II. nights] daies Qa.

13. Now bent] QqFf, Coll. i. Never bent Johns. New bent Rowe et cet. (hyphened by Dyce.)
night] height Daniel.
8. Dowager] Capell : Dowagers that are long-lived wither out estates with a witness, when their jointures are too large, and what remains too little for the heir’s proper supportance ; whose impatience to bury them must (in that case) be of the strongest degree.
9. withering out] Steevens : Thus, ‘And there the goodly plant lies withering out his grace.’ — Chapman, Iliad, iv, 528. [This is quoted in reply to Warburton’s assertion that ‘ withering out’ is not good English.] — Whalley (p. 55): Compare, ‘ Ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum ; Sic mihi tarda fluunt ingrataque tempora.’ — Horace, Epist. I, i. 21.
10. nights] Independently of the avoidance of the repetition of the word in the next line, and of sibilants, I prefer the abstract night of Q . — Ed.
13. Now bent] Rowe changed this to ‘ new bent,’ and has been followed, I think, by every subsequent editor, except by Dr Johnson, and by Collier in his First Edition. Johnson’s ‘ never bent ’ must be, of course, a misprint, although no correction of it is made in his Appendix, where similar misprints are corrected. The Cam. Ed. does not note it. — Knight, while accepting new, believes that it was used in the sense of ‘now,’ a belief which probably arose from the very common misprint of the one word for the other. — Dyce (Rem. p. 44) says that this misprint of ‘ now ’ for new is ‘ one of the commonest.’ — ‘ However graceful as the opening of the play,’ says Hunter (Illust. i, 287), ‘ and however pleasing these lines may be, they exhibit proof that Shakespeare, like Homer, may some¬ times slumber; for, as the old moon had still four nights to run, it is quite clear that at the time Hippolyta speaks of there would be no moon, either full-orbed or “ like to a silver bow,” to beam on their solemnities, or to make up for the deficient properties of those who were to represent Pyramus and Thisbe, by moonlight, at the tomb of Ninus.’ — Collier, in his first ed. believes that the difficulty may be solved by restoring the original reading, whereof the meaning is that ‘ then the moon, which is now bent in heaven like a silver bow, shall behold the night of our solemnities.’ This is specious, but on reflection I think we shall find that Dyce (Rem. p. 44) puts it none too strongly when he says : ‘ If Shakespeare had written “ Now,” intending the passage to have the meaning which Mr Collier gives it, I feel convinced that he would have adopted a different collocation of words.’ — Collier in his next edition adopted New on the authority of his ‘old annotator.’ — Fleay (Life and Work, p.
ACT I, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
7
Of our folemnities.
The. Go Philojirate , lg
Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments,
Awake the pert and nimble fpirit of mirth,
Tume melancholy forth to Funerals:
The pale companion is not for our pompe, ig
1 6- the] th' Pope, Theob. Han. Warb. 19. pompe,"] pompe. Qq.
17. pert] peart Qq. [Exit Phil. Theob.
18. melancholy] melancholly FJF
185) : The time-analysis of this play has probably been disturbed by omissions in pro¬ ducing the Court version. I, i, 136-265 ought to form, and probably did, in the original play, a separate scene ; it certainly does not take place in tbe palace. To the same cause must be attributed the confusion as to the moon’s age ; cf. I, i, 222 with the opening lines ; the new moon was an after-thought, and evidently derived from a form of the story in which the first day of the month and the new moon were coincident, after the Greek time-reckoning.
14. solemnities] Just as solemn frequently means formal, ceremonious, so here ‘ solemnities ’ refers, I think, to the ceremonious celebration of the nuptials, and is used more in reference to the idea of ceremony than of festivity. Theseus afterwards uses it (IV, i, 203) again in the same sense, ‘ We’ll hold a feast in great solemnity.’ — Ed.
15. Philostrate] A trisyllable, see V, i, 43, where the Qq give Philostrate instead of ‘ Egeus,’ and where the scanning proves that it is trisyllabic. — Ed.
16. merriments] I think the final s is as superfluous here as just above in
* nights.’ — Ed.
