I. Enter] Enter Titania Qt.

7
3- for] 'fore Theob. Han. Johns. Huds. ere Huds. conj. fly Kinnear.
a minute ] the midnight Warb. the Minuit Id. conj.
6. fome keepe ] keep fome F4.
2. Roundell] bee note on line io.
3. for] Theobald thus explains his text 'fore : The Poet undoubtedly intended Titama to say, Dance your Round, and sing your song, and then instantly ( before the third part of a minute) begone to your respective duties. — Heath (p. 51) : I should rather incline to read : in. That is, after your song and dance have ended vanish in the third part of a minute, and leave me to my rest. — Capell : It rather seems that the queen s command is expressive of the short time in which she should be asleep after their song and dance ; that absence is enjoined, but ’till she were asleep ; after which, they might return if they pleased and follow the tasks she set them even about her ‘ cradle ’ as Puck calls it, her sleep’s soundness would not be disturb’d by them ; and this hint of its soundness is not unnecessary : for we see presently that it is not broke by the persons that enter next, nor by the clowns ’till Bottom brays-out his song.
3. a minute] Warburton pronounces this ‘ nonsense,’ and actually substituted in his text the midnight. — Steevens : But the persons employed are fairies , to whom the third part of a minute might not be a very short time to do such work in. The critic might as well have objected to the epithet ‘ tall,’ which the fairy bestows on the cowslip. But Shakespeare, throughout the play, has preserved the proportion of other things in respect of these tiny beings, compared with whose size a cowslip might be tall, and to whose powers of execution a minute might be equivalent to an age. — Halliwell : This quaint subdivision of time exactly suits the character of the fairy speaker and her diminutive world.
4. Cankers] Patterson (p. 34) : This larva, Lozotcenia Rosana , passes by the 'smirch’d tapestry,’ and chooses for its domicile ‘the fresh lap of the crimson rose.’ It there lives among the blossoms, and prevents the possibility of their further devel¬ opment. — Halliwell says that this name is applied to almost any kind of destructive caterpillar. [Here in this country a popular distinction is drawn, I think, between cankers and caterpillars. The former are small and hairless, the latter may be large or small, but always hairy. — Ed.]
5. Reremise] W. A. Wright: That is, bats; A.-S. hrlre-mus, from hreran, to &ir, to agitate, and so equivalent to the old name flittermouse. Cotgrave has, ‘ Chau- vesouris : m. A Batt, Flittermouse, Reremo’ise.’
102
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ii, sc. ii.
At our queint fpirits : Sing me now afleepe, Then to your offices, and let me reft.
8
Fairies Sing.
io
You /potted Snakes with double tongue, Thorny Hedgehogges be not feene , Newts and blinde wormes do no wrong ,
13
8, fpirits] sports Han. Warb. Sing] Come, sing Han.
Cap. et seq. (subs.). II-27. In Roman, Q,.
10. Fairies Sing] Song. First Fairy.
7. clamorous] Walker ( Crit. i, 157) concludes that this word, in many places in Shakespeare, evidently signifies wailing.
8. queint] Cotgrave has, ‘ Coint : m. Quaint, compt, neat, fine, spruce, briske, smirke, smug, daintie, trim, tricked vp.’
10. Fairies Sing] Capell was the first to divide this song into two stanzas of four lines each, with a chorus of six lines, from line 15 to line 20 inclusive In the stanzas we have the ‘ Fairy Song ’ which the Queen calls for, and in the Chorus we have the ‘ Roundell,’ which was ‘ danc’d-to as well as sung.’ [This solves the difficulty of combining a dance and that which the text tells us was a song. Rondel, says Skeat, is an older form of rondeau , which Cotgrave explains as ‘a rime or sonnet which ends as it begins.’ Tyrwhitt cites a passage from Jonson’s Tale of a Tub , II, i, which shows that rondel was a dance : ‘ You’d have your daughter and maids Dance o’er the fields like faies to church, this frost. I’ll have no rondels, I, in the queen’s paths.’ — p. 154, ed. Gifford. Staunton says that a ‘ roundel ’ is ‘ a dance, where the parties joined hands and formed a ring.’ He gives no authority, but adds, ‘ this kind of dance was sometimes called a round, and a roundelay also, according to Minshew, who explains : “ Roundelay, Shepheards daunce .” ’]
13. Newts] ‘ Of the Nevte or Water Lizard. This is a little blacke Lizard, called Wassermoll or Wasseraddex, that is, a Lizard of the Water. . . . They liue in stand¬ ing water or pooles, as in ditches of Townes and Hedges. . . . There is nothing in nature that so much offendeth it as salt, for so soone as it is layde vpon salt, it endeau- oureth with all might & maine to runne away. . . . Beeing moued to anger, it stand- eth vpon the hinder legges, and looketh directlie in the face of him that hath stirred it, and so continueth till all the body be white, through a kind of white humour or poyson, that it swelleth outward, to harme (if it were possible) the person that did prouoke it.’ — Topsell, p. 212.— W. A. Wright: ‘A newt’ is an evet or eft (A.-S. efete), the n of the article having become attached to the following word, as in ‘nonce,’ ‘ noumpere ’ = umpire, and others. In ‘adder’ the opposite practice ha# taken place, and * a nadder ’ (A.-S. ntzddre') has become ‘ an adder ’ ; so ‘ an auger ’ is really ‘ a nauger ’ (A.-S. nafegar). [‘ Orange ’ may be also added.]
13. blinde wormes] 1 Of the Slow- Worms. This Serpent was called in auncient time among the Grecians Tythlops and Typhlines, and Cophia, because of the dimnes of the sight thereof, and the deafenes of the eares and hearing. ... It beeing most euident that it receiueth name from the blindnes and deafenes thereof, for I haue often prooued, that it neither heareth nor seeth here in England, or at the most it
ACT II, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
I03
Come not neere our Fairy Queene.
Philomele with melodie , 15
Sing in your fweet Lullaby.
Lulla, lulla , lullaby , lulla, lulla , lullaby ,
Neuer harme , nor fpell , nor charme ,
Come our louely Lady nyef
So good night with Lullaby. 20
2. Fairy. Weauing Spiders come not he ere.
Hence you long leg’d Spinners , hencex Beetles blacke approach not neere ;
Worme nor Snayle doe no offence.
Philomele with melody , &c. 25
I . Fairy. Hence away , now all is well',
One aloofe, Jland Centinell. Shee Jleepes. 27
15, 25. Philomele] Chorus. Philomel Cap. et seq. (subs.).
16. Sing in your] Singing her Rann. in your] in our Q3, Cap. et seq.
now your Coll. MS.
21. 2. Fairy] I. Fai. Qq (subs.), Cam.
22. Spinners] Spinders Q3.
26. 1. Fairy] 2. Fai. Qq (subs.), Coll. Sta. Cam.
27. Shee fleepes] Om. QqF3F4. Ex¬ eunt Fairies. Rowe.
seeth no better then a Mole. . . . They love to hide themselues in Come-fieldes vnder the rype come when it is cut downe. It is harmlesse except being prouoked, yet many times when an Oxe or a Cow lieth downe in the pasture, if it chaunce to lye vppon one of these Slow-wormes, it byteth the beast, & if remedy be not had, there followeth mortalitie or death, for the poyson thereof is very strong. — Topsell, p. 239. Marshall ( Irving Sh. p. 374) says that it is impossible to imagine two animals more harmless than newts and blind-worms. Topsell, who was translating Gesner probably at the very hour Shakespeare was writing this play, gives us the belief, not only of the common folk, but of the naturalists of the time. — Ed.
15, 16. melodie . . . Lullaby] See I, i, 200.
