SC IV.]
ROMEO AND JULIET
35
| Rom. | I dreamt a dream to-night[E 1]. |
| Mer. | And so did I. 50 |
| Rom. | Well, what was yours? |
| Mer. | That dreamers often lie. |
| Rom. | In bed asleep, while they do dream things true. |
| Mer. | O, then I see Queen Mab[E 2] hath been with you.[E 3] [C 1]She is the fairies' midwife[E 4], and she comes In shape[E 5] no bigger than an[C 2] agate-stone[E 6] 55 On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies[E 7] Athwart[C 3] men's noses as they lie asleep: |
- ↑ 50. to-night] last night, as frequently in Shakespeare. See Schmidt's Lexicon.
- ↑ 53. Queen Mab] Thorn ("Three Notelets on Sh.") states that no earlier mention of Mab than the above is known; that no doubt Shakespeare got the name from folk-lore of his own time; that Mab in Welsh means an infant; and that Beaufort, in his Ancient Topography of Ireland, mentions Mabh as the chief of the Irish fairies. Drayton, with Shakespeare's description before him, writes, in his happiest manner, of Queen Mab in Nymphidia the Court of Fayrie. Attempts have been made to identify Queen Mab with Dame Abunde or Habunde; and again with the Irish Queen Maeve. Sir H. Ellis says that in Warwickshire "Mab-led" (pronounced Mob-led) signifies led astray by a Will-o'-the- Wisp (Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii. p. 218, ed. 1841).
- ↑ 53. O, … you] After this line Q1 has "Ben. Queene Mab whats she?" a speech probably meant as a pretext for Mercutio's long description; but Q1 continues to Benvolio the speech of Mercutio.
- ↑ 54. fairies' midwife] Warburton conjectured and Theobald read Fancy's midwife. Warton conjectured fairy midwife. Steevens explains: the person among the fairies who delivers the fancies of dreamers,—the "children of an idle brain" (line 97). T. Warton suggests that Mab is a midwife because she steals infants (leaving changelings) for the fairies.
- ↑ 55. shape] Nicholson suggests state meaning dignity, pomp. See line 70.
- ↑ 55. agate-stone] That is, the diminutive figures cut in agate and set in rings. So 2 Henry IV. I. ii. 19. (Falstaff of his little Page): "I was never manned with an agate till now." Glapthorne, in Wit is a Constable, 1639, speaks of an alderman's thumb-ring. Q1 reads, for alderman, burgomaster.
- ↑ 57. atomies] tiny beings, pigmies. New Eng. Dict. quotes P. Woodhouse, Flea, 1605, "If with this atomye I should contend." Q1 has Attomi, Q2 ottamie, the rest as in the text.