17. pert] Skeat (Diet. s. v.) : In Shakespeare [this] means lively, alert. Middle English, pert, which, however, has two meanings and two sources, and the meanings somewhat run into one another. 1. In some instances pert is certainly a corruption of apert, and pertly is used for ‘ openly ’ or ‘ evidently,’ see Will, of Palerne, 4930, &c. In this case the source is the French apert, open, evident, from Lat. apertus. 2. But we also find ‘ proud and pert,’ Chaucer, Cant. T. 3948 ; ‘ Stout he was and pert ,’ Li Beaus Disconus, 1. 123 (Ritson). There is an equivalent form, perk, which is really older ; the change from k to t taking place occasionally, as in Eng. mate from Mid. Eng. make. [‘ Pert ’ is still a common word in New England, used exactly in the Shake¬ spearian sense and pronounced as it is spelled in the Qq, peart, i. e.peert. — Ed.]
19. The] Grey (i, 41) : I am apt to believe that the author gave it, ‘ That pale companion,’ which has more force. And, besides the moon, another pale companion was to be witness to the marriage pomp and solemnity, as Hippolyta had said just before. ‘ The moon,’ &c. — Anon.
19. companion] W. A. Wright: That is, fellow. These two words have com¬ pletely exchanged their meanings in later usage. ‘ Companion ’ is not now used con¬ temptuously as it once was, and as fellow frequently is. [Schmidt’s examples are not appropriately distributed under the several shades of meaning of this word ; the contemptuous tone in many of them is not caught. — Ed.]
19. pompe] ‘Funerals,’ with its imagery of long processions, suggested here, I think, this word * * pompe ’ in its classic sense. See note on line 23 below. — Ed.
8
A MIDSOMMEE NIGHTS DREAME [act i, sc. i.
Hippolita, I woo’d thee with my fword, 20
And wonne thy loue, doing thee iniuries :
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pompe, with triumph, and with reuelling.
Enter Egeus and his daughter Hermia , Lyfander ,
and Demetrius. 25
Ege. Happy be Thefeus, our renowned Duke.
23. reuelling ] revelry T. White, Coll. Helena , Qt. and Lyfander, Helena, Qa.
MS, Ktly. 26. Duke.'] duke Q, (Ashbee). duke.
24. Lyfander] and Lyfander. and Q, (Griggs).
19. White (ed. i) : At the end of Theseus’s address to Philostrate it has been the practice in modern editions to mark his exit. But such literalism is almost puerile. Theseus surely did not mean that Philostrate should then rush out incontinent, and begin on the moment to awake ‘ the pert and nimble spirit of mirth ’ in the Athenian youth. [Philostrate must leave at once, if he is the ‘ double ’ of Egeus. — Ed.]
20. Hippolita, &c.] Grey (i, 41), followed by Knight, here quotes a long pas¬ sage from Chaucer’s Knighte’s Tale , beginning at line 860 : ‘ Whilom as olde stories tellen us, There was a duk that highte Theseus,’ &c. See Appendix, ‘ Source of the Plot.’— Ed.
23. pompe,] Warton (quoted by W. A. Wright) in a note on Milton’s Samp¬ son Agonistes, 13 12 : 1 This day to Dagon is a solemn feast, With sacrifices, triumph, pomp, and games,’ suggests that Milton applied ‘ pomp ’ to the appropriated sense which it bore to the Grecian festivals, where the noyni), a principal part of the cere¬ mony, was the spectacular procession. Shakespeare, adds Wright, in King John , III, i, 304, also has the word with a trace of its original meaning : ‘ Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums, Clamours of hell, be measures of our pomp ?’
23. triumph] Malone : By triumph, as Mr Warton has observed, we are to understand shows, such as masks, revels, &c. — Steevens : In the Duke of Anjou’s Entertainment at Antwerp, 1581 : ‘ Yet notwithstanding their triumphes [those of the Romans] have so borne the bell above all the rest, that the word triumphing, which, cometh thereof, hath beene applied to all high, great, and statelie dooings.’ — W. A. Wright : The title of Bacon’s 37th Essay is ‘ Of Masques and Triumphs,’ and the two words appear to have been synonymous, for the Essay treats of masques alone. [Falstaff says of Pistol : ‘ O, thou art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light!’ — 1 Hen. IV: III, iii, 46.]
