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With Ariadne, and Antiopa?

Queen. These are the forgeries of jealoufy :
And never since that middle fummer's fpring
Met we on hill, in dale, foreft, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rufhy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the fea,
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 so 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 stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are 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 governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air;
That rheumatick diseases do abound.
And, thorough this distemperature, we see
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 od❜rous chaplet of sweet fummer buds
Is, as in mockery, fet. The spring, the fummer,
The chiding autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and th' amazed world
By their inverse now knows not which is which;
And this fame progeny of evil comes

From

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 cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.

Queen. Set your heart at rest,

The fairy-land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votrefs of my order,
And in the spiced 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 fee the fails conceive,
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind:
Which the, with pretty and with fwimming gait,
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 spare your haunts.
Ob. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
Queen. Not for thy fairy kingdom. Elves, away!
We hall 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'ft

Since once I fat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back

M 2

Uttering

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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.

Puck. I remember.

Ob. That very time I saw, but thou could'st not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd; a certain aim he took

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At a fair veftal, throned by the west,

And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it fhould pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chafte beams of the wat❜ry moon;
And the imperial votress passed 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 dote
Upon the next live creature that it fees.

Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the Leviathan can fwim 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 the is afleep,

And drop the liquor of it on her eyes:

The next thing which the waking looks upon,
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,

Or medling monkey, or on bufy ape)
She shall purfue it with the foul of love:

[Exit.

• A compliment to queen Elizabeth: as it seems probable that Mary` queen of Scots was pointed at

in the preceding Speech of Oberon.

And

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.

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Enter Demetrius, Helena following him.

Dem. I love thee not, therefore purfue me not. Where is Lyfander, and fair Hermia?

The one I'll flay, the other flayeth me.

Thou told'st 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 fteel. 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 plaineft truth

Tell you, I do not, and I cannot love you?

Hel. And ev'n for that do I love thee the more;

I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,

The more you beat me I will fawn on you:

Use me but as your fpaniel, fpurn me, ftrike me,
Neglect me, lose 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 respect 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.

Hel. And I am fick when I look not on you.
Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much,,

Το

To leave the city, and commit yourself

Into the hands of one that loves you not,
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a defert 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 beafts.

Hel. The wildeft hath not fuch a heart as you;
Run when you will, the ftory fhall be chang'd:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chafe;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger. Bootlefs fpeed!
When cowardice purfues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; 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 mifchief. Fie, Demetrius,

Your wrongs do fet a scandal on my

fex:

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.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

Ob. Fare thee well, nymph; ere he do leave this grove

Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.

Haft thou the flow'r there? welcome, wanderer.

Enter

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