patience 14 well: that same cowardly, giant-like oxbeef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you more acquaintance, good master Mustard-seed. Tita. Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower. The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye; And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enforced chastity. Tie up my lover's tongue, bring him silently. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Another part of the Wood. Enter OBERON. Obe. I wonder, if Titania be awak'd; Enter PUCK. Here comes my messenger.-How now, mad spirit? 14 Mason proposes to read 'passing well,' which is plausible if change be necessary. The words are spoken ironically, as it was the prevailing opinion in Shakspeare's time, that mustard excited choler. 1 Revelry. 2 A patch sometimes means a fool, or simpleton; but it was a common contemptuous term, and may be either a corruption of the Italian pazzo, or derived from the patch'd clothes sometimes worn by persons of low condition. Tooke gives a different origin from the Saxon verb pæcan, to deceive by false appear ances. Were met together to rehearse a play, spy, As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls; strong, Made senseless things begin to do them wrong; For briars and thorns at their apparel snatch; Some, sleeves; some, hats; from yielders all things catch. I led them on in this distracted fear, 3 Barren is dull, unpregnant. Sort is company. 4 A head. The metamorphosis of Bottom might have been suggested by a similar trick played by Dr. Faustus. See his History, c. xliii. The receipt for the process occurs in Albertus Magnus de Secretis: 'Si vis quod caput hominis assimiletur capiti asini, sume de segimine aselli, et unge hominem in capite, et sic apparebit.' The book was translated in Shakspeare's time. 5 Actor. 6 The chough is a bird of the daw kind. 7 Sort is company, as above. Obe. This falls out better than I could devise. But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do? Puck. I took him sleeping,-that is finish'd too,And the Athenian woman by his side; That, when he wak'd, of force she must be ey❜d. Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA. Obe. Stand close; this is the same Athenian. Puck. This is the woman, but not this the man. Dem. O, why rebuke him that loves you Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe. you so Her. Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse; For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse. If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep, And kill me too. The sun was not so true unto the day, As he to me: Would he have stolen away Her. What's this to my Lysander? Where is he? Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me? Dem. I had rather give his carcass to my hounds. Her. Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds 8 Latch'd or letch'd, licked or smeared over. Lecher, Fr. Steevens says that, in the North, it signifies to infect. ? Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him then? mood: I am not guilty of Lysander's blood; Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well. [Lies down. Obe. What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite, And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight: Of thy misprision must perforce ensue Some true-love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true. Puck. Then fate o'er-rules; that, one man hold ing troth, A million fail, confounding oath on oath. 9 A touch anciently signified a trick. Ascham has the shrewd touches of many curst boys.' And in the old story of Howleglas, 'for at all times he did some mad touch.' 10 On a mispris'd mood,' i. e. in a mistaken manner. sometimes used licentiously for in. On was Obe. About the wood go swifter than the wind, And Helena of Athens look thou find : All fancy-sick11 she is, and pale of cheer 12 Hit with Cupid's archery, Sink in apple of his eye! When thou wak'st, if she be by, Re-enter PUCK. Puck. Captain of our fairy band, And the youth, mistook by me, Shall we their fond pageant see ? Lord, what fools these mortals be! [Exit. Obe. Stand aside: the noise they make, Will cause Demetrius to awake. Puck. Then will two at once woo one; 11 Love-sick. 12 Cheer here signifies countenance, from céra, ITAL. signifying the face, visage, sight, or countenance, look or cheere of a man or woman.' The old French chere had the same meaning. 13 So in K. Henry VI. we have 'blood-consuming,' 'blooddrinking,' and 'blood-sucking sighs.' All alluding to the ancient supposition, that every sigh was indulged at the expense of a drop of blood. |