And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissention;
We are their parents and original.

Obe. Do you amend it then ; it lies in you:
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.9
Tita.

Set your heart at rest;
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a vot’ress of my order :
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side;
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embarked traders on the flood;
When we have laughed to see the sails conceive,
And grow big-bellied, with the wanton wind :
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
Following (her womb, then rich with my young

squire,)
Would imitate; and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandize.
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 moon-light 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 kingdom.-Fairies, away: We shall chide down-right, if I longer stay,

(Exeunt TITANIA, and her train.

Obe. Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from

this grove,

a

Till I torment thee for this injury.-
My gentle Puck, come hither: Thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, 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 the sea-maid's musick.
Puck.

I remember.
Obe. 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
At a fair vestal, throned by the west;
And loos'd 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 wat’ry moon;
And the imperial vot’ress 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-idleness. Fetch me that flower : the herb I show'd thee

1

once:

The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids 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'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes.

[Exit Puck. Obe.

Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
Aud 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.
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
(As I can take it with another herb,)
I'll make her render her

page to me. But who comes here? I am invisible; And I will over-hear their conference.

up

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 2 within this wood, Because I cannot meet with 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 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 you the more. I am your spaniel ; and, Demetrius, The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:

% Mad, raving

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,)
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;
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 chang'd;.. Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; The dove pursues the griffin; the mild Makes speed to catch the tiger : Bootless speed ! When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not stay thy questions; let me go : Or, if thou follow me, do not believe But I shall do thee mischief in the wood,

For

3 Bring in question.

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. I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell, To die upon4 the hand I love so well.

[Exeunt DEM. and Hel. Obe. Fare thee well, nymph : ere he do leave Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love..

a

this grove,

Re-enter Puck.

5

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

Puck. Ay, there it is.
Obe.

I

pray thee, give it me. I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips 5 and the nodding violet grows; Quite over-canopied with lush 6 woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania, some time of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: 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.

4

4 By.

5 The greater cowslip.

.6 Vigorous.