21. Spiders] It is not necessary to suppose that any deadly or even venomous qualities are here attributed to spiders, any more than to beetles, worms, or snails. It is enough that they are repulsive. Albeit, Topsell (p. 246), at the beginning of his long chapter on ‘ Spyders,’ says : ‘All spyders are venomous, but yet some more, and some lesse. Of Spyders that neyther doe nor can doe much harm, some of them are tame, familiar, and domesticall, and these be comonly the greatest among the whole packe of them. Others againe be meere wilde, liuing without the house abroade in the open ayre, which by reason of their rauenous gut, and greedy deuouring maw, haue purchased to theselues the name of wolfes and hunting Spyders.’ At the close, however, of his chapter (p. 272) he acknowledges that ‘ Our Spyders in England are not so venomous as in other parts of the world. . . . We cannot chuse but confesse that their byting is poysonlesse, as being without venome, procuring not the least touch cf hurt at all to any one whatsoeuer.’ — Ed.
11-25. No less than eight musical settings of this song are recorded in the List , &c, issued by The New Shakspere Soc.
104 A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ix, sc. ii.
Enter Oberon. 28
Ober. What thou feeft when thou doft wake,
Doe it for thy true Loue take : 3°
Loue and languifh for his fake.
Be it Ounce, or Catte, or Beare,
Pard, or Boare with briftled haire,
In thy eye that fhall appeare,
When thou wak’ft, it is thy deare, 35
Wake when fome vile thing is neere.
Enter Lifander and Hermia.
Lif. Faire loue, you faint with wandring in y woods,
And to fpeake troth I haue forgot our way :
Wee’ll reft vs Hermia , if you thinke it good , 40
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
Her. Be it fo Lyfander ; finde you out a bed,
For I vpon this banke will reft my head.
Lyf. One turfe fhall ferue as pillow for vs both,
One heart, one bed, two bofomes, and one troth. 45
29. [to Tit. squeezing the flower upon her eyelids. Cap.
30. thy] thy thy Qa.
true Loue ] true-love Harness, Knt, Dyce, Sta. Cam.
33. haire] hear Ktly.
34. that] what Pope, Han.
36. Exit Oberon. Rowe.
37. [Scene VI. Pope + .
38. woods] Q3Ff, Rowe i, Sta. wood Q, et cet.
41. comfort] comfor QT.
42. Be it] Bet it Qt. Be't Pope + , Dyce ii, iii.
26, 27. Capell was the first to indicate that these two lines are not a part of the song; ,he has been followed, of course, by all the editors since his day. — Ed.
30. true Loue] W. A. Wright : Possibly a corruption. In Icelandic, tru-lofa is to betroth. [Is not the hyphen (see Text. Notes) a corruption? — Ed.]
32. Catte] W. A. Wright : This must be the wild cat.
33. haire] Keightley {Exp. 133) : The rhyme demands the old form, hear. [Keightley is right, as far as he goes, but if we are to adopt the Shakespearian pro¬ nunciation in this word we must go further, and not only pronounce ‘ hair ’ hear , but ‘ bear ’ beer , which was also right. It seems scarcely worth while to adopt Shake¬ speare’s pronunciation in isolated instances, unless there is a decided need, as in ‘ melody ’ and ‘ lullaby.’ Although these five lines were probably perfect rhymes originally, yet as ‘ bear ’ and ‘ hair ’ are perfect rhymes at present, no change seems necessary. — Ed.]
38. with] For other examples of ‘with ’ thus used, see Abbott, § 193.
45. one troth] W. A. Wright: One faith or trust, pledged to each other in betrothal.
45. After this line, in Garrick’s Version, the lovers sing a duet. It is scarcely
A.CT II, sc. ii.] A AlIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
105
46
Her . Nay good Lyfander , for my fake my deere Lie further off yet, doe not lie fo neere.
Lyf. 0 take the fence fweet, of my innocence,
Loue takes the meaning, in loues conference,
I meane that my heart vnto yours is knit, 50
So that but one heart can you make of it.
Two bofomes interchanged with an oath , 52
46. good] god Q,.
48,49. innocence. ..conference] confer¬ ence. ..innocence Warb. Theob. inno¬ cence. ..confidence Coll, ii (MS).
49. takes] take Tyrwhitt, Rann.
50. is] it Q,.
51. can you] Ff, White i. wee can Q,. can we Cap. Sta. you can White ii. we can Q2 et cet.
52. interchanged] Ff, White i. inter chained Qq et cet.
worth while to cumber these pages with the words either of this song or of the fifteen others scattered through the rest of the play. They are all weak variations of the same weak theme — reflections from the ‘ tea-cup times of hood and hoop While yet the patch was worn.’ The specimens already given will prove, I am sure, quite sufficient. — Ed.
48. innocence] Warburton’s needless emendation called forth Johnson’s almost needless paraphrase : ‘ Understand the meaning of my innocence, or my inno¬ cent meaning. Let no suspicion of ill enter thy mind.’
49. conference] Johnson : In the conversation of those who are assured of each other’s kindness, not suspicion but love takes the meaning. No malevolent interpre¬ tation is to be made, but all is to be received in the sense which love can find and which love can dictate. — Tyrwhitt : I would read : ‘ Love take the meaning,’ &c, that is, ‘ Let love take the meaning,’ &c. — Collier (ed. ii) : Confidence is a happy emendation of the MS. What Lysander means is that Hermia should take the innocence of his intentions in the confidence of his love, and thence he proceeds to explain the fulness, fidelity, and purity of his attachment. — Lettsom [Blackwood' s Maga. Aug. 1853) : The alteration of ‘ conference ’ into confidence is an improvement , most decidedly for the worse. What Lysander says is, that love puts a good con¬ struction on all that is said or done in the ‘ conference ’ or intercourse of love. Con¬ fidence makes nonsense. [To this Dyce (ed. i) gives a hearty assent.]
51. can you] R. G. White (ed. i) : The reading of F, is not only authoritative in this essential change, but far more significant than that of the Quartos. Lysander in his attempt to meet the objections which Hermia makes to his proposition, may, with much more propriety and effect, attribute to his mistress alone the desire of sepa¬ rating him from her, than to make himself a party to such an endeavour.
52. interchanged] R. G. White (ed. i) : Interchained of the Qq conveys the comparatively commonplace thought that the lovers’ hearts were bound together; ‘ interchanged ’ represents them as having been given each to the other, as the most solemn instruments are made, interchangeably. — Marshall: The considerations which have induced us to adopt interchained are these: (1) it is more consonant in sense with line 50, ‘ — my heart unto yours is knit’ ; and (2) ‘bosom,’ though used as desire [Me as. for Meas. IV, iii, 139), or as inmost thoughts [ Oth. Ill, i, 58), seems never to be used for ‘ the affections ’ themselves. Shakespeare would scarcely have
io 6
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ii, sc. ii.
So then two bofomes, and a (ingle troth. 53
Then by your fide, no bed-roome me deny,
For lying fo, Hermia , I doe not lye. 55
Her. Lyfander riddles very prettily ;
Now much befhrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to fay, Lyfander lied.
But gentle friend, for loue and courtefie
Lie further off, in humane modefty, 60
Such feparation, as may well be faid ,
Becomes a vertuous batchelour, and a maide,
So farre be diftant, and good night fweet friend ;
Thy loue nere alter, till thy fweet life end.
Lyf. Amen, amen, to that faire prayer, fay I, 65
And then end life, when I end loyalty :
Heere is my bed, fleepe giue thee all his reft.
Her. With halfe that wifh, the withers eyes be preft.
Enter Pucke. They fleepe.
Puck. Through the Forreft haue I gone, 70
But Athenian finde I none ,
55. lying fo , Hermia] Hermia , lying so Schmidt.
lye] lie Cap.
60. off, in...modeJly,] Q3F3. off, in... modesty : Qv Han. off in. ..modesty, F3F4> off; in. ..modesty, Theob. et cet. (subs.).
60. humane ] human F4.
67. my] thy Rowe i.