23. reuelling] T. White (ap. Fennell) : There is scarcely a scene in this play which does not conclude with a rhyming couplet. I have no doubt, therefore, Shakespeare wrote ‘ revel ry.’ [Before this emendation can be considered we must know the pronunciation both of ‘ key ’ and of ‘ revelry ’ in Shakespeare’s time. It is by no means impossible that ‘ revelry,’ where the y final is unaccented, was pronounced revelrei. If the word be spelled revelrie, then it may rhyme with ‘ key,’ if we were sure that Shakespeare did not pronounce that word kay. Dryden (Ellis, i, 87) rhymes key with lay, sway, prey. — Keightley’s positive assertion that revelry is the ‘ right word ’ alone justifies any extended notice of White’s emendation, which happens to be also one of Collier’s * Old Corrector’s.’ — Ed.]
26. Duke.] The notes in the Variorum, 1821, afford abundant examples, if any be
ACT I, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
9
The. Thanks good Egeus \ what’s the news with thee? Ege. Full of vexation, come I, with complaint Againft my childe, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth Dometrius.
My Noble Lord,
This man hath my confent to marrie her.
Stand forth Lyfander.
And my gracious Duke,
This man hath bewitch’d the bofome of my childe : Thou, thou Lyfander , thou haft giuen her rimes,
And interchang’d loue-tokens with my childe :
Thou haft by Moone-light at her window fung,
With faining voice, verfes of faining loue,
2 7
30
35
39
27. Egeus :] Egeus. Qq. what’s] Whats Q,.
30. As beginning line 31, Rowe et seq. Dometrius] F,.
33. As beginning line 34, Rowe et seq.
Lyfander] Lifander Qt.
35. This man ] This Ff, Rowe, Pope, Cap. Mai. Steev. Var.
35. bewitch'd'] witch'd Theob. Warb. Johns. Dyce ii, iii, Ktly, Huds.
36. Thou , thou] Thou , Gould.
37. loue-tokens] loue tokens Qq. love- token F4>
38. hajl... light] ha/1,. ..light, Qf.
39. faining loue] feigned love Han. Walker ( Crit. iii, 46).
needed, of the use of this title, in our early literature, applied to any great leader, such as ‘ Duke Hamilcar,’ ‘ Duke Hasdrubal,’ * Duke Hineas,’ and, in Chaucer’s Knight's Tale, cited above, ‘ Duk Theseus,’ where, it has been suggested, Shake¬ speare found it. — Ed.
27. Egeus] As has been already noted this is a trisyllable, with the accent on the middle syllable. The Second Folio spells it * Egaeus.’
30, 33. These lines are clearly part of the text, but being in the imperative mood, so familiar in stage-copies, the compositor mistook them for stage-directions, and set them up accordingly. — Ed.
35. The Textual Notes show the editorial struggles to evade what has been deemed the defective metre of this line. It is needful to retain ‘ man ’ as an antithesis to ‘man ’ in line 32 ; and the change of ' bewitch’d ’ into witch'd has only Theobald for authority. To my ear the line is rendered smooth by reducing ‘ hath ’ to 'th ; ‘ This man ’th bewitch’d,’ &c. — -just as in the next line ‘thou ’st given her rhymes’ better accords with due emphasis than ‘ thou hast giv’n her rhymes.’ — Ed.
