, and not from the sensible manager, Quince. Can we restore the right [rubric in line 14] ? It may have been either Quince or Snout , or even Thisbie' s Mother, otherwise Starveling. Certainly not ‘ Thisbie ,’ i. e. Flute.
x4> 15- God blesse vs] See Staunton’s note on III, ii, 419.
15. nought] W. A. Wright: The two words, ‘naught,’ signifying worthlessness, good-for-nothingness, and ‘ nought,’ nothing, are etymologically the same, but the dif¬ ferent senses they have acquired are distinguished in the spelling. — M. Mason : The ejaculation ‘ God bless us !’ proves that Flute imagined he was saying a naughty word [and that the true spelling here is naught],
18. there is two or three] For examples of ‘ there is ’ preceding a plural subject, see Shakespeare passim, or Abbott, § 335.
19. made men] Johnson : In the same sense as in The Tempest, II, ii, 31 ; strange beast there makes a man.’
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iv, sc. ii.
198
pence a day. And the Duke had not giuen him fixpence 23 a day for playing Piramus , lie be hang’d. He would haue deferued it. Sixpence a day in Piramus , or nothing. 25
Enter Bottome.
Bot. Where are thefe Lads f Where are thefe hearts ?
Quin. Bottome , 6 moft couragious day ! O moft hap- pie houre !
Bot. Matters, I am to difcourfe wonders ; but ask me 30 not what. For if I tell you , I am no true Athenian. I will tell you euery thing as it fell out.
Qu. Let vs heare, fweet Bottome.
Bot. Not a word of me : all that I will tell you, is, that the Duke hath dined. Get your apparell together, good 35
23. And ] An Pope et seq.
25. in Piramus] for Pyramus Hal. ronj.
27. hearts'] harts Qt.
28. Bottome,] Bottom ! — Theob.
29. [All croud about him. Cap.
31. no true] not true Qq.
32. thing as] thing right as Qq, Cap. et seq. (subs.).
34. all that] all Rowe + .
25- Sixpence a day] Steevens : Shakespeare has already ridiculed the title-page of Cambyses, by Thomas Preston, and here he seems to allude to him or some other person who, like him, had been pensioned for his dramatic abilities. Preston acted a