The. Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead. Dem. Ay, and Wall too. Bet. No, I affure you, the wall is down that parted their fathers. 9 Will it please you to fee the epilogue, or to hear a Bergomafk dance, between two of our company? The. No epilogue, I pray yon; for your play needs no excufe. Never excufe; for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he, that writ it, had play'd Pyramus, and hang'd himfelf in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine tragedy: and fo it is, truly, and very notably difcharg'd. But come, your Bergomafk: let your epilogue alone. [Here a dance of clowns. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:Lovers to bed; 'tis almoft Fairy time. Lay them in gore.] Mr. Theobald and Dr. Warburton instead of lay, read lave, but have no note to juftify or account for the alteration. STEEVENS. 9 Will it pleafe, &c.] The quarto in 1600 gives this fpeech to Lion, but fee an epilogue and bear a dance is fo much in Bottom's character, that the modern editors are justified in reftoring it to him. WARNER. A Bergomafk dance,] (As fir T. H. obferves in his Gloffary) is a dance after the mander of the peasants of Bergomafco, a country in Italy, belonging to the Venetians. All the buffoons in Italy affect to imitate the ridiculous jargon of that people, and from thence it became alfo a cuftom to imitate their manner of dancing. STEEVENS. H 4 I fear, I fear, we fhall out-fleep the coming morn, SCENE II. Enter Puck. Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, And the wolf beholds the moon : Whilst the heavy ploughman fnores, All with weary task fore-done. 3 Now the wafted brands do glow, 2 Whilft the fcritch-owl, fcritching loud, Puts the wretch, that lies in woe, In remembrance of a shroud. That the graves, all gaping wide, 3 gait.] i. c. paffage, progrefs. STEEVENS. [Exeunt. 2 In the old copies: And the wolf beholds the moon.] As 'tis the defign of thefe lines to characterize the animals, as they prefent themselves at the hour of midnight; and as the wolf is not justly characterized by faying he beholds the moon, which other beafts of prey, then awake, do: and as the founds these animals make at that season, seem also intended to be reprefented; I make no question but the poet wrote; And the wolf behowls the moon. For fo the wolf is exactly characterized, it being his peculiar property to bowl at the moon. (Bebowl, as bemoan, befeem, and an hundred others.) WARBURTON. The alteration is better than the original reading; but perhaps the author meant only to fay, that the wolf gazes at the moon. JOHNSON. 3 foredone.] i. e. overcome. So Spenfer, F. Q. b. 1. c. x. f. 33. "And many fouls in dolour had fordone. STEEVENS. And And we Fairies, that do run By the triple Hecat's team, Enter King and Queen of Fairies, with their train. Every elf and fairy fprite, Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty after me Sing, and dance it trippingly. Tit. First rehearse this fong by rote, 4 I am fent with broom before, Cleanliness is always neceffary to invite the refidence and the favour of Fairies. Thefe make our girls their flutt'ry rue, The boufe for cleanly fweeping. 5 Through this houfe give glimmering light.] this picture in his thought: Glowing embers through the room So Drayton : Hence fhadows feeming idle shapes I think it should be read, Drayton. JOHNSON. Milton perhaps had Il Penferofo. Through this house in glimmering light. JOHNSON. Ob. Ob. Now, until the break of day," And the blots of nature's hand Shall upon their children be.- And each feveral chamber blefs, And the owner of it bleft. Trip away; Make no ftay; Meet me all by break of day. 6 [Exeunt King, Queen, and train. Now, until, &c.] This fpeech, which both the old quartos give to Oberon, is in the edition of 1623, and in all the following, printed as the fong. I have reftored it to Oberon, as it apparently contains not the bleffing which he intends to beftow on the bed, but his declaration that he will blefs it, and his orders to the fairies how to perform the neceffary rites. But where then is the fong ?—I am afraid it is gone after many other things of greater value. The truth is that two fongs are loft. The feries of the fcene is this; after the fpeech of Puck, Oberon enters, and calls his fairies to a fong, which fong is apparently wanting in all the copies. Next Titania leads another fong, which is indeed loft like the former, tho' the editors have endeavoured to find it. Then Oberon difmiffes his fairies to the difpatch of the ceremonies. The fongs, I fuppofe, were loft, because they were not inferted. in the players parts, from which the drama was printed. JOHNSON. Puck. If we fhadows have offended, So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends? 7 [Exeunt cmnes. * unearned luck.] i. e. if we have better fortune than we have deferved. STEEVENS. 8 Now to Scape the ferpent's tongue.] That is, If we be difmifs'd without hiffes. JOHNSON. Give me your hands.] That is, Clap your hands. Give us your applaufe. JOHNSON. Of this play there are two editions in quarto; one printed for Thomas Fisher, the other for James Roberts, both in 1600. I have used the copy of Roberts, very carefully collated, as it feems, with that of Fisher. Neither of the editions approach to exactnefs. Fisher is fometimes preferable, but Roberts was followed, though not without fome variations, by Hemings and Condel, and they by all the folios that fucceeded them. Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their various modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author defigned. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; made them familiar, and Spenfer's poem JOHNSON. common tradition had had made them great. THE |