For Oberon is paffing fell and wrath,
Because that the, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian king;
She never had fo fweet a changeling:
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild:
But the, perforce, withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy
And now they never meet in grove, or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled ftar-light fheen,
But they do fquare; that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn cups, and hide them there.
Fai. Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that fhrewd and knavish sprite,
Call'd Robin-Goodfellow: are you not he,
That frights the maidens of the villag'ry;
Skim milk; and fometimes labour in the quern,
And bootlefs make the breathlefs hufwife chern;
And fometime make the drink to bear no barm :
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Thofe that Hobgoblin call you, and fweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck
Are not you he?
Puck. Thou fpeak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him fmile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And fometimes lurk I in a goffip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither'd dew-lap pour the ale.
The wifeft aunt, telling the faddeft tale,
Sometime for three-foot ftool miftaketh me;
Then flip I from,her bum, down topples fhe,
And taylor cries, and falls into a cough:
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe,
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and fwear
A merrier hour was never wafted there.-
But room, Fairy, here comes Oberon.
Fai. And here my miftrefs:-'Would that he were gone!
Enter OBERON, King of the Fairies, at one Door with hiş
Train, and the Queen at another with hers.
Ob. Ill met by moon-light, proud Titania.
Queen. What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence;
I have forfworn his bed and company.
Ob. Tarry, rash wanton; am not I thy lord?
Queen. Then I must be thy lady: But I know
When thou haft ftol'n away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin fate all day,
Playing on pipes of corn, and verfing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the farthest steep of India?
But that forfooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your bufkin'd miftrefs, and your warrior love,
To Thefeus must be wedded; and you come
To give their bed joy and profperity.
Ob. How can't thou thus, for fhame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolita,
Knowing I know thy love to Thefeus?
Didft thou not lead him through the glimmering night
From Periguné, whom he ravished?
And make him with fair Ægle break his faith,
With Ariadne, and Antiopa?
Queen. These are the forgeries of jealoufy:
And never, fince the middle fummer's spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou haft difturb'd our fport,
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-borne their continents.
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The plowman loft his fweat; and the green corn
Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard:
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock:
The nine-men's morris is fill'd up with mud;
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread, are undistinguishable.
The human mortals want their winter here,
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 rheumatic diseases do abound ;
And, thorough this diftemperature, we fee
The feafons alter: hoary-headed frofts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rofe:
And on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,
An odorous chaplet of sweet fummer buds
Is, as in mockery, fet: The fpring, the fummer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries; and the 'mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this fame progeny of evils, comes
From our debate, from our diffention;
We are their parents and original.
Ob. Do you amend it then: it lies 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 votrefs of my order :
And, in the fpiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath the goffip'd by my fide;
And fat with me on Neptune's yellow fands,
Marking the embarked traders on the flood;
When we have laugh'd to fee the fails conceive,
And grow big-bellied, with the wanton wind:
Which the, with pretty and with fwimming gait
(Following her womb then rich with my young 'fquire),
Would imitate; and fail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
But the, 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 fee 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
Queen. Not for thy fairy kingdom.-Fairies,
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.
[Exeunt Queen and her Train, 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 mufic.
Ob. That very time I faw (but thou could'st not)
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd; a certain aim he took
At a fair veftal; throned by the weft;
And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts :
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery fhaft
Quench'd in the chafte beams of the watery 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 flower; 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 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 in her eyes:
The next thing when the waking looks upon
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on bufy 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'st me they were stoln unto this wood;
And here am I, and wood within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my
Hence, get thee gene, 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 power to draw,
And I fhall have no power 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, nor I cannot love you?
Hel. And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your fpaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Ufe me but as your spaniel, 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
|