39. faining voice . . . faining loue] It is not easy to see why every editor, without exception, I believe, should have followed Rowe’s change to feigning, a change which Hunter ( Rlust . i, 287) characterises, properly I think, as ‘injudicious.’ Surely there was nothing feigned nor false in Lysander’s love, nor any discernible reason why he should sing in a falsetto voice. His love was sincere, and because it was outspoken Demetrius’s wrath was stirred. Halliwell says that probably * Egeus intended to imply that the love of Lysander was assumed and deceptive,’ but there is no intimation of this anywhere except in this change by Rowe. I cannot but think that the original word of the QqFf is here correct, and
IO
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act i, sc. L
And ftolne the impreflion of her fantafie, 40
With bracelets of thy haire, rings, gawdes, conceits,
Knackes, trifles, Nofe-gaies, fweet meats (meffengers Of ftrong preuailment in vnhardned youth)
With cunning haft thou filch’d my daughters heart,
Turn’d her obedience (which is due to me) 45
To ftubborne harfhneffe. And my gracious Duke,
Be it fo fhe will not heere before your Grace,
Confent to marrie with Demetrius ,
I beg the ancient priuiledge of Athens ;
As fhe is mine, I may difpofe of her ; 50
Which fhall be either to this Gentleman,
Or to her death, according to our Law,
Immediately prouided in that cafe. 53
42, 43. {meffengers ... youth)] No parenthesis, Rowe.
42. Nofe-gaies~\ nofegaies Qq.
43. vnhardned ] vnhardened Qq. un¬ harden'd Rowe.
44. filch'd ] filcht Qq.
46. harfhnefe ] hardness Coll. (MS).
47. Be it] Be' l ?ope + , Dyce iii.
47. fo... heere] fo,.. .heere, Qt.
48. Demetrius,] Demetrius. Q, (Griggs).
49. ancienf\ auncient Q,.
Athens;'] Athens; Qf. Athens,
Ff.
52. death,] death; Qt.
that it is used in its not unusual sense of loving, longing, yearning. So far from feigning being the true word, I think a better paraphrase of ‘ faining ’ would be love-sick. — Ed.
40. stolne the impression of her fantasie] W. A. Wright: That is, secretly stamped his image on her imagination. [This ‘ impression,’ taken, as it were, on yield¬ ing wax, may have suggested the use of the word * unhardened ’ in line 43, and Theseus’s words in 57, 58. — Ed.]
41. gawdes] W. A. Wright: Trifling ornaments, toys. Both ‘ gawd ’ and jewel are derived from the Latin gaudium ; the latter coming to us immediately from the Old French joel, which is itself gaudiale.
41. conceits] Gentileffcs • Prettie conceits, deuifes, knacks, feats, trickes. _ Cot-
grave.
47. Be it so] Abbott, §133: ‘So’ seems to mean in this way, on these terms, and the full construction is, ‘be it (if it be) so that.’ See ‘so,’ III, ii, 329, post.
52. to her death] Warburton: By a law of Solon’s, parents had an absolute power of life and death over their children. So it suited the poet’s purpose well enough to suppose the Athenians had it before. Or perhaps he neither thought nor knew anything of the matter.
53. Immediately, &c.] Steevens: Shakespeare is grievously suspected of having been placed, while a boy, in an attorney’s office. The line before us has an undoubted smack of legal common-place. Poetry disclaims it.
ACT I, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
The. What fay you Hermia? be aduis’d faire Maide, To you your Father fhould be as a God ;
One that compos’d your beauties ; yea and one To whom you are but as a forme in waxe By him imprinted : and within his power,
To leaue the figure, or disfigure it :
Demetrius is a worthy Gentleman.
Her. So is Lyfander.
The. In himfelfe he is.
But in this kinde, wanting your fathers voyce.
The other muft be held the worthier.
Her. I would my Father look’d but with my eyes. The. Rather your eies muft with his iudgment looke. Her. I do entreat your Grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concerne my modeftie
In fuch a prefence heere to pleade my thoughts :
But I befeech your Grace, that I may know The worft that may befall me in this cafe,
If I refufe to wed Demetrius.
The. Either to dye the death, or to abiure
1 1
55
60
t>5
70
7 4
54. Maide, ] maid. Q,Ff.
55. To you] To you, Q,.
59. leaue] ’ lev e Warb.
61. Lyfander] Lifander Q .
63. voyce.] voice, Qq. voice Ff.