69. They fleepe] Om. Qq.
71 .finde] Q3Ff, Knt, Hal. White 1. found Qj et cet.
said, ‘ We have interchanged bosoms.’ The objection to interchained is, not that it occurs only in this passage, but that it is not to be found in any other writer, ancient or modern, as far as I can discover.
57. be shrew] Steevens expresses it a little too strongly when he says that this word ‘ implies a sinister wish.’— Dyce defines it more correctly, I think, as ‘ a mild form of imprecation, equivalent to “ a mischief on.” ’ Pronounced beshrow, as Walker ( Crit. i, 158) has shown; it is thus spelled in several instances in the Folio, as well as shrowd and shrode for « shrewd.’ ‘ Shrewsbury ’ is still pronounced by some Shrewsbury. — Ed.
60-63. in humane modesty . . . distant] W. A. Wright : The sense is clear, though the syntax is imperfect. Delius connects ‘ as may well be said ’ with * in human modesty,’ but the construction is rather ‘in human modesty (let there be) such separation,’ &c., and ‘ So far be distant ’ is merely a repetition of the same thing. — D. Wilson (p. 248) : Titania’s use of the phrase ‘human mortals’ is very expres¬ sive but ‘ human modesty ’ seems a needless pleonasm. ... If any change be made, ‘ common modesty ’ would better suit the context.
68. be] For other examples of the subjunctive used optatively, see Abbott, § 365.
71. finde] By the sequence of tenses this should be as it is in Q3, found. It is
ACT II, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
107
72
One whofe eyes I might approue This flowers force in ftirring loue.
Night and filence : who is heere ?
Weedes of Athens he doth weare :
This is he (my mafter faid)
Defpifed the Athenian maide :
And heere the maiden fleeping found,
On the danke and durty ground.
Pretty foule, the durft not lye 80
Neere this lacke-loue, this kill-curtefie.
72. One ] On QqFf et cet.
81. Neere... curtefie"\ Near to this lack- dove, this kill-curtesie Pope, Steev.’73, ’78. Near to this kill-curtesie Theob. Han. Cap. Near to this lack-love kill- -curtesie Warb. Near this lack-love kill-
-courtesie Johns. Near this lack-love, kill courtesy Steev.’85, ’93, Coll, ii (MS). Nearer this lack-love, this kill-courtesy Walker, Dyce ii, iii, Huds. Near... court' sy Sta.
therefore an instance of an error the opposite to that of which Walker ( Crit. ii, 271) gives an example, where finde was printed ‘ found ’ ; Lettsom, in a footnote, calls attention to the present passage.
75. Weedes] That is, garments; see II, i, 266.
81. Neere . . . curtesie] Theobald: This verse, as Ben Jonson says, is broke loose from his fellows, and wants to be tied up. I believe the poet wrote : ‘ Near to this kill-courtesie.’ And so the line is reduced to the measure of the other. But this term being somewhat quaint and uncommon, the Players, in my opinion, officiously clapped in the other as a Comment ; and so it has ever since held possession. — Ma¬ lone : If we read ‘ near ’ as a disyllable, like many other similar words, we shall produce a line of ten syllables, a measure which sometimes occurs in Puck’s speeches : ‘I must go seek some dew drops here; And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.’ Again, ‘I go, I go; look how I go; Swifter than arrow from a Tartar’s bow.’ — Knight agrees with Malone that it is 4 evidently intended for a long line amidst those of seven or eight syllables.’ — Walker [Crit. ii, 52) : Read Nearer for ‘ Neere.’ The force of nearer and Lysander’s discourtesy (as it appeared to our friend Puck) are explained by the scene immediately preceding between Lysander and Hermia. ... I suspect that e for er in the terminations of words is not an infrequent error in the old editions of our poets. . . . See I, i, 232, ‘ strange companions ’ ; though this perhaps might be accounted for otherwise. . . . The converse error also appears some¬ times in the Folio, though, I think, less frequently. See III, i, 209 : * Tye vp my louers tongue, bring him silently.’ — Abbott, §S°4: There is difficulty in scanning this line. It is of course possible that ‘ kill-curt’sy ’ may have the accent on the first, but thus we shall have to accent the first ‘ this ’ and ‘ love ’ with undue emphasis. It is also more in Shakespeare’s manner to give ‘ courtesy ’ its three syllables at the end of a line. I therefore scan : ‘ (Near this) Idck-love, | this kill | court e | sf.’ Per¬ haps, however, as in Macb. Ill, v, 34, 35, and ? 21, a verse of five accents is pur¬ posely introduced. — Verity : Best scan the line as four iambic feet, thus : ‘ Near this | lack-lbve | , this kill- | court’s^.’ The first this may be accented because said with emphatic contempt — Puck pointing at Lysander. The syllable that immediately
io8
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ii, sc. ii.
Churle, vpon thy eyes I throw All the power this charme doth owe : When thou wak’ft, let loue forbid Sleepe his feate on thy eye-lid.
85
82. [Squeezes the flower on Lysander’s eyelids. Dyce.
82
82. thy\ the F3F4.
follows a strongly-accented syllable is liable to lose its own stress : hence the stress on Idve, not lack. Where a word occurs twice in the same line it is generally accented differently: hence the second this is unaccented, the stress falling on kill (which accentuation has also the merit that it varies the accent of the two compounds, lack Idve — kill- c our f sy). The last foot is simple. Shakespeare often introduces an iambic rhythm into a trochaic passage for the sake of variety ; and this line treated thus as iambic will correspond with line 78, also four iambics. [I cannot believe that any scansion is worthy of consideration which subordinates to the rhythm the meaning and the force of words. The rhythm must emphasize the idea, not neglect it, still less mar it. In this line there are two compound words of emphatic vituperation, and in both the force lies in the first syllable, which must be accented, unless we are to make the rhythm superior to the sense. There is no necessity to convert, with Walker, ‘ Near ’ into Nearer; the sense does not demand it ; but even if the sense does demand the comparative degree, we have that degree already in the very word itself, or with the er lying perdue if necessary in the final r, just as This is is delicately heard in ‘This’ a dull sight’ {Lear, V, iii, 283), which is one of Walker’s own excellent suggestions. Taking, therefore, the text as it stands, the rhythm and the sense are, in the first half of the line, with the strong accent where it belongs : ‘ Nfear this | l&ck-love.’ The difficulty, then, is to scan the second half, which, if the tro¬ chaic measure is to be kept up, will bring the emphasis, or arsis, on ‘ this,’ which is all right, but the thesis on ‘ kill,’ which is all wrong. The solution which I find here is that neither from Puck’s tongue nor from any one else’s would these vehement compounds, ‘ lack-love ’ and ‘ kill-courtesy,’ glide off glibly. No intelligent reader of the line but would instinctively pause before each of them, and in that pause before the second we may find the thesis of the foot of which ‘ this ’ is the arsis ; and, after the pause, be ready for a new and emphatic arsis in ‘kill.’ If there be, after all, a certain harshness in thus reading the line, is it not in keeping ? May we not imagine the indignant little sprite as uttering the words through almost clenched teeth, and with a spite to which the reduplicated i-sound in ‘ kill-curtesy,’ corresponding to the pitying liquids in ‘ lack-love,’ lends an emphasis ? Wherefore the text of the Folio is right, 1 think, and waits for its harmony on the reader’s voice. — Ed.]
83. owe] Where this word occurs in Othello, Steevens observed that it means to own, to possess, whereupon Pye (p. 330) remarked, ‘ Very true; but do not explain it so often ’ ; and I think Pye takes us all with him. — Ed.
