A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Dramatis Personæ.

Theseus, Duke of Athens

Hippolita, Queene of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus

Philostrate, Master of the Sports to the Duke

Egeus, an Athenian Lord

Hermia, Daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander

Lysander, in love with Hermia

Helena, in love with Demetrius

Demetrius, in love with Hermia

Peeter Quince, the Carpenter

Snugge, the Ioyner

Nick Bottom, the Weauer

Francis Flute, the Bellowes mender

Tom Snowt, the Tinker

Robin Starueling, the Taylerrepresenting respectively in the interlude Prologue, Lyon, Pyramus, Thisby, Wall, and Moonshine.

Robin goodfellow, the Puck

A Fairie, a servant of the Fairy Queene

Oberon, King of the Fairies

Tytania, Queene of the Fairies

Pease-blossome,

Cobweb,

Moth,

Mustard-seede,Fairies

Attendants upon Theseus and Hippolita

Other Fairies attending on the King and Queen

A

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Midsommer nights

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dreame.

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Actus primus.

Enter Theseus, Hippolita, with others.

Theseus.

Now faire Hippolita, our nuptiall hower

Draws on apase: fower happy daies bring in

An other Moone: but oh, me thinks, how slow

This old Moone waues! She lingers my desires,

Like to a Stepdame, or a dowager,

Long withering out a yong mans reuenewe.

Hip. Fower daies will quickly steepe themselues in night:

Fower nights will quickly dreame away the time:

And then the Moone, like to a siluer bowe,

Now bent in heauen, shall beholde the night

Of our solemnities.

The. Goe Philostrate,

Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments,

Awake the peart and nimble spirit of mirth,

Turne melancholy foorth to funerals:

The pale companion is not for our pomp.

Hyppolita, I woo’d thee with my sword,

And wonne thy loue, doing thee iniuries:

But I will wed thee in another key,

With pompe, with triumph, and with reueling.

Enter Egeus and his daughter Hermia, and Lysander

and Helena, and Demetrius.

Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke.

The. Thankes good Egeus. Whats the newes with thee?

Ege. Full of vexation, come I, with complaint

Against my childe, my daughter Hermia.

Stand forth Demetrius.

My noble Lord,

This man hath my consent to marry her.

Stand forth Lisander.

And my gratious Duke,

This man hath bewitcht the bosome of my childe.

Thou, thou Lysander, thou hast giuen her rimes,

And interchang’d loue tokens with my childe:

Thou hast, by moone-light, at her windowe sung,

With faining voice, verses of faining loue,

And stolne the impression of her phantasie:

With bracelets of thy haire, rings, gawdes, conceites,

Knackes, trifles, nosegaies, sweete meates (messengers

Of strong preuailement in vnhardened youth)

With cunning hast thou filcht my daughters heart,

Turnd her obedience (which is due to mee)

To stubborne harshnesse. And, my gratious Duke,

Be it so, she will not here, before your Grace,

Consent to marry with Demetrius,

I beg the auncient priuiledge of Athens:

As she is mine, I may dispose of her:

Which shall be, either to this gentleman,

Or to her death; according to our lawe,

Immediatly prouided, in that case.

The. What say you, Hermia? Be aduis’d, faire maid.

To you, your father should be as a God:

One that compos’d your beauties: yea and one,

To whome you are but as a forme in wax,

By him imprinted, and within his power,

To leaue the figure, or disfigure it:

Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.

Her. So is Lisander.The. In himselfe he is:

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But in this kinde, wanting your fathers voice,

The other must be held the worthier.

Her. I would my father lookt but with my eyes.

The. Rather your eyes must, with his iudgement, looke.

Her. I doe intreat your grace, to pardon mee.

I know not by what power, I am made bould;

Nor how it may concerne my modesty,

In such a presence, here to plead my thoughts:

But I beseech your Grace, that I may knowe

The worst that may befall mee in this case,

If I refuse to wed Demetrius.

The. Either to dy the death, or to abiure,

For euer, the society of men.

Therefore, faire Hermia, question your desires,

Knowe of your youth, examine well your blood,

Whether (if you yeelde not to your fathers choyce)

You can endure the liuery of a Nunne,

For aye to be in shady cloyster, mew’d

To liue a barraine sister all your life,

Chaunting faint hymnes, to the colde fruitlesse Moone.

Thrise blessed they, that master so there bloode,

To vndergoe such maiden pilgrimage:

But earthlyer happy is the rose distild,

Then that, which, withering on the virgin thorne,

Growes, liues, and dies, in single blessednesse.

