Midsummer Night's Dream (1918) Yale/Text/Act IV
ACT FOURTH
Scene One
[The Same]
Enter Queen of Fairies and Clown and Fairies, and the King behind them [unseen].
Tita. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.4
Bot. Where's Pease-blossom?
Peas. Ready.
Bot. Scratch my head, Pease-blossom. Where's
Mounsieur Cobweb?8
Cob. Ready.
Bot. Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get
your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-
hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and,
good mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do
not fret yourself too much in the action, moun-
sieur; and, good mounsieur, have a care the
honey-bag break not; I would be loath to have
you overflown with a honey-bag, signior. Where's
Mounsieur Mustard-seed?18
Must. Ready.
Bot. Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustard-
seed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good
mounsieur.
Must. What's your will?23
Bot. Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help
Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the
barber's, mounsieur, for methinks I am marvel-
lous hairy about the face; and I am such a
tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must
scratch.29
Tita. What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet
love?
Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in music:
let us have the tongs and the bones.33
Tita. Or say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat.
Bot. Truly, a peck of provender: I could
munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have
a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet
hay, hath no fellow.39
Tita. I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee thence new nuts.
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 exposition of sleep
come upon me.45
Tita. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away.
So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle48
Gently entwist; the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O! how I love thee; how I dote on thee!
Enter Robin Goodfellow.
Obe. [Advancing.] Welcome, good Robin. See'st thou this sweet sight?52
Her dotage now I do begin to pity:
For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
Seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her and fall out with her;56
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,60
Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes
Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had at my pleasure taunted her,
And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,64
I then did ask of her her changeling child;
Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent
To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
And now I have the boy, I will undo68
This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
From off the head of this Athenian swain,
That, he awaking when the other do,72
May all to Athens back again repair,
And think no more of this night's accidents
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
But first I will release the fairy queen.76
Be as thou wast wont to be;
See as thou wast wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.80
Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
Tita. My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.
Obe. There lies your love.
Tita.How came these things to pass? O! how mine eyes do loathe his visage now.85
Obe. Silence a while. Robin, take off this head.
Titania, music call; and strike more dead
Than common sleep of all these five the sense.
Tita. Music, ho! music! such as charmeth sleep.
Puck. When thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes peep.
Obe. Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity,93
And will to-morrow midnight solemnly
Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair prosperity.96
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
Puck. Fairy king, attend, and mark:
Puck. I do hear the morning lark.100
Obe. Then, my queen, in silence sad,
Obe. Trip we after the night's shade;
Obe. We the globe can compass soon,
Obe. Swifter than the wandering moon.104
Tita. Come, my lord; and in our flight
Tita. Tell me how it came this night
Tita. That I sleeping here was found
Tita. With these mortals on the ground.108
Sleepers lie still. Exeunt [Fairies]. Wind Horns.
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, and all his train.The. Go, one of you, find out the forester;
For now our observation is perform'd;
And since we have the vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.112
Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:
Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.
We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the musical confusion116
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
Hip. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear120
Such gallant chiding; for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry. I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.124
The. My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, so sanded; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;127
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:132
Judge, when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?
Ege. My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;
And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:136
I wonder of their being here together.
The. No doubt they rose up early to observe
The rite of May, and, hearing our intent,
Came here in grace of our solemnity.140
But speak, Egeus, is not this the day
That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
Ege. It is, my lord.
The. Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.144
They all start up.
Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
Lys. Pardon, my lord.
The.I pray you all, stand up.
I know you two are rival enemies:148
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
Lys. My lord, I shall reply amazedly,152
Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly say how I came here;
But, as I think,—for truly would I speak,
And now I do bethink me, so it is,—156
I came with Hermia hither: our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
Without the peril of the Athenian law—
Ege. Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:160
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
They would have stol'n away; they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me;
You of your wife, and me of my consent,164
Of my consent that she should be your wife.
Dem. My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither, to this wood;
And I in fury hither follow'd them,168
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,—
But by some power it is,—my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now172
As the remembrance of an idle gawd
Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,176
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
But, like a sickness, did I loathe this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now do I wish it, love it, long for it,181
And will for evermore be true to it.
The. Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.184
Egeus, I will overbear your will,
For in the temple, by and by, with us,
These couples shall eternally be knit:
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside.189
Away with us, to Athens: three and three,
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.
Come, Hippolyta.192
Dem. These things seem small and undistinguishable,
Like far-off mountains turned into clouds.
Her. Methinks I see these things with parted eye,
When everything seems double.
Hel.So methinks:
And I have found Demetrius, like a jewel,197
Mine own, and not mine own.
Dem.Are you sure
That we are awake? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream. Do you not think
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?201
Her. Yea: and my father.
Hel.And Hippolyta.
Lys. And he did bid us follow to the temple.
Dem. Why then, we are awake. Let's follow him;204
And by the way let us recount our dreams.
Bottom wakes.
Bot. When my cue comes, call me, and
I will answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyra-
mus.' Heigh-ho! Peter Quince! Flute, the
bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling!
God's my life! stolen hence, and left me asleep!
I have had a most rare vision. I have had a211
dream, past the wit of man to say what dream
it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to ex-
pound this dream. Methought I was—there is
no man can tell what. Methought I was,—and
methought I had,—but man is but a patched
fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had.
The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man218
hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste,
his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report,
what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to
write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called
Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom;
and I will sing it in the latter end of a play,
before the duke: peradventure, to make it the
more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.226
Scene Two
[A Room in Quince's House]
Enter Quince, Flute, Snout, and Starveling.
Quin. Have you sent to Bottom's house? is
he come home yet?
Star. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt
he is transported.4
Flu. If he come not, then the play is marred:
it goes not forward, doth it?
Quin. It is not possible: you have not a man
in all Athens able to discharge Pyramus but
he.9
Flu. No; he hath simply the best wit of any
handicraft man in Athens.
Quin. Yea, and the best person too; and he
is a very paramour for a sweet voice.13
Flu. You must say, 'paragon': a paramour
is, God bless us! a thing of naught.
Enter Snug the Joiner.
Snug. Masters, the duke is coming from the
temple, and there is two or three lords and ladies
more married: if our sport had gone forward,
we had all been made men.19
Flu. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost
sixpence a day during his life; he could not have
'scaped sixpence a day: an the duke had not
given him sixpence a day for playing Pyramus,
I'll be hanged; he would have deserved it: six-
pence a day in Pyramus, or nothing.25
Enter Bottom.
Bot. Where are these lads? where are these
hearts?
Quin. Bottom! O most courageous day! O
most happy hour!29
Bot. Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but
ask me not what; for if I tell you, I am no true
Athenian. I will tell you everything, right as it
fell out.33
Quin. Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
Bot. Not a word of me. All that I will tell
you is, that the duke hath dined. Get your ap-
parel together, good strings to your beards, new
ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the
palace; every man look o'er his part; for the
short and the long is, our play is preferred. In40
any case, let Thisby have clean linen; and let
not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for
they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And,
most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for
we are to utter sweet breath, and I do not doubt
but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No46
more words: away! go; away!
Footnotes to Act IV
Scene One
2 amiable: lovely
coy: caress
20 neaf: fist
21 leave your courtesy: omit formality
25 Cavalery: i.e., cavalier
33 the tongs and the bones: rude musical instruments
38 bottle: bundle
55 favours: flowers as gifts
60 orient: lustrous
72 other: others
73 repair: return
75 fierce: extravagant
89 S. d. cf. n.
95 triumphantly: festively
108 S. d. Wind: blow
110 observation: observance of the rites of May Day
111 vaward: early part
113 Uncouple: unleash them
114 Dispatch: make haste
119 bay'd: brought to bay
121 chiding: noise (of hounds)
126 flew'd: having large chaps
sanded: of a sandy color
129 mouth: voice
bells: i.e., a chime of bells
133 soft: stop
140 in grace of: i.e., to grace
145 Saint Valentine; cf. n.
150 jealousy: suspicion
159 Without: beyond
195 parted eye: i.e., the two eyes not in focus
197, 198 Cf. n.
216 patched: motley
226 gracious: acceptable
at her death; cf. n.
Scene Two
4 transported: transformed (?)
15 a thing of naught: something wicked
27 hearts: good fellows
40 preferred: accepted (?), offered for acceptance (by the duke) (?)