84, 85. When . . . eye-lid] Daniel (p. 31) : The only meaning that can attach
to these lines, as they at present stand, is that when Lysauder awakes, Love is to for¬ bid Sleep to occupy his (Love’s or Sleep’s ?) seat on Lysander’s eye-lid. In other words, when Lysander awakes, he is no longer to be asleep ! . . . Puck’s intention in anointing the sleeper’s eyes is clearly to make him fall in love with her whom he had hitherto contemned. Read, therefore, ‘ let love forbid Keep his seat,’ &c. ‘ Forbid ’
here has the meaning of accursed, placed under an interdict, as in Macbeth, ‘ He
act li, sc. h. j A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
IO9
86
So awake when I am gone :
For I muft now to Oberon. Exit.
Enter Demetrius and Helena running.
Hel. Stay, though thou kill me, fweete Demetrius.
De. I charge thee hence, and do not haunt me thus. 90 Hel. 0 wilt thou darkling leaue me? do not fo De. Stay on thy perill, I alone will goe.
Exit Demetrius.
Hel. 0 I am out of breath, in this fond chace,
The more my prayer, the leffer is my grace, 95
Happy is Hermia , wherefoere the lies ;
For fhe hath bleffed and attrafliue eyes.
How came her eyes fo bright ? Not with fait teares.
If fo, my eyes are oftner wafht then hers.
No, no, I am as vgly as a Beare ; 100
For beafts that meete me, runne away for feare,
Therefore no maruaile, though Demetrius Doe as a monfter, flie my prefence thus.
What wicked and diffembling glaffe of mine, 104
88. [Scene VII. Pope + . 93. Om. Qq.
89. Stay] Say Ff. 96. wherefoere] wherefore F4.
91. darkling] Darling F4, Rowe. 102. maruaile] mavaile F2.
shall live a man forbid ’ ; and the sense of the passage is that love, which was forbid, should, when the sleeper awoke, keep his seat or enthrone himself on his eye-lid. Compare King John, III, iii, 45 : ‘ Making that idiot laughter keep men’s eyes.’ [I cannot think that emendation is necessary. Puck’s charm is to awaken in Lysander such a feverish love that sleep will be banned from his eyes, a symptom of the pas¬ sion common enough. If we adopt Daniel’s change, Love must be exiled from its consecrated home, the heart, and seated, of all places in the world, on an eye-lid. —Ed.]
91. darkling] Steevens: That is, in the dark. The word is likewise used by Milton [Par. Lost, iii, 39 : ‘As the wakeful bird Sings darkling.’ — W. A. Wright.] The Co wden- Clarkes [Sh. Key, p. 545) : Besides its direct meaning of in the dark, ‘ darkling,’ as Shakespeare employs it, includes the meaning of baffled, deserted, bereft of light and help. [Note the not unnatural — nay, almost plausible — sophisti¬ cation, — darling of F4 followed by Rowe, which is here recorded, I believe, for the first time. — Ed.]
94. fond] W. A. Wright: That is, foolish, with perhaps something of the other meaning which the word now has.
100, 101. Beare . . . feare] Note again this rhyme. — Ed.
103. as a monster] This refers not to Demetrius, but to Helena herself.
no
A MID SOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act ii, sc. ii.
Made me compare with Hermias fphery eyne ? 105
But who is here ? Lyfander on the ground ;
Deade or afleepe ? I fee no bloud, no wound,
Lyfander , if you liue, good fir awake.
Lyf And run through fire I will for thy fweet fake. Tranfparent Helena , nature her fhewes art, 1 10
That through thy bofome makes me fee thy heart.
Where is Demetrius ? oh how fit a word Is that vile name, to perifh on my fword !
Hel. Do not fay fo Lyfander , fay not fo :
What though he loue your Hermiat Lord, what though? 1 15 Yet Hermia ftill loues you ; then be content.
Lyf Content with Hermia ? No, I do repent The tedious minutes I with her haue fpent. n8
106. Lyfander] Ly sander ! Cap. et seq. (subs, except Coll. White i).
ground /] ground ? Qt, Coll. ground ? Qa. ground ! Cap. et seq.
107. Deade~\ Dead! Cap. et seq. (subs.).
109. fake."] sake, Cap. (in Errata).
[Waking. Rowe et seq. (subs.).
1 10. Helena,} Helen, Rowe ii + , Dyce ii, iii. Helena ! Cap. et cet.
105. sphery] W. A. Wright: ‘Sphere’ is used by Shakespeare to denote first the orbit in which a star moves, and then the star itself.
no. Helena] Walker ( Crit. i, 230) : Read Helen [See Text. Notes], as in half a dozen other passages in the play. [So also, nine lines below Walker would read Helen ; and again, ‘ to avoid the trisyllabic termination,’ in III, ii, 337.]
no. her shewes] Malone: Probably an error of the press for skews her.— R. G. White (ed. i) : Plainly but an accidental transposition. [Both of these remarks seem to me wrong ; they quite remove the astonishment which Lysander expresses at the fact that Nature can show art. To me it is clear that we must read either with the Qq and retain ‘ Helena,’ or hold ‘ her ’ to be a misprint (corrected in the follow¬ ing Ff ) for here, and, with Walker, read ‘ Helen.’ — Ed.]
hi. thy heart] Walker {Crit. i, 300): Read, ‘my heart.’ The old poetical commonplace; e. g. As You Like It, V, iv, 120: ‘That thou mightst join her hand with his, Whose heart within her bosom is.’ Compare Sonnet 133 : ‘ Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward.’
112. Demetrius] Tiessen {Archiv f. n. Sp., &c., vol. lviii, p. 4, 1877): We would be grateful to editors if they would only tell us why the ‘ name ’ of Demetrius should be thus referred to. Is there a covert reference to demit, i. e. to humble, to subject, or to meat which is stuck on a spit ? [». e. ‘ De-meat-rius,’ I suppose. This insight of the way in which a learned German reads his Shakespeare would be inter¬ esting if it were not so depressing. — Ed.]
no. nature her Jhewes\ nature fhewes Qq, Cap. Mai. ’90, Cam. White ii, Rolfe. nature here Jhews Ff, Rowe+, Steev. Coll. Dyce i. Nature shows her Var.’2l, Knt, Hal. Sing. White i, Sta. Dyce ii, iii, Huds. Ktly.
in. thy heart\ my heart Walker, Dyce ii, iii, Huds.
112. *j] Om. Ff.
ACT II, sc. ii.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
Not Hermia , but Helena now I loue ;
Who will not change a Rauen for a Doue ?
The will of man is by his reafon fway’d :
And reafon faies you are the worthier Maide.
Things growing are not ripe vntill their feafon ;
So I being yong, till now ripe not to reafon,
And touching now the point of humane skill,
Reafon becomes the Marfhall to my will,
And leades me to your eyes, where I orelooke Loues ftories, written in Loues richeft booke.
Hel. Wherefore was I to this keene mockery borne? When at your hands did I deferue this fcorne ?
Ift not enough, ift not enough, yong man,
That I did neuer, no nor neuer can,
Deferue a fweete looke from Demetrius eye,
But you muft flout my infufflciency ?
Good troth you do me wrong( good-footh you do)
In fuch difdainfull manner, me to wooe.
But fare you well ; perforce I muft confeffe,
I thought you Lord of more true gentleneffe.
ill
120
125
130
135
138
119. Helena now] Q2Ff, Var. ’21, Sing. Knt, Hal. White i. Helena Qt, Pope, Theob. Han. Warb. Cap. Steev. Rami, MaL’90, Sing. Coll. Dyce i, Sta. Cam. Ktly, White ii, Rolfe. Helen now Johns. Walker, Dyce ii, iii, Huds.
124. ripe not] not ripe Rowe ii, Pope,
Han. riped not Schmidt.
125. humane] human Rowe et seq. 128. Loues Jlories] Love-stories Walk¬ er, Dyce ii, iii, Huds.
133. Demetrius] Demetrius's Rowe i. Demetrius' Rowe ii et seq.
134. infufflciency] infufflcency Q^.
124. ripe not] Steevens: ‘Ripe ’ is here a verb, as in As You Like It, II, vii, 26, ‘And so from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe.’
