Following,
Would imitate, and sail upon the land,

her womb then rich with my young squire,

To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake I do rear up her boy;

And for her sake I will not part with him.

Obe. How long within this wood intend you stay? Tita. Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day. If you will patiently dance in our round,

And see our moonlight revels, go with us;

If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.

Obe. Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. Tita. Not for thy Fairy kingdom. - Fairies, away! We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.

[Exit TITANIA with her train. Obe. 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 23
once I sat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid,24 on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,

And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear 25 the sea-maid's music.

Puck.

I remember.

28 Since was sometimes used for when; and such is clearly the sense of it here. So in 2 Henry IV., iii. 2: “Do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in Saint George's fields?

"

24 In Shakespeare's time, mermaid appears to have been sometimes used for siren.

25 To hear is an instance of what is called the gerundial infinitive, and so is equivalent to at hearing; the hearing of the seamaid's music being assigned, not as the purpose, but as the cause of the stars shooting madly from their spheres. See vol. i., page 207, note 12.

Obe. That very time I saw - but thou couldst not
Flying between the cold Moon and the Earth,
Cupid all arm'd a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the West,

And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred-thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery Moon,
And the imperial votaress passèd on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.26

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-idleness.27

Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid

Will make or man or woman madly dote

Upon the next live creature that it sees.

Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

Puck. I'd put a girdle round about the Earth
In forty minutes.

Obe.

Having once this juice,

I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,

And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.

The next thing then she waking looks upon, -
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey or on busy ape,-
She shall pursue it with the soul of love:

[Exit.

26 This delectable passage is universally understood as a compliment to Queen Elizabeth.

27 The tri-coloured violet, commonly called pansies, or hearts-ease, is here meant: one or two of its petals are of a purple colour. It has other fanciful and expressive names, such as Cuddle-me-to-you, Three-faces-under-ahood, Herb-trinity, &c.

And, ere I take this charm off from her sight, -
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 overhear their conference.

Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him.

Dem. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood;
And here am I, and wood 28 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 ; 29
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.

Dem. Do I entice you? do I speak 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

I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,

you

the more.

The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

What worser place can I beg in your love, —
And yet a place of high respect with me,

28 Wood is an old word for frantic or mad. See vol. i., page 184, note 3. 23 "There is now a dayes a kind of adamant which draweth unto it fleshe, and the same so strongly, that it hath power to knit and tie together two mouthes of contrary persons, and drawe the heart of a man out of his bodie without offending any part of him."— Certaine Secrete Wonders of Nature, by Edward Fenton, 1569.

Than to be used as you use your dog?

Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit ; For I am sick when I do look on thee.

Hel. And I am sick when I look not on you.
Dem. You do impeach your modesty too much,
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 desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.

Hel. Your virtue is my privilege for that.
It is not night when I do see 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 said 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 wildest hath not such a heart as you.

Run when you will, the story shall be changed, -
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger, - bootless speed,
When cowardice pursues, and valour flies!

Dem. I will not stay thy question;
Or, if thou follow me, do not believe

30 let me go:

But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

Hel. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,

You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius !

Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:

We cannot fight for love, as men may do ;

We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. 30 Here, as often, question is talk or conversation.

I'll follow thee, and make a Heaven of Hell,

To die upon the hand I love so well.

[Exeunt DEM. and HEL.

Obe. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove, Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love. —

Re-enter PUCK.

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
Puck. Ay, here it is.

Obe.
I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with lush 31 woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine;
And where the snake throws her enamell❜d skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in :
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in this bower with dances and delight;
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.

Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love

With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady: thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love:
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck. Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.

81 Lush is luscious or luxuriant. So in The Tempest, ii. 1: and lusty the grass looks! how green!"

[Exeunt.

"How lush