Her. So will I growe, so liue, so die my Lord,

Ere I will yield my virgin Patent, vp

Vnto his Lordshippe, whose vnwished yoake

My soule consents not to giue souerainty.

The. Take time to pawse, and by the next newe moone,

The sealing day, betwixt my loue and mee,

For euerlasting bond of fellowshippe,

Vpon that day either prepare to dye,

For disobedience to your fathers will,

Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would,

Or on Dianaes altar to protest,

For aye, austeritie and single life.

Deme. Relent, sweete Hermia, and, Lysander, yeeld

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Thy crazed title to my certaine right.

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Lys. You haue her fathers loue, Demetrius:

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Let me haue Hermias: doe you marry him.

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Egeus. Scornefull Lysander, true, he hath my loue:

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And what is mine, my loue shall render him.

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And she is mine, and all my right of her

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I doe estate vnto Demetrius.

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Lysand. I am my Lord, as well deriu’d as hee,

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As well possest: my loue is more than his:

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My fortunes euery way as fairely rankt

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(If not with vantage) as Demetrius:

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And (which is more then all these boastes can be)

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I am belou’d of beautious Hermia.

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Why should not I then prosecute my right?

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Demetrius, Ile auouch it to his heade,

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Made loue to Nedars daughter, Helena,

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And won her soule: and she (sweete Ladie) dotes,

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Deuoutly dotes, dotes in Idolatry,

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Vpon this spotted and inconstant man.

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The. I must confesse, that I haue heard so much;

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And, with Demetrius, thought to haue spoke thereof:

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But, being ouer full of selfe affaires,

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My minde did loose it. But Demetrius come,

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And come Egeus, you shall goe with mee:

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I haue some priuate schooling for you both.

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For you, faire Hermia, looke you arme your selfe,

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To fit your fancies, to your fathers will;

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Or else, the Law of Athens yeelds you vp

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(Which by no meanes we may extenuate)

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To death, or to a vowe of single life.

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Come my Hyppolita: what cheare my loue?

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Demetrius and Egeus goe along:

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I must employ you in some businesse,

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Against our nuptiall, and conferre with you

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Of some thing, nerely that concernes your selues.

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Ege. With duety and desire, we follow you.Exeunt.

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Manet Lysander and Hermia.

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Lysand. How now my loue? Why is your cheeke so pale?

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How chance the roses there doe fade so fast?

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Her. Belike, for want of raine: which I could well

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Beteeme them, from the tempest of my eyes.

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Lis. Eigh me: for aught that I could euer reade,

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Could euer here by tale or history,

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The course of true loue neuer did runne smoothe:

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But either it was different in bloud;

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Her. O crosse! too high to be inthrald to loue.

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Lis. Or else misgraffed, in respect of yeares;

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Her. O spight! too olde to be ingag’d to young.

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Lis. Or else, it stoode vpon the choyce of friends;

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Her. O hell, to choose loue by anothers eyes!

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Lys. Or, if there were a sympathy in choyce,

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Warre, death or sicknesse, did lay siege to it;

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Making it momentany, as a sound;

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Swift, as a shadowe; short, as any dreame;

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Briefe, as the lightning in the collied night,

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That (in a spleene) vnfolds both heauen and earth;

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And, ere a man hath power to say, beholde,

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The iawes of darkenesse do deuoure it vp:

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So quicke bright things come to confusion.

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Her. If then true louers haue bin euer crost,

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It stands as an edict, in destiny:

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Then let vs teach our triall patience:

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Because it is a customary crosse,

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As dewe to loue, as thoughts, and dreames, and sighes,

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Wishes, and teares; poore Fancies followers.

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Lys. A good perswasion: therefore heare mee, Hermia:

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I haue a widowe aunt, a dowager,

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Of great reuenew, and she hath no childe:

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From Athens is her house remote, seauen leagues.

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And she respectes mee, as her only sonne:

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There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee:

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And to that place, the sharpe Athenian law

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Can not pursue vs. If thou louest mee, then

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Steale forth thy fathers house, to morrow night:

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And in the wood, a league without the towne

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(Where I did meete thee once with Helena

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To do obseruance to a morne of May)

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There will I stay for thee.

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Her. My good Lysander,

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I sweare to thee, by Cupids strongest bowe,

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By his best arrowe, with the golden heade,

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By the simplicitie of Venus doues,

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By that which knitteth soules, and prospers loues,

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And by that fire, which burnd the Carthage queene,

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When the false Troian vnder saile was seene,

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By all the vowes that euer men haue broke,

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(In number more then euer women spoke)

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In that same place thou hast appointed mee,

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To morrow truely will I meete with thee.