66. looke.] looke , Q .
67. me.] me, Ff.
68. bold] bould Qt.
70. prefence] prefence, Qq.
58. power] For other examples of an ellipsis of it is, see Abbott, § 403.
59. leaue] Warburton’s emendation, 7m r, is incomprehensible without a word of explanation. It stands for ‘ releve, to heighten or add to the beauty of the figure, which is said to be imprinted by him. ’Tis from the French relever. ’ — Johnson : The sense is, — you owe to your father a being which he may at pleasure continue or destroy.
63. in this kinde] This phrase, like Hermia’s ‘ in this case,’ line 72, refers to the present question of marriage. — Ed.
69. concerne my modestie] W. A. Wright: That is, nor how much it may affect my modesty. [Is it not rather, how much it may affect my reputation for mod¬ esty ? — Ed.]
74- dye the death] Johnson : This seems to be a solemn phrase for death inflicted by law. — Note on Meas. for Meas. II, iv, 165. — W. A. Wright: Generally> bnt not uniformly, applied to death inflicted by law ; for instance, it is apparently an intensive phrase in Sackville’s Induction, line 55: ‘It taught mee well all earthly things be borne To dye the death.’ Shakespeare, however, uses the expression always of a judicial punishment. Cf. Ant. and Cleop. IV, xiv, 26 : ‘ She hath be-
12
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act i, sc. i.
For euer the fociety of men. 75
Therefore faire Hermia queftion your defires,
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether (if you yeeld not to your fathers choice)
You can endure the liuerie of a Nunne,
For aye to be in fhady Cloifter mew’d, 80
To liue a barren fitter all your life,
Chanting faint hymnes to the cold fruitleffe Moone,
Thrice bleffed they that matter fo their blood,
To vndergo fuch maiden pilgrimage,
But earthlier happie is the Rose diftil’d, 85
77. blood,] blood. F3F4.
78. if you yeeld not ] not yielding Pope, Han.
81. barren ] barraine Qr.
82. Chanting ] Chaunting Qf.
83. their ] there Q4.
84. pilgrimage ,] pilgrimage. F3F4.
85. earthlier happie ] earthly er happy Q,- earthlier happy Qa. earlier happy Rowe ii. earthly happier Cap. Knt, Coll, i, ii, Sing. Sta. earthlier-happy Walker, Dyce, Huds.
dijlil'd ] distol'd Gould (p. 56).
tray d me and shall die the death.’ Even when Cloten says (Cym. IV, ii, 96) to Guiderius, ‘ Die the death,’ he looks upon himself as the executioner of a judicial sentence in killing an outlaw. See Matthew xv, 4.
77- Know] Staunton : That is, ascertain from your youth.
77. blood] Dyce: That is, disposition, inclination, temperament, impulse. _ W. A.
Wright : Passion as opposed to reason. See below, line 83, and Ham. Ill, ii, 74 : ‘ Whose blood and judgement are so well commingled.’
78. Whether] For multitudinous instances of this monosyllabic pronunciation, see Walker, Vers. 103, or Abbott, § 466, or Shakespeare passim.
79- Nunne] W. A. Wright: For the word ‘nun,’ applied to a woman in the time of Theseus, see North’s Plutarch (i63I), p. 2 : ‘ But Egeus desiring (as they say) to know how he might haue children, went into the city of Delphes.to the Oracle of Apollo : where, by a Nunne of the temple, this notable prophecie was giuen him for an answer.’ ‘ Livery,’ which now denotes the dress of servants, formerly signi¬ fied any distinctive dress, as in the present passage. Cf. Pericles, II, v, 10; and III, iv, 10.
82. faint] Rolfe : That is, without feeling or fervour. [But is such an impu¬ tation of insincerity, almost of hypocrisy, in keeping with the dignified seriousness of the Duke’s adjuration ? May it not be that midnight hymns chanted by nuns within a convent’s walls must always sound ‘ faint ’ to the ears of men outside ?— Ed.]
83, 84. so . . . To] For instances of the omission of as after so, see Abbott § 281.
