And maidens call it, love-in-idlenefs.

Fetch me that flower; the herb I fhew'd thee once;
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.

Ob. Having once this juice,

I'll watch Titania when the is afleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes:
The next thing then fhe waking looks upon
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on bufy 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.

[Exit.

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 fhall have no power to follow you.

Dem

Dem. Do I entice you? Do I fpeak you fair? Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth

you the more.

Tell you-I do not, nor I cannot love you?
Hel. And even for that do I love
I am your fpaniel; and, Demetrius,

I will fawn on you:

you.

Ufe me but as your spaniel, fpurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lofe me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow
What worfer place can I beg in your love
(And yet a place of high refpect with me),
Than to be used as you ufe your dog?
Dem. Tempt not too much the hatred of
my fpirit;
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 truft the opportunity of night,
And the ill counfel 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. refpect, are all the world:
Then how can it be faid, 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 fuch a heart as you.
Run when you will, the ftory fhall be chang'd:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chafe.
The dove purfues the griffin; the mild hind

Makes

Makes fpeed to catch the tyger: Bootless speed!
When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Dem. I will not ftay thy queftions; 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 fcandal 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 upon the hand I love fo well.

[Exeunt DEM. and HEL Ob. Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this

grove,

Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.—

Re-enter PUCK.

Haft thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer. Puck. Ay, there it is.

Ob. I pray thee, give it me.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;
Quite over-canopy'd with lufcious wood-bine,
With fweet mufk-rofes, and with eglantine:
There fleeps Titania, fome time of the night,
Lull'd in thefe flowers with dances and delight;
And there the fnake throws her enamell'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

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 fome 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 musk-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 afleep; Then to your offices, and let me rest.

SONG.

Fai. You spotted fnakes, with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not feen;

Newts, and blind-worms, do not wrong i
Come not near our fairy queen :

Chorus.

Philomel, with melody,

Sing in our fweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm, nor spell nor charm,.
Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby,

2 Fai. Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legy'd fpinners, hence:
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, ftand fentinel.

[Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA fleeps.

Enter OBERON.

Ob. 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,
that fhall appear

In thy eye

When thou wak'ft, it is thy dear;

Wake, when fome vile thing is near.

Enter LYSANDER, and HERMIA.

[Exit.

Lyf. 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 rest my head.

Lyf. One turf fhall ferve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bofoms, and one troth. Her. Nay, good Lyfander; for my fake, my dear, o further off yet, do not lie fo near.

Lyf