For briars and thorns at their apparel fnatch,

7 Some, fleeves; fome, hats: from yielders all things catch.

I led them on in this distracted fear,

And left fweet Pyramus tranflated there:
When in that moment (fo it came to pafs)
Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an aís.

Ob. This falls out better than I could devife.
But haft thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?

Puck. I took him fleeping;-that is finish'd too;And the Athénian woman by his fide;

That when he wakes, of force fhe must be ey'd.

Enter Demetrius and Hermia.

Ob. Stand clofe, this is the fame Athenian. Puck. This is the woman, but not this the man. Dem. O, why rebuke you him that loves you fo? Lay breath fo bitter on your bitter foe.

Her. Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse;
For thou, I fear, haft given me caufe to curfe.
If thou haft flain Lyfander in his fleep,.

Being o'er fhoes in blood,' plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.

Some, fleeves; fome, hats :

-] There is the like image

in Drayton of queen Mab and her fairies flying from Hobgoblin.

Some tore a ruff, and fime a gown,

'Gainst one another juftling;

พ

They flew about like chaff i'ib aid,
For hafte fome lift their masks bebind,

Some could not flay their gloves to find,
There never was juch buffling.

JOHNSON.

latch'd,] or letch'd, lick'd over, lecher, to lick, French.

In the North, it fignifies to infe. STEEVENS.

HANMER.

Being o'er fees in blood.] An allufion to the proverb, Over fboes, over beats. JOHNSON.

The

The fun was not so true unto the day,
As he to me. Would he have ftol'n away
From fleeping Hermia? I'll believe as foon,
This whole earth may be bor'd; and that the moon
May through the center creep, and so displease
Her brother's noon-tide with the Antipodes.
It cannot be, but thou haft murder'd him;
So fhould a murderer look, fo dead, fo grim.
Dem. So fhould the murder'd look; and fo fhould I,
Pierc'd through the heart with your ftern cruelty:
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, and clear,
As yonder Venus in her glimmering fphere.

Her. What's this to my Lyfander? where is he?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
Dem. I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
Her. Out, dog, out, cur! thou driv'ft me past the
bounds

Of maiden's patience. Haft thou flain him then?
Henceforth be never number'd among men!
O! once tell true, tell true, even for my fake,
Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake!
And haft thou kill'd him fleeping? O brave touch! ❜
Could not a worm, an adder do fo much?
An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
Than thine, thou ferpent, never adder stung.

-fo dead-] All the old copies read fo dead, in my copy of it, fome reader has altered dead to dread. JOHNSON.

Dead feems to be the right word, and our author again uses it ¿d P. Hen. IV. a& i. sc. 3.

Even fuch a man, fo faint, fo fpiritlefs,
So dull, fo dead in look, fo wee-begone.

STEEVENS.

3 O brave touch.] Touch in Shakespeare's time was the fame with our exploit, or rather ftroke. A brave touch, a noble stroke, un grand coup. Mafin was very merry, pleasantly playing both with the forewd touches of many curft boys, and the small difcretion of many lewd fcho Imafters. Afcham. JOHNSON.

Dem.

Dem. You spend your paffion on a mifpris'd mood:4 I am not guilty of Lyfander's blood;'

Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.

Her. I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.

Dem. And if I could, what should I get therefore? Her. A privilege, never to fee me more.

And from thy hated prefence part I fo;

See me no more, whether he be dead or no. [Exit. Dem. There is no following her in this fierce vein : Here, therefore, for a while I will remain.

So forrow's heavinefs doth heavier grow,

For debt, that bankrupt sleep doth forrow owe;
Which now in fome flight measure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make fome ftay. [Lies down.
Ob. What haft thou done? thou haft mistaken quite,
And laid thy love-juice on fome true-love's fight:
Of thy mifprifion muft per force enfue

Some true love turn'd, and not a falfe turn'd true. * Puck. Then fate o'er-rules; that, one man holding troth,

A million fail, confounding oath on oath.

Ob. About the wood go fwifter than the wind, And Helena of Athens, look thou find.

All fancy-fick fhe is, and pale of cheer

With fighs of love, that coft the fresh blood dear:
By fome illufion, fee, thou bring her here;
I'll charm his eyes against fhe do appear.

Puck. I go, I go; look, how I go;

Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. [Exit. Ob. Flower of this purple dye,

Hit with Cupid's archery,

mifpris'd-] Mistaken; fo below misprifion is mistake,

JOHNSON.

Sir T. H. reads the laft line thus:

Some true love turn'd false, not a false, turn'd true.

STEEVENS.

Sink in apple of his eye!

When his love he doth efpy,
Let her fhine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky.-

When thou wak'st, if she be by,

Beg of her for remedy.

Re-enter Puck.

Puck. Captain of our fairy-band,
Helena is here at hand;

And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee;

Shall we their fond pageant fee?
Lord, what fools thefe mortals be?

Ob. Stand afide: the noise they make,

Will cause Demetrius to awake.

'Puck. Then will two, at once, woo one; That must needs be fport alone:

And those things do beft please me,

That befal prepoft'rously.

Enter Lyfander, and Helena.

Lyf. Why fhould you think, that I should woo in fcorn?

Scorn and derifion never come in tears:

Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows fo born,
In their nativity all truth appears.

How can these things in me feem fcorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?

Hel. You do advance your cunning more and more;
When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
These vows are Hermia's will you give her o'er?
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
Your vows, to her and me, put in two fcales,
Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.

Lyf. I had no judgment, when to her I fwore.
Hel. Nor none in my mind, now you give her o'er.

Lyf.

Lyf. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you. Dem. [awaking] O Helen, goddefs, nymph, per fect, divine!

To what, my love, fhall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O how ripe in fhow
Thy lips, thofe kiffing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' fnow, s
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'ft up thy hand. O let me kifs
This princefs of pure white', this feal of bliss! 7
Hel. O fpight! O hell: I fee, you all are bent
To fet against me, for your merriment:
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in fouls, to mock me too?

If

5-Taurus' Snow.] Taurus is the name of a range of mountains in Afia. JOHNSON.

This princefs of pure white,-] Thus all the editions to fir T. H.'s. He reads,

This pureness of pure white;

and Dr. Warburton follows him.

STEEVENS.

7-feal of bliss.] He has elsewhere the fame image,

But my kiffes bring again.

Seals of love, but feal'd in vain.

JOHNSON.

-join in fouls] This is furely wrong. We may read, Jaish

in fcorns, or join in fcoffs. JOHNSON.

Fein in fouls. i. e. join heartily, unite in the fame mind. Shakes fpeare in Henry V. ufes an expreffion not unlike this:

For we will hear, note, and believe in heart;

i. e. heartily believe: and in Measure for Measure, he talks of electing with Special foul. In Troilus and Creffida, Ulyffes, re lating the character of Hector as given him by Æneas, fays,

"with private foul

"Did in great Ilion thus tranflate him to me." Sir T. Hanmer would read-in flouts; Dr Warburton, infolents and Dr. Johnfon, in fcorns, or in fcoffs. STEEVENS.

I rather believe the line fhould be read thus,

But