125. touching now the point] Steevens: That is, my senses being now at the utmost height of perfection. — W. A. Wright: Having reached the height of dis¬ cernment possible to man.
126. the Marshall] Johnson: That is, my will now follows reason.
128. Loues richest booke] Steevens: So in Rom. dr Jul. I, iii, 86: ‘And what obscured in this fair volume lies, Find written in the margent of his eyes.’
131. It is not easy to decide whether these repetitions here, in the next line, and in line 135 are characteristic of Helena (in Shakespearian phrase, ‘tricks’ of hers) or are the effects of sobbing. I think that when Helena finds that to the scorn of Demetrius is added the scorn of Lysander (she has just said, ‘ Wherefore was I to this keen mockery bom? When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?’), she bursts into uncontrollable tears. And yet there are somewhat similar repetitions in lines 1 14, 1 15, above, where is no question of tears, which sound weak unless they be a trait of character. — Ed.
H2 A MID SOMMER NIGHTS D RE A ME [act ii, SC. ii.
Oh, that a Lady of one man refus’d,
Should of another therefore be abus’d. Exit. 140
Lyf She fees not Hermia : Herrnia fleepe thou there,
And neuer maift th ou come Lyfander neere ;
For as a furfeit of the fweeteft things
The deepeft loathing to the ftomacke brings :
Or as the herefies that men do leaue, r45
Are hated moft of thofe that did deceiue :
So thou, my furfeit, and my herefie,
Of all be hated ; but the moft of me ;
And all my powers addreffe your loue and might,
To honour Helen, and to be her Knight. Exit. 150
Her. Helpe me Lyfander , helpe me ; do thy bell To plucke this crawling ferpent from my breft.
Aye me, for pitty ; what a dreame was here ?
Lyfander looke, how I do quake with feare :
Me-thought a ferpent eate my heart away, 1 55
And yet fat fmiling at his cruell prey.
Lyfander , what remoou’d ? Lyfander , Lord,
What, out of hearing, gone? No found, no word ?
Alacke where are you ? fpeake and if you heare : 1 59
141. Herrnia : Hermia] Hermia F3F4. Hermia. — Hermia Coll.
144. the] a Ff, Rowe, Pope, Han. 146. that ] they Qq, Rowe et seq.
149. And all my powers'] And, all my powers, Han. Cap. et seq. (subs.). your] their Coll. MS.
15 1. [Starting. Cap.
153. Aye] QqFf, Rowe + , White, Dyce, Cam. (subs.). Ah Cap. et cet.
154. I do] do / Pope, Han.
155. eate] ate Knt.
156. yet fat] Ff, Rowe, you fate Qq fat Q2) et cet. (subs.).
157. Lyfander, what] Lyfander what, Q . Lyfander ! what Rowe ii. Lysan- der ! what, Han. et seq.
158. hearing, gone ? No found I] hear¬ ing gone ? No sound, Theob.Warb. Johns. hearing ? gone ? No sound ? Cap. (Er¬ rata) et seq. (subs.).
159. and if] an ifC&p- et seq.
155. eate] White (ed. i) : The same form as here of the verb, and the same orthography is given elsewhere, which not only forbids us to read ate, but accords with the supposition that the present and preterite tenses were not distinguished even in pronunciation, but both had the pure sound of e. And yet the strong preterite — ate, is, of course, the older form.
156. prey] W. A. Wright: Here used for the act of preying, as in Macb. Ill, ii, 53 : 1 Whiles nights black agents to their preys do rouse.’
159. and if] This is, I think, equivalent to something more than simply if, it is, at least, a strongly emphasized if. See Abbott, § 105, which assuredly applies to the present passage. — Ed.
ACT III, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME
ii 3
160
Speake of all loues ; I found almoft with feare.
No, then I well perceiue you are not nye,
Either death or you lie finde immediately. Exit. 162
A tins Tertins. [Scene /.]
Enter the Clownes.
Bot. Are we all met ?
Quin. Pat, pat, and here’s a maruailous conuenient place for our rehearfall. This greene plot (hall be our 5
ftage, this hauthorne brake our tyring houfe, and we will do it in a
160. Speake of] Speake, of Q,, Cap. et seq.
found] fwoune Qt. f wound Q, Ff, Rowe i, Hal. swoon Rowe ii et cet.
161. No,'] No? Theob. Warb. et seq.
162. Either] Or Pope + , Cap. Steev.
’85-
x. Om. Qq. Act III, Scene i. Rowe et seq. Act III, Sc. ii. Fleay. The Wood. Pope. The Same. Cap.
2. Enter...] Enter Quince, Snug, Bot¬ tom, Flute, Snowt, and Starveling. The Queen of Fairies lying asleep. Rowe et seq. (subs, asleep, but invisible. Hal.).
4. Pat ] Par F^F,.
maruailous] maruailes Q,. marvels
Cap.
5. plot] plat F4, Rowe i.
6. tyring houfe] 'tiring-house Coll.
160. of all loues] Abbott, § 169, ‘of’ is used in adjurations and appeals to sig¬ nify out of ‘ Of charity, what kin are you to me ?’ — Twelfth Night, V, i, 237. Hence, the sense of out of being lost, it is equivalent to for the sake of, by. [As in the present instance. Halliwell says that the phrase is of very common occur¬ rence; he gives eight or nine examples, and the references to as many more.]
160. sound] As the Folio was set up by at least four different sets of compositors it is irrational to expect any uniformity of spelling. Accordingly we find this word, besides its present form, spelled ‘ swoon,’ ‘ swoone,’ ‘ swowne.’— Ed.
160. almost] For examples of similar transposition, see Abbott, § 29. The idiom of the language has somewhat changed since Shakespeare s day in regard to the position of this adverb. Again and again it is placed after the word it qualifies, when we should now place it before it ; as here, where the position is quite inde¬ pendent of rhythm. — Ed.
162. Either] See II, i, 31.
4. maruailous] Cambridge Edd. : Capell appears to have considered the read¬ ing of Q, as representing the vulgar pronunciation of ‘ marvellous,’ and he therefore printed it ‘ marvels,’ as in IV, i, 27.
6. hautborne-brake] See line 75 post.
6. tyring house] Collier ; That is, 'Attiring- house,’ the place where the actor* attired themselves. Every ancient theatre had its ’tiring-room or ’tiring-house.
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act hi. sc. i.
1 14
Bot. Peter quince ? 8
Peter. What faift thou, bully Bottome ?
Bot. There are things in this Comedy of Piramus and 10 Thisby, that will neuer pleafe. Firft, Piramus muft draw a fword to kill himfelfe ; which the Ladies cannot abide.
How anfwere you that ?
Snout. Berlaken, a parlous feare.
Star. I beleeue we muft leaue the killing out, when 15 all is done.
Bot. Not a whit, I haue a deuice to make all well.
Write me a Prologue, and let the Prologue feeme to fay, we will do no harme with our fwords, and that Pyramus is not kill’d indeede : and for the more better affurance, 20 tell them, that I Piramus am not Piramus , but Bottome the Weauer ; this will put them out of feare.
Quin. Well, we will haue fuch a Prologue, and it ftiall be written in eight and fixe. 24
8. Peter quince ?] Q2. Peeter Quince ? Qj. Peter Quince ? Ff. Peter Quince — Theob. et seq. (subs.).
14. Berlaken]BerlakinQz. By'rlaken Pope. By' r-lakin Cap. By' r lakin Dyce.
14. parlous] par1 Ions Cap.
17. deuice] deuife Qt.
18. feeme ] serve Gould.
20. the more better ] the better Rowe ii. more better Pope + .
