Enter Demetrius. Dem. Lyfander! speak again. Thou run-away, thou coward, art thou fled? And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child; I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defil'd, Dem. Yea; art thou there? Puck. Follow my voice, we'll try no manhood here. Lyf. He goes before me, and still dares me on; When I come where he calls me, then he's gone. The villain is much lighter heel'd, than I: I follow'd faft, but fafter he did fly; That fallen am I in dark uneven way, And here will reft me. Come, thou gentle day! [Lies down. For if but once thou fhew me thy gray light, I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spight, Re-enter Puck and Demetrius. Puck. Ho, ho, ho, coward, why comeft thou not? Dem. Abide me, if thou dar'ft: for well I wot, Thou runn'st before me, fhifting every place; And dar'ft not ftand, nor look me in the face. Where art thou? i Puck. Come hither, I am here. Speak in fome bufh: where doft thou hide thy head?] This paf fage is printed thus in all the editions. The fenfe I think would be clearer if the pointing were regulated thus: Speak. In fome bush? Where doft thou hide thy head? STEEVENS. Dem. Dem. Nay, then thou mock'st me; thou shalt buy this dear, s 5 If ever I thy face by day-light fee. Now, go thy way. Faintnefs conftraineth me Enter Helena. [Lies down. Hel. O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy hours; fhine, comforts, from the eaft: That I may back to Athens by day-light, From these, that my poor company deteft:And, fleep, that fometime shuts up forrow's eye, Steal me a while from mine own company. [Sleeps. Puck. Yet but three? come one more, Two of both kinds make up four. Here fhe comes, curft and fad : Cupid is a knavish lad, Thus to make poor females mad. Enter Hermia. Her. Never fo weary, never fo in woe, I can no further crawl, no further go; My legs can keep no pace with my defires. Here will I reft me, 'till the break of day. Heavens shield Lyfander, if they mean a fray! Puck. On the ground Sleep found, I'll apply To your eye, Gentle lover, remedy. [Lies down. [Squeezing the juice on Lyfander's eye. 5-buy this dear ;] i. e. thou shalt dearly pay for this. Though this is fenfe, and may well enough ftand, yet the poet perhaps wrote thou shal: 'by it dar. So in another place, thou shalt aby it. So Milton, How dearly I abide that boaft jo vain. JOHNSON. When thou wak'st, Thou tak'st True delight Of thy former lady's eye: And the country proverb known, go ill, } The man fhall have his mare again, and all be well. [Exit Puck. [They fleep. * A C T IV. SCENE I. THE WOOD. Enter Queen of the Fairies, Bottom, Fairies attending, and the King behind them. QUEEN. (OME, fit thee down upon this flowery bed, And stick mufk-rofes in thy fleek fmooth head; Peafe. Ready. Jack shall have Jill, &c.] Thefe three laft lines are to be found among Heywood's Epigrams on three hundred Proverbs." STEEVENS. * I fee no reason why the fourth a&t should begin here, when there feems no interruption of the action. In the old quartos of 1600, there is no divifion of acts, which feems to have been afterwards arbitrarily made in the firft folio, and may therefore be altered at pleasure. JOHNSON. 1-do coy] To co is to footh. SKINNER. Bet. Bot. Scratch my head, Peasebloffom.-Where's monfieur Cobweb? Cob. Ready. Bot. Monfieur Cobweb; good monfieur, get your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipt humble bee on the top of a thiftle; and, good monfieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monfieur; and, good monfieur, have a care, the honey-bag break not; I fhould be loth to have you over-flown with a honey-bag, fignior. Where's monfieur Mustard-feed? Muft. Ready. Bot. Give thy neif3, monfieur Mustard-feed; pray you, leave your courtesy, good monfieur. Muft. What's your will? Bot. Nothing, good monfieur, but to help Cavalero Cobweb to fcratch. I muft to the barber's, monfieur; for, methinks, I am marvellous hairy about the face:-and I am fuch a tender afs, if my hair doth but tickle me, I muft fcratch. Queen. What, wilt thou hear some musick, my fweet love? Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in mufick : let us have the tongs and the bones. Queen. Or fay, fweet love, what thou defir'ft to eat. Bot. Truly, a peck of provender, I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great defire to a bottle of hay: good hay, fweet hay, hath no fellow. Queen. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek The fquirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts. 8 neif.] i. e. fift. Henry IV. act ii. fc. 10. Sweet knight, I kifs thy neif. GRAY. -Cavalero Cobweb.] Without doubt it fhould be Cavalero Peaf-bloom; as for Cavalero Cobweb, he had just been dispatched upon a perilous adventure. GRAY. Bot. Bot. I had rather have a handful or two of dried pease. But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an expofition of fleep come upon me. Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms; Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away.' So doth the woodbine, the sweet honey-fuckle, Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. O, how I love thee! how I doat on thee! Oberon 'In the former editions,—and be always away.] What! was the giving her attendants an everlasting difmiffion! No fuch thing; they were to be ftill upon duty. I am convinced the poet meant; -and be all ways away. i. e. difperfe yourselves, and scout out feverally, in your watch that danger approach us from no quarter. THEOBALD. Mr. Upton reads, And be away-away. JOHNSON. So doth the woodbine the fweet bonry-fuckle Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.] What does the woodbine entwift? The boney-fuckle. But the woodbine and boney-fuckle were, till now, but two names for one and the fame plant. Florio, in his Italian Dictionary, interprets Madre Selva by woodbinde or bonnie fuckle. We must therefore find a fupport for the woodbine as well as for the ivy. Which is done by reading the lines thus ; So doth the woodbine, the fweet boney-fuckle, Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. The corruption might happen by the firft blunderer dropping the in writing the word maple, which word thence became male. A following tranfcriber, for the fake of a little fenfe and measure, thought fit to change this male into female; and then tacked it as an epithet to ivy. WARBURTON. Mr. Upton reads, So doth the woodrine the fweet honey-fuckle, for bark of the wood. Shakespeare perhaps only meant fo, the leaves involve the flower, ufing woodbine for the plant and boneyfuckle for the flower; or perhaps Shakespeare made a blunder. JOHNSON. What |