£>4- pilgrimage] W. A. Wright: This sense of ‘pilgrimage’ is in accordance with the usage of Scripture. Compare Genesis xlvii, 9 : my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years.’ And As You Like It, III, ii, 138 : how brief the life of man Runs his erring pilgrimage.’
85. earthlier happie] Johnson: ‘Earthlier’ is so harsh a word, and ‘earthliei
ACT I, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME Then that which withering on the virgin thorne,
*3
86
86. Then] Than
happy/ for happier earthly, a mode of speech so unusual, that I wonder none of the editors have proposed earlier happy [see Textual Notes]. — Steevens : We might read, earthly happy.— Knight (who follows Capell) : If, in the orthography of the Folio, the comparative had not been used, it would have been ea7-thlie happie ; and it is easy to see, therefore, that the r has been transposed. — Hunter (i, 288) : This is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s ‘ unfiled expressions,’ one which he would have a little polished had he ever ‘ blotted a line,’ and yet the words after all convey their mean¬ ing with sufficient clearness. The virgin is thrice blessed, as respects the heaven for which she prepares herself; but, looking only to the present world, the other is the happier lot. [The objections to Capell’s reading] are, 1st, that it is against authority; 2d, that nothing is gained by it ; 3d, that if there is any difference in the meaning it is a deterioration, not an improvement ; and 4th, that it spoils the melody. — R. G. White (ed. i) : Capell’s change substitutes a comparison of degree for one of kind, impairs the rhythm of the line, gives a weak thought for a strong one, is based on a limitation of the flexibility of the language even in the hands of Shakespeare, and, in short, is little less than barbarous. There is no better adjective than earthly, and none which can be better made comparative or superlative. — Walker ( Crit . i, 27) : If, indeed, it be not too obvious, this means more earthly-happy. [Both Walker ( Crit. iii, 46) and Halliwell (ad loci) cite Erasmus’s Colloquies, Colloq. Proci et Puellce, — ‘ Ego rosam existimo feliciorem, quae marescit in hominis manu, delectans interim et oculos et nares, quam quae senescit in frutice.’ — Dyce : Earthy happier is a more correct expression, doubtless; but Shakespeare (like his contemporaries) did not always write correctly. — J. F. Marsh ( Notes 6° Qu. 5th, x, 243, 1878) asserts that it is impossible to make sense of this passage. ‘ Happiness is predicated of both roses. The earth- liness only of their happiness is the subject of comparison. The distilled rose enjoys a more earthly, and the withered rose a less earthly, happiness, and the more earthly happiness is assumed to be the preferable state. This, the only possible construction, is a reductio ad absurdum.' [Marsh hereupon suggests that eathlier is a word which differs from the text by the omission of only a single letter. ‘ “ Uneath ” is found in s Hen. VI: II, iv, 8 ; Spenser in many places has eath as an adjective ; Fairfax’s Tasso has eathest ; and Peele, Honour of the Garter, has eathly as an adverb, of which the word now proposed would be the regular comparative form. . . . True, I find no authority for the exact word ; but the very fact of its being unusual would increase its liability to be misprinted by the substitution of a word so very like it in appearance.’ It is proper to add that Marsh would not disturb the present text, because sanctioned by the authority of the QqFf, but where sense is impossible he holds conjectures to be legitimate. At one time he was * half inclined to suggest the possibility that rathelier was the original word.’ Marsh is the only critic, I believe, who finds the meaning obscure ; it is the ‘ unusual mode of speech ’ which has given rise to discussion. Theseus’s meaning is clear, however much we may disagree with the sentiment, that in an earthly sense the married woman is happier than the spin¬ ster. — Ed.]
85. distil’d] Malone : This is a thought in which Shakespeare seems to have much delighted. We meet with it more than once in the Sonnets. See Sonnet 5 :
‘ But flowers distill’d, though they with winter meet, Leese but their show ; their sub¬ stance still lives sweet.’ So also Sonn. 54.