9. bully] Murray ( N E. D. s. v.) : Etymology obscure; possibly an adapta¬ tion of the Dutch boel, ‘lover (of either sex),’ also ‘brother’; compare Middle High German buole, modern German buhle, ‘ lover,’ earlier also ‘ friend, kinsman.’ ... A term of endearment and familiarity, originally applied to either sex; sweetheart, darling. Later, to men only, implying friendly admiration ; good friend, fine fellow, ‘ gallant.’ Often prefixed as a sort of title to the name or designation of the person addressed, as in ‘bully Bottom,’ ‘bully doctor.’ 1538, Bale, Thre Lawes, 475 : ‘ Though she be sumwhat olde It is myne owne swete bullye, My muskyne and my mullye.’
10. There are things] Walker ( Crit. ii, 256): Qu. ‘There are three things,’ &c. See what follows. I think, indeed, it is required. [If anything may be said to be required in dealing with Bottom’s logic or language. — Ed.]
14. Berlaken] Steevens: That is, by our Ladykin, or little Lady. [The spell¬ ing is, probably, true to the pronunciation.]
14. parlous] Steevens: Corrupted from perilous. — Halliwell: It is used in the generic sense of excessive, and sometimes with the signification of V'nderful. [See Abbott, § 461, for examples of many other words similarly contracted.]
17. Not a whit] W. A. Wright: As ‘not’ is itself a contraction of n&wiht or nawhit, ‘ not a whit ’ is redundant.
18. seeme to say] W. A. Wright: Compare Launcelot’s language in Mer. of Ven. II, iv, 1 1 : ‘An it shall please you to break up this, it shall seem to signify.’
20. more better] For double comparatives, see Abbott, § ii.
ACT III, sc. i.] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME I 1 5
Bot. No, make it two more, let it be written in eight 25 and eight.
Snout. Will not the Ladies be afear’d of the Lyon ?
Star. I feare it, I promife you.
Bot. Matters, you ought to confider with your felues, to bring in(God fhield vs)a Lyon among Ladies, is a mod 30 dreadfull thing. For there is not a more fearefull wilde foule then your Lyon liuing : and wee ought to looke to it.
Snout. Therefore another Prologue muft tell he is not a Lyon. 35
Bot. Nay, you muft name his name, and half his face muft be feene through the Lyons necke, and he himfelfe muft fpeake through, faying thus, or to the fame defe
27. afear’d] afraid Rowe ii+.
29. Maflers] Maijlers Ff.
your felues, ] your felfe, Qq. your¬ selves ; Rowe.
33. to it] toote Q,. to't Cap. Sta Cam. White ii.
37. necke] mask Gould.
38. defect] defect Qa.
24. eight and sixe] Capell refers this to the number of lines, fourteen, ‘ which,’ as he says, ‘ is the measure of that time’s sonnets ; all Shakespeare’s are writ in it.’
‘ Bottom wants it writ in “two more”; instead of which, when we come to ’t, we find it just the same number less.’ — Malone interprets it as referring to the common ballad metre of ‘ alternate verses of eight and six syllables,’ and this interpretation has been adopted. Capell assumes that we have this Prologue in Act V. Whereas, this special Prologue which Bottom calls for nowhere appears. It seems almost needless to call attention to the fact that this rehearsal does not correspond to the play as it is acted before the Duke. See note on line 84 below. If this were a genuine rehearsal of the play, its repetition at the public performance would be wearisome. — Ed.
25, 26. eight and eight] Halliwell: An anonymous MS annotator alters this to eighty-eight, an evident blunder.
28. I fear it] It is almost foolish to attempt any emendation in the language of these clowns, but it seems not unlikely that this should be ‘ I, I fear it,’ that is, ‘Ay, I fear it.’ — Ed.
29. selues, to bring] W. A. Wright : The construction here, with only a comma instead of a colon, is ‘ You ought to consider with yourselves (that) to bring in,’ &c.
31. dreadful thing] Malone finds ‘an odd coincidence’ here between this remark and an incident which happened, not in London, nor even in England, but in Scotland in 1594, at the christening of the eldest son of James the First. ‘ While the king and queen were at dinner a chariot was drawn in by “ a black-moore. This chariot should have been drawne in by a lyon, but because his presence might have brought some feare to the nearest, or that the sights of the lights and the torches might have commoved his tameness, it was thought meete that the Moor should sup¬ ply that room.” ’ [ — Reprinted in Somers’s Tracts , ii, 179, W. A. Wright.]
u6 A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS D REA ME [act hi, sc. i.
Ladies, or faire Ladies, I would wifh you, or I would requeft you, or I would entreat you, not to feare, not to 40 tremble : my life for yours. If you thinke I come hither as a Lyon, it were pitty of my life. No, I am no fuch thing, I am a man as other men are ; and there indeed let him name his name, and tell him plainly hee is Snug the ioyner. ^
Quin. Well, it fhall be fo ; but there is two hard things, that is, to bring the Moone-light into a cham¬ ber : for you know, Piramus and Thisby meete by Moone- light.
Sn. Doth the Moone thine that night wee play our 50 play ?
41. hither ] hether Qa.
42. pitty'] pittty Fa.
44. tell him] tell them Qq, Rowe et
seq. Vwz Anon. ap. Cam.
50. Sn.] Qq. Snout. Cam. Rife, White ii. Snug. Ff et cet.
42. of my life] Abbott, § i74: ‘Of’ passes easily from meaning « regards to concerning, about [as here, and also in line 188 of this scene : ‘ I desire you of more acquaintance,’ and again in IV, i, 145 : Wright : That is, it were a sad thing for my life, that is, for me. See V, i, 230 It would seem that in this expression * of my life ’ is either all but superfluous’ or else a separate exclamation, as in Merry Wives, I, i, 40: ‘ Ha ! o’ my life, if I were young again, this sword should end it.’ The phrase occurs again in Meas.for Mens. II i 77 = ‘It is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house.’ And in the same play, II iii’ 42, compare
44. name his name] Malone : I think it not improbable that Shakespeare meant to allude to a fact which happened in his time at an entertainment exhibited before Queen Elizabeth. It is recorded in a MS collection of anecdotes, &c„ entitled Merry Passages and feasts, MS Harl. 6395: ‘There was a spectacle presented to Q. Elizabeth vpon the water and amongst others, Harr. Golding: was to represent Anon vpon the Dolphin’s backe, but finding his voice to be very hoarse and vnpleas ant when he came to performe it, he teares of his Disguise, and swears he was non, of Anon not he, but eene honest Har. Goldingham; which blunt discoverie pleasd the Queene better, then if it had gone thorough in the right way; yet he could orde. h,s ymce to an instrument exceeding well.’ [I have followed, in spelling and punc
1' t' ° IS herC PreSUmably more accurate either Malone 01
Halhwell.— Ed.] The collector appears to have been nephew to Sir Ro-er L’Es-
trange — ICnkjht : This passage will suggest to our readers Sir Walter Scott’s descrip, tion of the pageant at Kenilworth, when Lambourne, not knowing his part tore off his vizard and swore ‘he was none of Arion or Orion either, but honest Mike Lam- bourne, that had been drinking her Majesty’s health from morning till midnight ’
50. Sn ] Throughout this scene there appears to be but little uniformly in the
es Pet. Thisby is sometimes ‘ This.' and sometimes 'ThysJ At line 54 we have
Enter Pucks,' and at line 77 ‘Enter Robin, ’ as though it were another character
ACT III, sc. L] A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME u 7
Bot. A Calender, a Calender, looke in the Almanack, 52 finde out Moone-fhine, finde out Moone-fhine.
Enter Pucke.
Quin. Yes, it doth fhine that night. 55
Bot. Why then may you leaue a cafement of the great chamber window (where we play) open, and the Moone may fhine in at the cafement.
Quin. I, or elfe one muft come in with a bufh of thorns and a lanthorne, and fay he comes to disfigure, or to pre- 60 fent the perfon of Moone-fhine. Then there is another thing, we muft haue a wall in the great Chamber ; for Pi- ramus and Thisby (faies the ftory) did talke through the chinke of a wall.
