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And she is mine; and all my right of her
I do eftate unto Demetrius.

Lyf. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he,
As well poffefs'd: my love is more than his :
My fortune's every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius's:

And, which is more than all these boafts can be,
I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia.

Why should not I then profecute my right?
Demetrius (I'll avouch it to his head)
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena;
And won her foul, and the, fweet lady, doats,
Devoutly doats, doats in idolatry,

Upon this spotted and inconftant man. 2

The. I must confefs, that I have heard fo much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof; But being over-full of felf-affairs,

My mind did lofe it.-But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you fhall go with me;

I have fome private fchooling for

you both.For you, fair Hermia, look, you arm yourself To fit your fancies to your father's will Or elfe the law of Athens yields you up (Which by no means we may extenuate) To death, or to a vow of fingle life

-Come, my Hippolita ; what chear, my love?-
Demetrius, and Egeus, go along;

I muft employ you in fome business
Against our nuptial, and confer with you
Of fomething, nearly that concerns yourselves.
Ege. With duty and defire we follow you.

2

[Exeunt Thef Hip. Egeus, Dem. and train.. Lyf. How now, my love? why is your cheek fo pale ?

Spotted.] As potlefs is innocent, fo Spotted is wicked.

JOHNSON.

How

How chance the rofes there do fade fo faft?

Her. Belike, for want of rain; which I could well › Beteem them from the tempeft of mine eyes.

Lys. Ah me, for aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear by tale or hiftory,

The course of true love never did run smooth.
But, either it was different in blood,-

Her. O cross!-too high to be enthrall'd to low!-
Lyf. Or elfe mifgraffed, in refpect of years;-
Her. O fpight! too old, to be engag'd to young!
Lyf. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends-
Her. O hell! to chufe love by another's eye!
Lyf. Or, if there were a fympathy in choice,
War, death, or fickness did lay fiege to it;
Making it momentany as a found,

Swift as a fhadow, fhort as any dream,

3 Beteen them-] give them, beftow upon them. The word is ufed by Spenfer. JOHNSON.

The word is ufed by yet later writers. I meet with it in The Cafe is alter'd, How? a dramatic dialogue, 1653.-" I could "beteem her a better match." STEEVENS.

s Too high to be inbrall'd to love.] This reading poffeffes all the editions, but carries no juft meaning in it. Nor was Hermia difpleas'd at being in love; but regrets the inconveniencies that generally attend the paffion: either, the parties are disproportioned, in degree of blood and quality; or unequal, in refpect of years; or brought together by the appointment of friends, and not by their own choice. Thefe are the complaints reprefented by Lyfander; and Hermia, to answer to the first, as fhe has done to the other two, muft necessarily fay;

O cross!-100 high to be inthrall'd to low!

So the antithefis is kept up in the terms; and fo fhe is made to condole the difproportion of blood and quality in lovers. THEOBALD.

Sir T. H. adheres to the old reading. STEEVNS. The old editions read momentany, which is the old and proper word. The modern editors, momentary. JOHNSON.

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Brief as the lightning in the collied night, 7
That (in a spleen) unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to fay, Behold!
The jaws of darknefs do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confufion.-
Her. If then true lovers have been ever croft,
It ftands as an edict in destiny:

Then, let us teach our tryal patience:
Because it is a cuftomary cross,

As due to love, as thoughts and dreams, and fighs,
Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers!

Lyf. A good perfuafion;--therefore hear me,
Hermia.

I have a widow aunt, a dowager,

Of great revenue, and the hath no child:

7 Brief as the lightning in the colli:d night,
That, in a fpleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
Andere a man bath power to say, Behold!

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.]

From

Though the word pleen be here employed oddly enough, yet I believe it right Shakespeare, always hurried on by the grandeur and multitude of his ideas, affumes every now and then, an uncommon licence in the ufe of his words. Particularly in complex moral modes it is ufual with him to employ one, only to exprefs a very few ideas of that number of which it is compofed. Thus wanting here to exprefs the ideas of a fudden, or-in a trice, he uses the word pleen; which, partially confidered, fignifying a hafty fudden fit, is enough for him, and he never troubles himfe.f about the further or fuller fignification of the word. Here, he uses the word jpen for a fad en hafty fit; so just the contrary, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, he ufes fuaden for Spleena icfu 'den quips. And it must be owned this fort of converfation adds a force to the diction. WARBURTON.

Brief as the lightning in the cellied night, collied, i. e. black, fmutted with coal, a word still ufed in the midland counties. So in Ben Jonfon's Foetaler:

"Thou haft not cola thy face enough. STEEVENS. * I have a widow aunt, &c.] Thefe lines perhaps might more properly be regulated thus:

From Athens is her house remote 9 feven leagues,
And the refpects me as her only fon.

There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the fharp Athenian law
Cannot purfue us. If thou lov'ft me then,
Steal forth thy father's houfe to-morrow night;
And, in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do obfervance to a morn of May,
There will I stay for thee,

Her. My good Lysander,

I fwear to thee by Cupid's ftrongest bow,

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

of great revenue, and he hath no child,
And he refpects me as her only fon;

Her houfe from Athens is remov'd feven leagues,
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee,

And to that place.

JOHNSON.

By

9 -remote,-] Remote is the reading of both the quarto's; the folio reads, -remov'd. STEEVENS.

I

Lyf. If thou lov't me then,

Steal forth thy father's boufe, &c.
Her. My good Lyfander,

I fwar to thee by Cupia's frongest bow,
By, &c. &c.

In that fame place thou hast appointed me
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.]

Lyfander does but juft propofe her running away from her father at midnight, and ftraight he is at her oaths that he will meet him at the place of rendezvous. Not one doubt or hesitation, not one condition of affurance for Lyfander's conftancy. Either fhe was naufeoufly coming; or fhe had before jilted him; and he could not believe her without a thoufand oaths. But Shakespeare obferved nature at another rate.-The fpeeches are divided wrong, and must be thus rectified; when Lyfander had propofed her running away with him, the replies,

Her. My good Lyjander

and is going on, to afk fecurity for his fidelity. This he per ceives, and interrupts her with the grant of what she demands.

Lyf.

By his best arrow with the golden head,

By the fimplicity of Venus' doves,

By that, which knitteth fouls, and profpers loves;
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the falfe Trojan under fail was feen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke ;
In that fame place thou haft appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.

Lyf. Keep promife, love, Look, here comes Helena.
Enter Helena.

Her. God fpeed, fair Helena! Whither away? Hel. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves you, fair; O happy fair!

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Your eyes are lode-stars, and your tongue's fweet air

More

Lyf. I swear to thee by Cupid's ftrongest bow, &c.

By all the vows that ever men have broke

In number more than ever woman Jpoke

Here the interrupts him in her turn; declares herself satisfied, and confents to meet him in the following words,

Her. In that fame place thou haft appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.

This divifion of the lines, befides preferving the character, gives the dialogue infinitely more force and fpirit. WARBURTON.

This emendation is judicious, but not neceffary. I have therefore given the note without altering the text. The cenfure of men, as oftner perjured than women, feems to make that line more proper for the lady. JOHNSON.

2

The quarto reads-your fair. JOHNSON.

3 Your eyes are lode-far.] This was a complement not unfrequent among the old poets. The lode ftar is the leading or guiding star, that is, the pole-ftar. The magnet is, for the fame reafon, called the lode-fone, either because it leads iron, or because it guides the failor. Milton has the fame thought in L'Allegro:

Tow'rs and baulements he fees
Bofom'd high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps Jome beauty lies,
The Cynofure of neighb'ring eyes.

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