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Lys. Keepe promise loue: looke, here comes Helena.

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Enter Helena.

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Her. God speede faire Helena: whither away?

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Hel. Call you mee faire? That faire againe vnsay.

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Demetrius loues your faire: ô happy faire!

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Your eyes are loadstarres, and your tongues sweete aire

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More tunable then larke, to sheepeheards eare,

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When wheat is greene, when hauthorne buddes appeare.

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Sicknesse is catching: O, were fauour so,

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Your words I catch, faire Hermia, ere I goe,

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My eare should catch your voice, my eye, your eye,

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My tongue should catch your tongues sweete melody.

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Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,

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The rest ile giue to be to you translated.

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O, teach mee how you looke, and with what Art,

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You sway the motion of Demetrius heart.

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Her. I frowne vpon him; yet hee loues mee still.

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Hel. O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skil.

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Her. I giue him curses; yet he giues mee loue.

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Hel. O that my prayers could such affection mooue.

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Her. The more I hate, the more he followes mee.

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Hel. The more I loue, the more he hateth mee.

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Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

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Hel. None but your beauty; would that fault were mine.

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Her. Take comfort: he no more shall see my face:

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Lysander and my selfe will fly this place.

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Before the time I did Lisander see,

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Seem’d Athens as a Paradise to mee.

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O then, what graces in my loue dooe dwell,

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That hee hath turnd a heauen vnto a hell!

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Lys. Helen, to you our mindes wee will vnfould:

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To morrow night, when Phœbe doth beholde

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Her siluer visage, in the watry glasse,

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Decking, with liquid pearle, the bladed grasse

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(A time, that louers flights doth still conceale)

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Through Athens gates, haue wee deuis’d to steale.

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Her. And in the wood, where often you and I,

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Vpon faint Primrose beddes, were wont to lye,

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Emptying our bosomes, of their counsell sweld,

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There my Lysander, and my selfe shall meete,

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And thence, from Athens, turne away our eyes,

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To seeke new friends and strange companions.

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Farewell, sweete playfellow: pray thou for vs:

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And good lucke graunt thee thy Demetrius.

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Keepe word Lysander: we must starue our sight,

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From louers foode, till morrow deepe midnight.

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Exit Hermia.

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Lys. I will my Hermia. Helena adieu:

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As you on him, Demetrius dote on you.Exit Lysander.

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Hele. How happie some, ore othersome, can be!

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Through Athens, I am thought as faire as shee.

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But what of that? Demetrius thinkes not so:

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He will not knowe, what all, but hee doe know.

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And as hee erres, doting on Hermias eyes:

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So I, admiring of his qualities.

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Things base and vile, holding no quantitie,

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Loue can transpose to forme and dignitie.

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Loue lookes not with the eyes, but with the minde:

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And therefore is wingd Cupid painted blinde.

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Nor hath loues minde of any iudgement taste:

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Wings, and no eyes, figure, vnheedy haste.

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And therefore is loue said to bee a childe:

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Because, in choyce, he is so oft beguil’d.

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As waggish boyes, in game, themselues forsweare:

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So, the boy, Loue, is periur’d euery where.

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For, ere Demetrius lookt on Hermias eyen,

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Hee hayld downe othes, that he was onely mine.

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And when this haile some heate, from Hermia, felt,

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So he dissolued, and showrs of oathes did melt.

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I will goe tell him of faire Hermias flight:

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Then, to the wodde, will he, to morrow night,

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Pursue her: and for this intelligence,

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If I haue thankes, it is a deare expense:

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But herein meane I to enrich my paine,

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To haue his sight thither, and back againe.Exit.

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Enter Quince, the Carpenter; and Snugge, the Ioyner; and Bottom,

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the Weauer; and Flute, the Bellowes mender; & Snout, the Tinker; and

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Starueling the Tayler.

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Quin. Is all our company heere?

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Bot. You were best to call them generally, man by

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man, according to the scrippe.

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Quin. Here is the scrowle of euery mans name, which

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is thought fit, through al Athens, to play in our Enter-

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lude, before the Duke, & the Dutches, on his wedding

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day at night.

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Bott. First good Peeter Quince, say what the Play treats

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on: then read the names of the Actors: & so grow

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to a point.

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Quin. Mary, our Play is the most lamentable come-

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dy, and most cruell death of Pyramus and Thisby.