Sn. You can neuer bring in a wall. What fay you 65 Bottome ?
Bot. Some man or other muft prefent wall, and let him haue fome Plafter, or fome Lome, or fome rough caft about him, to fignifie wall ; or let him hold his fin- 69
54. Enter Pucke] Ff, Om. Qq et cet.
56. Bot.] Cet. Q,.
57. great chamber window ] great chamber -window Knt. great-chamber Anon. ap. Cam.
59. /,] Ay, Rowe et seq.
65. Sn.] Q2. Sno. Qf. Snu. Fa. Snout. Cam. Rife, White ii. Snug. F3F4 et cet.
68. Lome] lime Coll. MS.
69. or let] and let Coll. MS, Dyce, Huds. Rife, White ii.
and as though Puck were not already there. Even the running title is ‘A Midsomer nights Dreame.' And there are trifling variations in the spelling of other names. Wherefore, when we have, as in the present instance, merely ‘Sn.’ we are free to choose between Snug and Snowt. The FaF3F4 adopted Snug, and nearly every editor has followed them. The Cambridge Edd. elected Snowt. It is a matter of small importance; indeed, the very word ‘importance’ is almost too strong to apply to the subject. — Ed.
52. Calender] Halliwell asserts, but without giving his authority, that the cal¬ endars of Shakespeare’s time were in ‘ even greater use than the almanacs of the present day, and were more frequently referred to.’ — Knight : The popular almanac of Shakespeare’s time was that of Leonard Digges, the worthy precursor of the Moores and the Murphys. He had a higher ambition than these his degenerate descendants ; for, while they prophecy only by the day and the week, he prognosti¬ cated for ever, as his title-page shows ; ‘A Prognostication euerlastinge of right good effect, ffuictfully augmented by the auctour, contayning plain, briefe, pleasaunte( chosen rules to iudge the Weather by the Sunne, Moone, Starres, Comets, Rainebow, Thunder, Cloudes, with other extraordinarye tokens, not omitting the Aspects of the Planets, with a briefe iudgement for euer, of Plenty, Lucke, Sickenes, Dearth, Warres, &c., opening also many natural causes worthy to be knowen ’ (1575)-
69. or let him] Dyce (ed. i) : This mistake of ‘or’ for and was occasioned by
1 1 8
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. i.
gers thus ; and through that cranny, (hall Piramus and 70 Thisby whifper.
Quin. If that may be, then all is well. Come, fit downe euery mothers fonne, and rehearfe your parts. Piramus, you begin ; when you haue fpoken your fpeech, enter into that Brake, and fo euery one according to his 75 cue.
Enter Robin.
Rob. What hempen home-fpuns haue we fwagge- ring here,
So neere the Cradle of the Faierie Queene? 80
What, a Play toward ? lie be an auditor,
An A6tor too perhaps, if I fee caufe.
Quin. Speake Piramus : Thisby ftand forth.
Pir. Thisby , the flowers of odious fauors fweete. 84
70. that cranny ] the cranny Rowe + .
74. Your] Yonr Qt.
77- Scene II. Pope + .
Enter Robin.] Enter Puck. Rowe et seq. (subs.). Enter Puck behind. Theob.
78, 79- /daggering] fwaggring Qq.
80. Faierie] Fairy Qq.
81. toward ] tow 'rd Pope + .
82. too perhaps ] to perhappes Qt.
84, 86, 106. Pir.] Bot. Cam. Rife, White ii.
84. flowers]flower Pope+ , Cap. Steev. ’73. ’78, ’85.
fauors'] savour’s Rowe, Pope. savour Hal.
or ’ having occurred twice before. (It is but fair to Mr Collier’s MS Corrector to mention that this mistake did not escape him.)
75. Brake] In defining this to be a ‘thicket or furze-bush,’ Steevens evidently
supposed that it was different from the hawthorn brake before mentioned. _ Hunter
(1, 295) : Brake has many different senses. Here it is used for what was otherwise called a frame, a little space with rails on each side, which, in this instance, were formed or at least intertwined with hawthorn. ... See notice of the ‘frame or brake’ in Barnaby Googe’s Book of Husbandry, 1614, p. 119.— Halliwell: Kennett, MS Lansd. 1033, defines brake, ‘ a small plat or parcel of bushes growing by themselves.’ This seems to be the right meaning here, although a single bush is also called a brake. . . . The brake mentioned by Barnaby Googe would only be found in cultivated land not in the centre of the ‘ palace wood.’
76. cue] Murray (N. E. D. s. v.) : Origin uncertain. It has been taken as
equivalent to French queue, on the ground that it is the tail or ending of the preceding speech ; but no such use of queue has ever obtained in French (where ‘ cue ' is called rtplique), and no literal sense of queue or cue leading up to this appears in 16th cen¬ tury English. On the other hand, in the 16th and early 17th centuries it is found writ¬ ten Q, q, q., or qu, and it was explained by 17th century writers as a contraction for some Latin word (sc. qualis, quando ), said to have been used to mark in actors’ copies of plays the points at which they were to begin. But no evidence confirming this has been found. °
84, Sec. The speeches delivered at this rehearsal do not afterwards appear when
act III, SC. i.] A MIPS OMMER NIGHTS DREAME
lig
85
Quin. Odours, odours.
Pir. Odours fauors fweete, go hath thy breath, my deareft Thisby deare.
But harke, a voyce : ftay thou but here a while,
And by and by I will to thee appeare. Exit. Pir.
Pick. A ftranger Piramus , then ere plaid here. 90
85. Odours , odours ] Odours , odorous Qq.
87. hath"] that Rowe i. doth Rowe ii + , Cap. Steev.
After this, a line lost. Wagner conj.
88. a while] a whit Theob. Han.
Warb. Johns. Cap.
89. Exit Pir.] Exit. Qq.
90. Puck.] Quin. Qq.
[Aside. Pope + , Cap. Steev. Mai, Var. Hal. Coll. (MS).
[Exit. Cap. et seq.
the play is performed before the Duke. — Simpson ( School of Shakspere, ii, p. 88) finds in this lack of correspondence a precedent for the same lack in the Play within the Play of Histrio-Mastix (pp. 32-39, ed. Simpson), and asks, * Was the Midsum¬ mer Night’s the provocative of the Histrio-Mastix ? Who was the author of the
Pyramus and Thisbe there parodied?’
84. of odious sauors] Collier (ed. i) : Possibly we ought to read ‘ the flowers have odours, savours sweet, or * odorous savours sweet.’ — lb. (ed. ii) : The MS has ‘ flowers have odious savours sweet,’ and rightly, as the next line of the supposed tragedy demonstrates, ‘So hath thy breath,’ &c. The corruption has been ‘of’ for have ; unless we are to suppose it to be one of the blunders of the ‘ hempen-home¬ spuns.’
84. sauors] This singular here used after a plural nominative, may have been per¬ haps intended, says Abbott, § 333, to be a sign of low breeding and harsh writing in this play of Pyramus and Thisbe. See III, ii, 466 • ‘ Two of both kindes makes up foure.’ [But compare R. G. White’s note on ‘ gallantly,’ I, ii, 26 ; and also the next note below by the learned German to whom we owe the Lexicon.]
84. sweete] Schmidt ( Programm , &c., p, 4) : However absurd may be the poesy •if these Clowns, in rhythm and grammar it is irreproachable, therefore ‘ hath ’ in line 87 cannot be right. In Shakespearian dialogue ( dialogue , be it observed) it is an inviolable rule that in alternate rhymes, when the second and fourth verses rhyme, the first and the third rhyme likewise. A sequence of endings like sweet . . . dear . . . while . . . appear violates Shakespear’s use and wont. Wherefore, either sweet or awhile must be corrupt, probably the former. It is conceivable that Peter Quince, presumably the author of this tragedy of ‘ Pyramus and Thisbe,’ wanted to say more, in his hyperbolic style, than that Thisbe’s breath equalled in sweetness the odours of flowers, — odour did not amount to much, it is too commonplace ; we shall enter into his spirit if we read: ‘Thisbe, the flowers of odours’ savour’s vile (or: the odorous flowers’ savour’s vile), So not thy breath,’ &c.