14 A MIDFOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act i, sc. i.
Growes, liues, and dies, in fingle bleffedneffe. 8 7
Her. So will I grow, fo liue, fo die my Lord,
Ere I will yeeld my virgin Patent vp
Vnto his Lordfhip, whofe vnwifhed yoake, 90
My foule confents not to giue foueraignty.
The. Take time to paufe, and by the next new Moon The fealing day betwixt my loue and me,
For euerlafting bond of fellowfhip :
Vpon that day either prepare to dye, 95
For difobedience to your fathers will,
Or elfe to wed Demetrius as hee would,
Or on Dianaes Altar to proteft For aie, aufterity, and fingle life.
Dem. Relent fweet Hermia , and Lyfander , yeelde 100
Thy crazed title to my certaine right.
Lyf. You haue her fathers loue, Demetrius : 102
90. whofe vnwifhed] to whofe vn- 96. your] you Fa.
wifhed F2F3
Rowe + , Cap. Steev. Mai. Coll. conj.
89. virgin Patent] That is, my patent to be a virgin.
90. Lordship] Knight : That is, authority. The word dominion in our present translation of the Bible (. Romans vi) is lordship in Wicklif’s translation.
90. whose] The instances given by Abbott, § 201, of the omission of the prepo¬ sition before the indirect object of some verbs, such as say, question, and, in the pres¬ ent instance, consent, show that the insertion of ‘ to ’ in Fa was needless.
91. After this line, Hermia, in Garrick’s Version, 1763, sings the following song, the music by ‘ Mr Smith ’ : —
* With mean disguise let others nature hide,
And mimick virtue with the paint of art;
I scorn the cheat of reason’s foolish pride,
And boast the graceful weakness of my heart ;
The more I think, the more I feel my pain,
And learn the more each heav’nly charm to prize ;
While fools, too light for passion, safe remain,
And dull sensation keeps the stupid wise.’
93, 94. sealing . . . bond] Again legal phraseology.
101. crazed title] W. A. Wright: That is, a title with a flaw in it. Compare Lyly’s Euphues (ed. Arber), p. 58 : glasse once erased, will with the least clappe be cracked.’ — D. Wilson ( Caliban , &c., p. 242) : Query, razed title. The decision of Theseus has just been given, by which all claim or title of Lysander to Hermia’s hand is erased. The word razed repeat¬ edly o
act I, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
15
Let me haue Hermiaes : do you marry him.
Egeus. Scornfull Lyfander, true, he hath my Loue; Aud what is mine, my loue (hall render him.
And the is mine, and all my right of her,
I do eftate vnto Demetrius.
Lyf. I am my Lord, as well deriu’d as he,
As well pofleft : my loue is more then his :
My fortunes euery way as fairely ranck’d (If not with vantage) as Demetrius :
And (which is more then all thefe boafts can be)
I am belou’d of beauteous Hermia.
Why fhould not I then profecute my right?
Demetrius, lie auouch it to his head,
Made loue to Nedars daughter, Helena ,
And won her foule : and fhe (fweet Ladie) dotes, Deuoutly dotes, dotes in Idolatry,
Vpon this fpotted and inconftant man.
103
105
no
1 1£
119
103. Hermiaes] Hermia Tyrwhitt.
104. Lyfander,] Lyfander: F3F4. Ly- sander! Rowe.
106. her,] Fa. her QqF3F4>
109. /hen] than Q,F4.
no. fortunes ] Fortune's Rowe, Pope Theob. Warb. Johns.
m. Demetrius] Demetrius’ Han Demetrius’s Johns.
1 13. beauteous ] beautious Qq.
1 15. lie] ru f3f4.
107. estate vnto] If Shakespeare elsewhere discloses the lawyer, he betrays the layman here. A lawyer would, instinctively almost, say * estate upon ’ or ‘ on,' as, indeed, Shakespeare has done elsewhere, in the only two places, I believe, in which he has used the verb : Temp. IV, i, 85, and As You Like It, V, ii, 13. Hanmer incontinently changed it to upon. — Ed.