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Bot. A very good peece of worke, I assure you, & a

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merry. Now good Peeter Quince, call forth your Actors,

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by the scrowle. Masters, spreade your selues.

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Quin. Answere, as I call you. Nick Bottom, the

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Weauer?

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Bott. Readie: Name what part I am for, and

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proceede.

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Quin. You, Nick Bottom are set downe for Py-

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ramus.

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Bott. What is Pyramus? A louer, or a tyrant?

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Quin. A louer that kils himselfe, most gallant, for

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loue.

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Bott. That will aske some teares in the true perfor-

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ming of it. If I doe it, let the Audience looke to their eyes:

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I wil mooue stormes: I will condole, in some measure.

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To the rest yet, my chiefe humour is for a tyrant. I could

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play Ercles rarely, or a part to teare a Cat in, to make all

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split the raging rocks: and shiuering shocks, shall breake

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the locks of prison gates, and Phibbus carre shall shine

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from farre, and make & marre the foolish Fates. This

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was loftie. Now, name the rest of the Players. This

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is Ercles vaine, a tyrants vaine: A louer is more condo-

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ling.

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Quin. Francis Flute, the Bellowes mender?

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Flu. Here Peeter Quince.

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Quin. Flute, you must take Thisby, on you.

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Flu. What is Thisby? A wandring knight?

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Quin. It is the Lady, that Pyramus must loue.

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Fl. Nay faith: let not me play a womã: I haue a

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beard cõming.

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Quin. Thats all one: you shall play it in a Maske: and

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you may speake as small as you will.

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Bott. And I may hide my face, let me play Thisby to:

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Ile speake in a monstrous little voice; Thisne, Thisne, ah

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Pyramus, my louer deare, thy Thysby deare, & Lady

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deare.

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Qu. No, no: you must play Pyramus: & Flute, you

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Thysby.

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Bot. Well, proceede.

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Qui. Robin Starueling, the Tailer?

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Star. Here Peeter Quince.

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Quin. Robin Starueling, you must play Thysbyes

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mother.

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Tom Snowte, the Tinker?

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Snowt. Here Peter Quince.

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Quin. You, Pyramus father; my selfe, Thisbies father;

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Snugge, the Ioyner, you the Lyons part: And I hope here

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is a Play fitted.

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Snug. Haue you the Lyons part written? Pray you, if it

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bee, giue it mee: for I am slowe of studie.

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Quin. You may doe it, extempore: for it is nothing

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but roaring.

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Bott. Let mee play the Lyon to. I will roare, that I

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will doe any mans heart good to heare mee. I will roare,

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that I will make the Duke say; Let him roare againe: let

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him roare againe.

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Quin. And you should do it too terribly, you would

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fright the Dutchesse, and the Ladies, that they would

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shrike: and that were inough to hang vs all.

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All. That would hang vs, euery mothers sonne.

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Bot. I grant you, friends, if you should

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fright the Ladies out of their wits, they would

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haue no more discretion, but to hang vs: but I will ag-

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grauate my voice so, that I wil roare you as gently, as

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any sucking doue: I will roare you, and ’twere any Nightin-

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gale.

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Quin. You can play no part but Piramus: for Pira-

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mus is a sweete fac’t man; a proper man as one shall see in

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a sommers day; a most louely gentlemanlike man: there-

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fore you must needes play Piramus.

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Bot. Well: I will vndertake it. What beard were I

351

best to play it in?

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Quin. Why? what you will.

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Bot. I wil discharge it, in either your straw colour

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beard, your Orange tawnie bearde, your purple in graine

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beard, or your french crowne colour beard, your per-

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fit yellow.

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Quin. Some of your french crownes haue no haire

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at all; and then you will play bare fac’t. But maisters here

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are your parts, and I am to intreat you, request you, and

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desire you, to con them by to morrow night: and meete

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mee in the palace wood, a mile without the towne, by

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Moone-light; there will wee rehearse: for if wee meete in

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the city, wee shal be dogd with company, and our deui-

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ses known. In the meane time, I will draw a bill of pro-

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perties, such as our play wants. I pray you faile me not.

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Bot. Wee will meete, & there we may rehearse

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most obscenely, and coragiously. Take paines, bee per-

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fit: adieu.

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Quin. At the Dukes oke wee meete.

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Bot. Enough: holde, or cut bowstrings.Exeunt.

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Actus Secundus.

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Enter a Fairie at one doore, and Robin good-

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fellow at another.

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