"Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee" well for this! "But what see I? No Thisby do I see. "O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss; May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,. "When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. [am [me!"" Then know, that I, one Snug the joiner, "Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving" A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam: The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, "For if I should as lion come in strife should curse again. "Into this place, 'twere pity on my life." The. A very gentle beast and of a good conscience. Dem. The very best that e'er I saw. Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving me, is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told you:Yonder she comes. Enter THISBE. This. "O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans, "For parting my fair Pyramus and me: My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones; Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee." ་་ Pyr. "I see a voice: now will I to the chink, "To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. "Thisby !" This. My love! thou art my love, I think." Pyr." Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; kill." "And like Limander am I trusty still." vile wall." This." I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all." Pyr." Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?" This." Tide life, tide death, I come without delay." at a beast, my lord, Lys. This lion is a very fox for his valour. The. True; and a goose for his discretion. Dem. Not so, my lord: for his valour cannot carry his discretion; and the fox carries the goose. The. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; for the goose carries not the fox. It is well: leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon present:" Dem. He should have worn the horns on his head. The. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the circumference. Moon. "This lantern doth the horned moon present; "Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be." The. This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man should be put into the lantern: How is it else the man i'the moon? Dem. He dares not come there for the candle: for, you see, it is already in snuff. Hip. I am aweary of this moon: Would, he would change! The, It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the wane: but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time. Lys. Proceed, moon. Moon. All that I have to say, is, to tell Wall. Thus have I, wall, my part dis-you, that the lantert is the moon; 1, the man and this dog, my dog. in the moon; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush charged so; "And, being done, thus wall away doth [go." [Exeunt Wall, PYRAMUS, and THISBE. The. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours. Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to bear without warning. Hip. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. The. The best in this kind are but shadows: and the worst are no worse, if imagin ation amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. The. If we imagine no worse of them, than they of themselves, they may pass for excel- [The Lion tears THIS BE's mantle, and exit. lent men. Here come two noble beasts in, a Enter Lion and Moonshine. hearts do fear "The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, Dem. And so comes Pyramus. Pyr. "Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy "I thank thee, moon, for shining now so bright. • In anger; a quibble. "For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering streams, "I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight. "O dainty duck! O dear! "O fates! come, come; "Cut thread and thrum ; "Quail, crush, conclude, and quell†!" The. This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad. [man. Hip. Beshrew my heart, but I pity the Pyr." O, wherefore, nature, didst thou [dear. * Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my "Which is-no, no-which was the fairest dame, [look'd with cheert. "That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that "Come, tears, confound; "Out, sword, and wound .ions frame? "The pap of Pyramus: Ay, that left pap, "Where heart doth hop: "Thus die 1, thus, thus, thus. "Now am I dead, "Now am I fled; "My soul is in the sky: "Tongue, lose thy light! "Moon, take thy flight! "Now die, die, die, die, die." [Dies.-Exit Moonshine. Dem. No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one. Lys. Less than an ace, man; for he is dead: he is nothing. The. With the help of a surgeon, he might yet recover, and prove an ass. Hip. How chance Moonshine is gone, before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover? The. She will find him by star light. Here she comes; and her passion ends the play. Enter THISEE. Hip, Methinks, she should not use a long one, for such a Pyramus: I hope, she will be brief. Dcm. A mote will turn the balance, which Dem. And thus she moans, videlicet.- O Pyramus, arise, "Speak, speak. Quite dumb! "Dead, dead? A tomb "Must cover thy sweet eyes. These lily brows, "This cheiry nose, "These yellow cowslip cheeks, • Coarse yarn. + Destroy. "Are gone, are gone: "His eyes were green as leeks. "Since you have shore "With shears his thread of silk. "Tongue, not a word:"Come, trusty sword; "Come, blade, my breast imbrue : "And farewell, friends ;- "Adieu, adieu, adieu." [Dies. The. Moonshine, and lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and wall too. Bot. No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance, between two of our company? The. No epilogue, I pray you; for your Never excuse; for play needs no excuse. when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fiue tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your epilogue alone. [Here a dance of Clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve: Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. bed. A fortnight hold we this solemnity, SCENE II. Enter PUCK. Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, And the wolf bebowls the moon; That the graves, all gaping wide, By the triple Hecat's team, Enter OBERCN and TITANIA, with their Train. Obe. Through this house give glimmering light, By the dead and drowsy fire: Every elf, and fairy sprite, Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty, after me, Sing, and dance it trippingly. Tita. First, rehearse this song by rote: To each word a warbling note, SONG, AND DANCE. Obe. Now, until the break of day, Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their and give the kind of pleasure which the author designed. fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and great.-JOHNSON. various modes are well written, Fairies in his time were much in Spenser's poem had made them LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. Persons represented. FERDINAND, King of Navarre. BIRON, } Lords, attending on the BOYET, Lords attending on the Prin DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO, a fantastical SIR NATHANIEL, a Curate. DULL, a Constable. Princess of France. ROSALINE, MARIA, KATHARINE, Ladies, attending on the JPrincess. JAQUENETTA, a country Wench. Officers and others, Attendants on the King and Princess. Scene,-Navarre. ACT I. SCENE I. King. Let fame, that all hunt after in their Live register'd upon our brazen tombs, Biron. I can but say their protestation over, As, not to see a woman in that term; King. Your oath is pass'd to pass away from space. Long. You swore to that, Biron, and to the Biron. By yea and nay, sir, then I swore in What is the end of study ? let me know. [jest.King. Why, that to know, which else we should not know. [common sense? When I to feast expressly am forbid; most vain, [while Which, with pain purchas'd, doth inherit pain: Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look: | By fixing it upon a fairer eye; -are. Dum. In reason nothing. summer boast, Before the birds have any cause to sing? But like of each thing, that in season grows. adien! [to stay with you: from shame! years, he shall endure such public shame as Biron. [Reads.] Item, That no woman Long. A maid of grace, and complete majesty,- To her decrepit, sick, and bed-rid father: Or vainly comes the admired princess hither. Biron. So study evermore is overshot; King. We must, of force, dispense with this Who devis'd this? But, I believe, although I seem so loth, With a refined traveller of Spain; A man of complements, whom right and wrong This child of fancy, that Armado hight*, Long. Marry, that did I. For interim to our studies, shall relate, Biron. Armado is a most illustrious wight, our sport; And, so to study, three years is but short. Dull. Signior Arme-Arme-commends talk with a woman within the term of three tell you more. [Reuds.] Item, If any man be seen to you. There's villany abroad; this letter will Dishonestly, treacherously. Lively, sprightly. + Nipping. .. Called. Games, sports. tt i. e., third-borough, a peace-officer. |