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.

OBE. Having once this juice,

I'll watch Titania when fhe is afleep,

[Exit PUCK

And drop the liquor of it in her eyes :
The next thing then the waking looks upon,
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy 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 invifible;

And I will over-hear their conference.

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 wood 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 fteel: 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:

Ufe me but as your spaniel, 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 ufe your dog?

DEM. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit ;

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 modefty 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 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 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 wildeft 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 hind
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 fhall do thee mischief in the wood.

HEL. Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mifchief. Fie, Demetrius !
Your wrongs do fet a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;

We fhould be woo'd, and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell,

To die upon the hand I love fo well.

[Exeunt DEM. and HEL.

OBE. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this

grove,

Thou fhalt fly him, and he shall feek thy love.

Re-enter PUCK.

Haft 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 and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,
With fweet musk roses, and with eglantine:
There fleeps Titania, fome time of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the fnake throws her enamel'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in :
And with the juice of this I'll ftreak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantafies.

Take thou fome of it, and feek through this grove:
A fweet Athenian lady is in love

With a difdainful youth: anoint his eyes;

But do it, when the next thing he efpies

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 fhe upon her love :
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Puck. Fear not, my lord, your fervant fhall do fo.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III. Another part of the Wood.

Enter TITANIA with her train.

TITA. Come, now a roundel, and a fairy fong;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence:
Some, to kill cankers in the mufk-rose buds;

Some, war with rear-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats; and fome, keep back
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and wonders
At our quaint fpirits: Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices, and let me reft.

SONG.

1. FAI. You Spotted snakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-bogs, be not feen;

Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen :
Chorus.

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our fweet lullaby;

Lulla, lula, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby :

Never harm, nor spell nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

II.

2. FAI. Weaving Spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd fpinners, hence:

VOL. I.

3X

Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm, nor fnail, do no offence.
Chorus.

Philomel, with melody, &c.

1. FAI. Hence, away; now all is well:

One, aloof, stand sentinel.

[Exeunt FAIRIES. TITANIA fleeps.

Enter OBERON.

OBE. What thou feeft, when thou doft wake,

[Squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eye-lids.

Do it for thy true love take;

Love, and languifh for his fake:

Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wak'ft, it is thy dear;

Wake, when fome vile thing is near..

[Exit.

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA.

Lrs. Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood; And to speak troth, I have forgot our way: We'll reft us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day. HER. Be it fo, Lyfander: find you out a bed, For I upon this bank will reft my head.

Lrs. One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
One heart, one bed, two bofoms, and one troth.
HER. Nay, good Lyfander; for my fake, my dear,
Lie further off yet, do not lie fo near.

Lrs. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence;
Love takes the meaning, in love's conference.
I mean, that my
heart unto yours is knit;
So that but one heart we can make of it:
Two bofoms interchained with an oath;