This beauteous lady Thisby is, certain. This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder; And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content To whisper, at the which let no man wonder. This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know, By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name, The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, Did scare away, or rather did affright: And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall, Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,

And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain : Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; And Thisby tarrying in mulberry shade,

His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain, At large discourse, while here they do remain." [Exeunt Prologue, Presenter, PYRAMUS, THISBE, Lion, and Moonshine.

188 1000. It may be remarked here upon the rhyme of woo with know, that the former word seems to have had the pure vowel sound of o. It was spelled wooe or woe, and as often in the latter way as [in] the former. (w)

189 There is no rhyme to this line, and it is probable that a line has been lost. Theobald read which by name lion hight, making a treble rhyme. (w)

130

140

150

151 Here the folio has Exit all but Wall; and yet, excepting Capell's, every edition hitherto [i. e. before 1860], issued within a hundred years (each copying without examination its predecessor's error), keeps Pyramus on the stage; although they all direct him, as the folio does, to enter, after Wall has made his speech. The quartos, which Capell follows, send out only

The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak.

Dem. No wonder, my lord:

One lion may, when many asses do.

Wall. "In this same interlude, it doth befall,
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;

And such a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a cranni'd hole, or chink,
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
Did whisper often very secretly.

This lime, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth show
That I am that same wall: the truth is so;
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper."
The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?
Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
discourse, my lord.

The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!

Enter PYRAMUS.

Pyr. "O, grim-look'd night! O, night with hue so black!

O night, which ever art, when day is not!

O night! O night! alack, alack, alack!

I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot.
And thou, O wall! thou sweet and lovely wall!

Lyon, Thisbie, and Moonshine,
keeping not only Bottom on the
stage at this time, but poor Peter
Quince until the end of the inter-
lude: Capell, however, sends him
out, too; but, with them also, he
consistently does not direct the
entrance of Pyramus. Theseus'
speech," Pyramus draws near the
wall," is but an apparent justifi-
cation of this arrangement. (w)

160

170

161 lime. Folio[s] and quartos loame and lome. [Cf. I. 131.. Cambridge reads loam.]

163 sinister, i. e. left. (R)

173 thou sweet and lovely. The quartos have O sweet, O lovely (w) [and are followed by recent editors, including Cambridge.]

That stand'st between her father's ground and mine; Thou wall, O wall! O sweet and lovely wall!

Show me thy chink to blink through with mine eyne. [Wall holds up his fingers. 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;
Curst be thy stones for thus deceiving me!"

The. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Pyr. No, in truth, sir, he should not. "Deceiv ing 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;

And like Limander am I trusty still."

184 The folio omits now. (w) 191 knit up in thee. Both quartos have, in defiance of sense and rhyme, knit now again. A variation of this kind is not worthy of notice save for the evidence it affords that the copy VOL. III. 16

180

190

of Roberts' quarto, which Heminge and Condell furnished as copy to the printers of the folio, had been corrected either by Shakespeare or [by] some one else in his theatre. (w)

197 Limander, Leander. (R)