Hel. The more I love, the more he hateth me.
Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

Hel. None, but your beauty; 'Would that fault

were mine!

Her. Take comfort; he no more shall see my face; Lysander and myself will fly this place.

Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me :
O then, what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!

210

Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
Te-morrow night, when Phœbe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watry glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass
(A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal),
Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal.
Her. And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsels swell'd;
There my Lysander and myself shall meet:
And thence, from Athens, turn away our eyes,
To seek new friends and strange companions.
Farewel, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us,
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!-
Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lover's food, 'till morrow deep midnight.

220

[Exit HERM.

Lys. I will, my Hermia.-Helena, adieu: As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!

[Exit. Lys. Hel,

230

Hel. How happy some, o'er othersome, can be !
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know.
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities.

Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind :

Nor hath love's mind of any judgment taste;
Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste:
And therefore is love said to be a child,

240

Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd.
As waggish boys themselves in game forswear,
So the boy love is perjur'd every where:

For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths, that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolv'd, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he, to-morrow night,
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expence:
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again.

250

[Exit

SCENE SCENE II.

A Cottage. Enter QUINCE the Carpenter, SNUG the Joiner, Воттом the Weaver, FLUTE the BellowsMender, SNOUT the Tinker, and STARVELING the Taylor.

Quin. Is all our company here?

Bot. You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip.

Quin. Here is the scrowl of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and dutchess, on his wedding-day at night.

261

• Bot. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and so grow to a point.

Quin. Marry our play is-The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.

Bot. A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.-Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scrow Masters, spread yourselves.

271

Quin. Answer, as I call you.-Nick Bottom the

weaver.

Bot. Ready: Name what part I am for, and proQuin. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyra

mus.

Bot. What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant ? Quin. A lover that kills himself most gallantly for 280

love.

Bot. That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest :-Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.

"The raging rocks,
" And shivering shocks,
"Shall break the locks

"Of prison-gates;

"And Phibbus' car
"Shall shine from far,
"And make and mar

"The foolish fates."

290

This was lofty !-Now name the rest of the players.This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more condoling.

Quin. Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.

Flu. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You must take Thisby on you.

Flu. What is Thisby? a wandering knight?

Quin. It is the lady that Pyramus must love.

Flu.

Flu. Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.

Quin. That's all one; you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will.

Bot. An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too: I'll speak in a monstrous little voice; -Thisne, Thisne, Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisby dear! and lady dear!.

310

Quin. No, no; you must play Pyramus, and, Flute, you Thisby.

Bot. Well, proceed.

Quin. Robin Starveling, the taylor.

Star. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's

mother.-Tom Snout, the Tinker.

Snou. Here, Peter Quince.

Quin. You, Pyramus's father; myself, Thisby's father;-Snug, the joiner, you, the lion's part :--and, I hope, there is a play fitted.

321

Snug. Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.

Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.

Bot. Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me, I will roar, that I will make the duke say, Let him roar again, let him roar again.

329

Quin. An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the dutchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all.