88. while] Theobald changed this to whit , in order to rhyme with ‘ sweete,’ and the change is harmless enough if there be a single uncouthness here which is not intentional. — Malone goes even further, and supposes that two lines have been lost, one to rhyme with ‘ sweete ’ and another with ‘ while.’ — Ed.
89, 90. And . . . here] Julius Heuser (Sh. Jahrbuch , xxviii, p. 207) : These two lines form a so-called capping verse , that is, a verse which contains a response to what precedes, although the speaker has not been directly questioned. They are
120
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. L
Thif Muft I fpeake now? gj
Pet. I marry muft you. For you muft vnderftand he goes but to fee a noyfe that he heard, and is to come a - gaine.
Thyf. Moft radiant Piramus , moft Lilly white of hue, 95 Of colour like the red rofe on triumphant bryer,
Moft brisky Iuuenall, and eke moft louely lew,
As true as trueft horfe, that yet would neuer tyre, lie meete thee Piramus, at Ninnies toombe.
Pet. Ninus toombe man : why, you muft not fpeake 100 that yet j that you anfwere to Piramus : you fpeake all your part at once, cues and all. Piramus enter, your cue is paft ; it is neuer tyre.
91, 95, 104- Thif.] Flu. Cam. Rife,
White ii.
92, 100, 107. Pet.] Quin. Q,, Rowe et seq.
97- brisky Iuuenall^ brisky Juvenile Rowe ii + . Briskly Juvenile Han.
generally in rhyme and are supposed to have a comic effect. [For this * so-called capping verse ’ which, I think, appears here in literature for the first time, Simpson is indirectly responsible ; its definition is Heuser’s own. In Simpson’s edition of Faire Em ( School of Sk. ii, 422) he gives a collation with the Bodleian text of certain rhymes made by Fair Em and Trotter, and remarks that they are defective ‘accord¬ ing to all rules of capping verses.’ This remark Elze quoted (Sk. Jahrbuch, xv, 344) in his notes on Faire Em, and added humourously that in Rowley’s When You See me You Enow me we had to deal with rime couie. This ‘ capped rhyme,’ I am afraid, misled Heuser, to whom apparently the phrase ‘to cap verses ’ was unfamiliar, and hence he supposed that there is a certain style of verse called ‘ capping.’— Ed.]'
90. Puck] Note that the Qq have Quin., a serious blunder, whereof the correc¬ tion adds much to the value which we should attach to the text of Fv In a modern¬ ised text, I think, a period and a dash should close the preceding line, and a dash commence the present, so as to join the two speeches, and make Puck’s the continu¬ ation, in sense, of Pyramus’s : ‘And by and by I will to thee appear, _ a stranger
Pyramus than e’er play’d here !’ adds Puck in anticipation of the Ass-head which he was about to apply. (I find, by a MS marginal note, that I am herein anticipated by Allen.) — Ed. 1
97. Iuuenall] W. A. Wright: See Love's Lab. L. I, ii, 8, where this word again occurs ; it was affectedly used, and appears to have been designedly ridiculed by Shakespeare.
97. eke] Halliwell : This word was becoming obsolete, and is used by Shake¬ speare only in burlesque passages.
102. cues and all] Staunton: To appreciate the importance of it must be borne in mind that when the ‘ parts ’ or written language of a new play are distrib¬ uted, each performer receives only what he has himself to recite ; consequently if this
IOO. why,] Why ? Qt.
103. [Enter Pyramus. Rowe, Pope. Re-enter Bottom with an Ass-head, or, Puck and Bottom... Theob.Warb. Johns. Steev. Mai. Knt, 0)11. White i, Sta.
act in, sc. i.j A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME 121
Thyf. O, as true as trueft horfe, that yet would neuer tyre : 1 05
Pir. If I were fa ire, Thisby I were onely thine.
Pet. O monftrous. O ftrange. We are hanted ; pray mafters, flye matters, helpe.
The Clownes all Exit.
Puk. lie follow you, lie leade you about a Round, 1 10
104. O, ar] O, — As Theob. et seq. (subs.).
105. tyre .•] tyre. Qq.
[Re-enter Bottom with an Ass’s head. Han. Re-enter Puck and Bottom... Cap. Dyce, Cam. White ii.
106. I were faire, Thisby] Q,Ff. I were, fair Thisby, Mai. conj. Coll. Hal. I were fair Thisby, White i. I were so,
fair Thisby, Ktly. I were fair, fair Thisby Anon. ap. Cam. I were fairer Schmidt. I were faire, Thisby, Q, et cet.
107. hanted ] haunted Qq.
109. The... Exit.] Om. Qq. The... Exeunt. F3F4.
110. Puk.] Rob. Qq.
about'] ’bout Walker, Dyce ii, iii.
were unaccompanied by cues or catchwords from the other parts, he would be utterly at a loss to know either when to make his entrance on the scene or to join in the dialogue.
106. I were faire, Thisby] Malone : Perhaps we ought to point thus : ‘ If I were, [*. e. as true, &c.] fair Thisbe, I were only thine.’ — STAUNTON, after quoting this remark of Malone, replies : There cannot be a doubt of it, if we absolutely insist upon making bully Bottom speak sensibly, which Shakespeare has taken some pains to show he was never designed to do. — Hudson (p. 121) even mends the metre, and reads : lAn if I were,’ &c. He thinks the punctuation of the Folio is ‘ rather too fine-drawn to be appreciated on the stage. Perhaps we ought to read, “ If I were true, fair Thisbe,” &c., which is the meaning, either way, as the words are spoken in reply to Thisbe’s “As true as truest horse,” &c.’
Iio. a Round] That is, a dance, but probably of a more fantastic and less orderly style than that to which Titania invites Oberon when she asks him to ‘ dance pa¬ tiently in our round,’ II, i, 145. The phrase ‘ to lead about a Round ’ has, however, an uncouth sound ; ‘ about ’ certainly seems superfluous, or almost tautological. Is it permissible to suppose that ‘ a round ’ is one word, around, and that in view of the enumeration in the next five lines of the separate distresses, may not Puck have begun this enumeration here : ‘ I’ll follow you — I’ll lead you — about — around — .’ ? The objection, almost a fatal one, to this reading is that nowhere is this word around to be found, either in Shakespeare or in the Bible, 1611. But, as W. A. Wright says in regard to steppe, II, i, 73, ‘ there is certainly no a priori reason why ’ the present pas¬ sage ‘ should not furnish ’ an instance of it ; the word itself, although not in the sense which I here ascribe to it, is, according to Murray ( N. E. D. s. v.), as old as c. 1300, and is used by Spenser, ‘ The fountaine where they sat arounde.’ — Shep. Cal. June 30, and elsewhere. Wherefore the word itself, as an adverb, is not an anomaly. As a preposition it is used by Milton in the sense here claimed for it as an adverb, and the following example is given by Murray under the definition ‘ On all sides of, in all directions from ’ ; ‘ They around the flag Of each his faction . . . Swarm populous.’ — Par. Lost, II, 900. That there is need of such an adverb is proved by the examples
122
A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME [act iii, sc. i.
Through bogge, through bufh, through brake, through 1 1 1 Sometime a horfe lie be, fometime a hound : (bryer,
A bogge, a headleffe beare, fometime a fire,
And neigh, and barke, and grunt, and rore, and burne,
Like horfe, hound, hog, beare, fire, at euery turne. Exit . 1 1 5
Enter Piramus with the Affe head.
Bot. Why do they run away ? This is a knauery of them to make me afeard. Enter Snowt. \ 1 8