The. Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and Wall too.

Bet. No, I affure you, the wall is down that parted their fathers. 9 Will it please you to fee the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomafk dance, between two of our company?

The. No epilogue, I pray yon; for your play needs no excufe. Never excufe; for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he, that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hang'd himfelf in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy: and fo it is, truly, and very notably difcharg'd. But come, your Bergomafk: let your epilogue alone. [Here a dance of clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:Lovers to bed; 'tis almoft Fairy time.

Lay them in gore.] Mr. Theobald and Dr. Warburton instead of lay, read lave, but have no note to juftify or account for the alteration. STEEVENS.

9 Will it pleafe, &c.] The quarto in 1600 gives this fpeech to Lion, but fee an epilogue and bear a dance is fo much in Bottom's character, that the modern editors are justified in reftoring it to him. WARNER.

A Bergomafk dance,] (As fir T. H. obferves in his Gloffary) is a dance after the mander of the peasants of Bergomafco, a country in Italy, belonging to the Venetians. All the buffoons in Italy affect to imitate the ridiculous jargon of that people, and from thence it became alfo a cuftom to imitate their manner of dancing. STEEVENS.

H 4

I fear,

I fear, we fhall out-fleep the coming morn,
As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
This palpable grofs play hath well beguil'd
The heavy 'gait of night.-Sweet friends, to bed.—
A fortnight hold we this folemnity,
In nightly revels and new jollity.

SCENE II.

Enter Puck.

Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, And the wolf beholds the moon : Whilst the heavy ploughman fnores, All with weary task fore-done. 3 Now the wafted brands do glow,

2

Whilft the fcritch-owl, fcritching loud, Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,

In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night,

That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his fpright,
In the church-way paths to glide;

3

gait.] i. c. paffage, progrefs. STEEVENS.

[Exeunt.

2 In the old copies: And the wolf beholds the moon.] As 'tis the defign of thefe lines to characterize the animals, as they prefent themselves at the hour of midnight; and as the wolf is not justly characterized by faying he beholds the moon, which other beafts of prey, then awake, do: and as the founds these animals make at that season, seem also intended to be reprefented; I make no question but the poet wrote;

And the wolf behowls the moon.

For fo the wolf is exactly characterized, it being his peculiar property to bowl at the moon. (Bebowl, as bemoan, befeem, and an hundred others.)

WARBURTON.

The alteration is better than the original reading; but perhaps the author meant only to fay, that the wolf gazes at the moon.

JOHNSON.

3 foredone.] i. e. overcome. So Spenfer, F. Q. b. 1. c. x.

f. 33.

"And many fouls in dolour had fordone.

STEEVENS.

And

And we Fairies, that do run

By the triple Hecat's team,
From the presence of the fun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolick; not a mouse
Shall difturb this hallow'd houfe:
I am fent, with broom, before,
To sweep the duft behind the door.

Enter King and Queen of Fairies, with their train.
Ob. Through this house give glimmering light,
By the dead and drowsy fire:

Every elf and fairy fprite,

Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty after me

Sing, and dance it trippingly.

Tit. First rehearse this fong by rote,
To each word a warbling note.
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we fing and bless this place.

4 I am fent with broom before,
To fweep the duft behind the door.]

Cleanliness is always neceffary to invite the refidence and the favour of Fairies.

Thefe make our girls their flutt'ry rue,
By pinching them both black and blue,
And put a penny in their fhoe

The boufe for cleanly fweeping.

5 Through this houfe give glimmering light.] this picture in his thought:

Glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.

So Drayton :

Hence fhadows feeming idle shapes
Of little frifking elves and apes,
To earth do make their wanton Scapes,
As bope of paftime haftes them.

I think it should be read,

Drayton.

JOHNSON. Milton perhaps had

Il Penferofo.

Through this house in glimmering light. JOHNSON.

Ob.

Ob. Now, until the break of day,"
Through this houfe each Fairy ftray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us fhall bleffed be,
And the iffue, there create,
Ever fhall be fortunate.
So fhall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:

And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their iffue ftand;
Never mole, hare-lip nor fcar,
Nor mark prodigious, fuch as are
Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.-
With this field-dew confecrate,
Every Fairy take his gate,

And each feveral chamber blefs,
Through this palace, with fweet peace.
Ever fhall it fafely reft,

And the owner of it bleft.

Trip away;

Make no ftay;

Meet me all by break of day.

6

[Exeunt King, Queen, and train.

Now, until, &c.] This fpeech, which both the old quartos give to Oberon, is in the edition of 1623, and in all the following, printed as the fong. I have reftored it to Oberon, as it apparently contains not the bleffing which he intends to beftow on the bed, but his declaration that he will blefs it, and his orders to the fairies how to perform the neceffary rites. But where then is the fong ?—I am afraid it is gone after many other things of greater value. The truth is that two fongs are loft. The feries of the fcene is this; after the fpeech of Puck, Oberon enters, and calls his fairies to a fong, which fong is apparently wanting in all the copies. Next Titania leads another fong, which is indeed loft like the former, tho' the editors have endeavoured to find it. Then Oberon difmiffes his fairies to the difpatch of the ceremonies.

The fongs, I fuppofe, were loft, because they were not inferted. in the players parts, from which the drama was printed.

JOHNSON.
Puck.

Puck. If we fhadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended;
That you have but flumber'd here,
While thefe vifions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but, a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And as I'm an honeft Puck,
If we have unearned luck 7
Now to 'fcape the ferpent's tongue,
We will make amends, ere long:
Elfe the Puck a liar call:

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends?
And Robin fhall reftore amends.

7

[Exeunt cmnes. *

unearned luck.] i. e. if we have better fortune than

we have deferved. STEEVENS.

8 Now to Scape the ferpent's tongue.] That is, If we be difmifs'd without hiffes. JOHNSON.

Give me your hands.] That is, Clap your hands. Give us your applaufe. JOHNSON.

Of this play there are two editions in quarto; one printed for Thomas Fisher, the other for James Roberts, both in 1600. I have used the copy of Roberts, very carefully collated, as it feems, with that of Fisher. Neither of the editions approach to exactnefs. Fisher is fometimes preferable, but Roberts was followed, though not without fome variations, by Hemings and Condel, and they by all the folios that fucceeded them.

Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their various modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author defigned. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; made them familiar, and Spenfer's poem JOHNSON.

common tradition had had made them great.

THE