Knowing I know thy Love to Thefeus?
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night From 'Perigyné, whom he ravifhed,
And make him with fair Ægle break his faith,
With Ariadne and Antiopa?
Queen. Thefe are the forgeries of jealoufie:
And never fince 5 'that middle fummer's spring
Met we on hill, in dale, foreft, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rufhy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou haft disturb'd our sport.
Therefore the winds piping to us in vain,
As in revenge have fuck'd up from the fea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land,
Have every pelting river made fo proud,
That they have over-born their continents.
The ox hath therefore ftretch'd his yoak in vain,
The Ploughman loft his fweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted, ere its youth attain'd a beard.
The fold ftands empty in the drowned field,
And crows åre fatted with the murrion flock;
The nine-mens morris is fill'd up with mud,
And the queint mazes in the wanton green
For lack of tread are undistinguishable.
The human mortals want their winter " 'cheer,`
No night is now with hymn or carol bleft;
Therefore the moon, the governefs of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air;
That rheumatick difeafes do abound.
And thorough this diftemperature, we fee
The seasons alter; hoary-headed frofts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And on old Hyem's chin and icy crown
An ed'rous chaplet of fweet fummer buds
Is as in mockery set. The fpring, the fummer,
4 Perigenia, or, according to Theobald, Perigune, 6 here
The chiding autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and th' amazed world
By their 7 'inverse now knows not which is which;
And this fame progeny of evil comes
From our debate, from our diffention,
We are their parents and original.
Ob. Do you amend it then, it lyes in you.
Why fhould Titania crofs her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.
Queen. Set your heart at reft,
The fairy-land buys not the child of me.
His Mother was a votress of my order,
And in the fpiced Indian Air by night
Full often the hath goffipt by my fide;
And fat with me on Neptune's yellow fands,
Marking th' embarked traders of the flood,
When we have laught to see the fails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:
Which the with pretty and with fwimming gate
'Follying (her womb then rich with my young squire) Would imitate, and fail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
But fhe, being mortal, of that boy did die,
And for her fake I do rear up her boy,
And for her fake I will not part with him.
Ob. How long within this wood intend you stay?
Queen. Perchance till after Thefeus' wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moon-light revels, go with us?
If not, fhun me, and I will fpare your haunts.
Ob. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Elves away!
We fhall chide downright, if I longer stay.
[Exeunt. Ob. Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove, 'Till I torment thee for this injury
My gentle Puck, come hither; thou remember'st
Since once I fat upon a promontory,
And heard a Mermaid on a Dolphin's back
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong,
And certain stars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's mufick.
Ob. That very time I faw, but thou could'ft not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd; a certain aim he took
At a fair a Vestal, throned by the weft,
And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow,
As it fhould pierce a hundred thoufand hearts;
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery fhaft
Quench'd in the chafte beams of the wat'ry moon,
And the Imperial Votrefs paffed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell,
It fell upon a little western flower;
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it Love in idlenefs.
Fetch me that flow'r; the herb I fhew'd thee once;
The juice of it, on fleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly doat:
Upon the next live creature that it fees.
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the Leviathan can swim a league.
Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
Ob. Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it 9 'on her eyes:
The next thing which fhe waking looks upon, (Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
(a) A compliment to Queen Elizabeth: as it feems probable that Mary Queen of Scots was pointed at in the preceding Speech of Oberon. Warburton.
Or medling monkey, or on bufie ape)
She fhall purfue it with the foul of love:
And ere I take this charm off from her fight,
(As I can take it with another herb)
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible,
And I will over-hear their conference.
Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.
Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lyfander, and fair Hermia?
The one I'll flay, the other flayeth me.`
Thou told'ft me they were ftol'n into this wood;
And here am I, and wode within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant,
But yet you draw not iron; for my heart
Is true as steel. Leave you your pow'r to draw,
And I shall have no pow'r to follow you.
Dem. Do I entice you? do I fpeak you fair?
Or rather do I not in plainest truth
Tell you I do not and I cannot love you?
Hel. And even for that do I love thee the more;
I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me I will fawn on you:
Ufe me but as your fpaniel, fpurn me, ftrike me,
Neglect me, lofe me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worfer place can I beg in your love, (And yet a place of high refpect with me) Than to be used as you use your dog?
Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my fpirit, For I am fick when I do look on thee.
1 fay, the other flayeth . . . old edit. Thirl. emend.
Hel. And I am fick when I look not on you.
Dem. You do impeach your modefty too much,
To leave the city and commit your felf
Into the hands of one that loves you not,
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counfel of a defart place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.
Hel. Your virtue is my privilege; for that
It is not night when I do fee your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night.
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For you in my respect are all the world.
Then how can it be faid I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?
Dem. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.
Hel. The wildeft hath not such a heart as you;
Run when you will, the ftory fhall be chang'd:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin, the mild hind
Makes fpeed to catch the tyger. Bootlefs fpeed!
When cowardife purfues, and valour flies.
Dem. I will not ftay thy queftions; let me go:
Or if you follow me, do not believe
But I fhall do thee mischief in the wood.
Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town'and' field You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius,
Your wrongs do fet a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We fhou'd be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I follow thee, and make a heav'n of hell,
To die upon the hand I love fo well.
Ob. Fare thee well, nymph'; ere he do leave this Thou shalt fly him, and he fhall feek thy love. Haft thou the flow'r there? welcome, wanderer.
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