113. beauteous] The spelling ‘beautious’ in the two Quartos may possibly indicate a pronunciation of ti like sh. If so, it is possibly the pronunciation of merely the compositors, and it is somewhat strange that both of them should here agree. This is another reminder of the gap which lies between Shakespeare and us, and of the futility of examining microscopically the spelling or even the punctuation of his plays as they have been transmitted to us. — Ed.
1 15. to his head] W. A. Wright: That is, before his face, openly and unre¬ servedly. Compare Meas. for Meas. IV, iii, 147 ; Much Ado, V, i, 62.
1 16. Nedars] Walker ( Crit. ii, 30): Perhaps a mistake of the printer’s for Nestor, — of course not the Pylian. ‘ Very unlikely, I think,’ adds Dyce (ed. ii). [If this play is founded on an older play, we have here, perchance, a reminiscence of the original, or, which I think more likely, this familiar reference is designed merely to give vividness. — Ed.]
119. spotted] Johnson: As spotless is innocent, so ‘spotted’ is wicked. — D. Wilson (p. 243) : No one would venture to disturb the text. But I may note here
i6
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
[act i, sc. i.
The. I muft confeffe, that I haue heard fo much,
And with Demetrius thought to haue fpoke thereof :
But being ouer-full of felfe-afifaires,
My minde did. lofe it. But Demetrius come,
And come Egeus , you fhall go with me,
I haue fome priuate fchooling for you both.
For you faire Hermia , looke you arme your felfe,
To fit your fancies to your Fathers will ;
Or elfe the Law of Athens yeelds you vp (Which by no meanes we may extenuate)
To death, or to a vow of fingle life.
Come my Hippolita , what cheare my loue ?
Demetrius and Egeus go along :
I muft imploy you in fome bufineffe Againft our nuptiall, and conferre with you Of fomething, neerely that concernes your felues.
Ege. With dutie and defire we follow you. Exeunt Manet Lyfander and Hermia.
120
125
I30
135
137
123. lofe] loofe Qj. 137- Manet...] Om. Qq.
127. fancies ] fancy Ktly conj. [Scene II. Pope, Han. Warb.
133. imploy ] employ Q,F3F4. Fleay.
134. nuptiall] nuptialls Ff, Rowe + .
a conjectural change as harmonising, by antithesis with Helena’s ‘ devout idolatry ' to her forsworn lover : ‘ ' Pon this apostate and,' &c.
122. selfe-affaires] For similar compounds with self see Abbott, § 20.
126. For] For other instances of this use in the sense of as regards, see Abbott, §149.
131. Hippolita] Warburton: Hippolita had not said one single word all this while. Had a modern poet had the teaching of her, we should have found her the busiest amongst them ; and, without doubt, the Lovers might have expected a more equitable decision. But Shakespeare knew better what he was about, and observed decorum.
134. nuptiall] W. A. Wright: Shakespeare, except in two instances \_Othello, II, ii, 8, and Pericles, V, iii, 80], employs the singular form of this word. In the same way we have ‘ funeral ’ and ‘ funerals.’ Compare Jul. Cees. V, iii, 105 : ‘ His funerais shall not be in our camp ’ ; although in this case it is the singular form that has survived. [As long as the source of our knowledge of Shakespeare’s language is a text transmitted to us by several compositors, it is hazardous to assert that Shake¬ speare employs any special form of a word. In the instance from Othello, the Qq, it is true, have the plural, ‘ nuptialls,’ but the word in the Ff is in the singular, as Wright himself notes, Tempest, V, i, 362, of this edition. — Ed.]
135. neerely] For other transpositions of adverbs, see Abbott, § 421.
137. Manet, &c.] W. A. Wright: It was a strange oversight on the part of
ACT i, sc. i.] A MID SOMMER NIGHTS DREAME \J
Lyf. How now my loue? Why is your cheek fo pale? 138
How chance the Rofes there do fade fo faft ?
Her. Belike for want of raine, which I could well 140
Beteeme them, from the tempeft of mine eyes.
1 4 1. Beteeme ] Bestream or Bestow 141. mine'] my Qq, Cam. Wh. ii.