صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.

* Merry and tragical? tedious and brief?
That is, hot Ice, a wondrous ftrange Shew.
How fhall we find the concord of this difcord?
Philoft. A play there is, my lord, fome ten words
long;

Which is as brief, as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long;
Which makes it.tedious: for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
And tragical, my noble lord, it is:
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.

Which, when I saw rehears'd, I must confefs,
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The paffion of loud laughter never fhed.
Thef. What are they, that do play it?

Philoft. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens here,
Which never labour'd in their minds 'till now;
And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories
With this fame play against your nuptials.
Thef. And we will hear it.

Philoft. No, my noble lord,

It is not for you.

I have heard it over,

And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
Unless you can find fport in their intents,
Extremely ftretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
To do you fervice.

Thef. I will hear that play :

"For never any thing can be amifs,

"When fimplenefs and duty tender it.

Go, bring them in, and take your places, ladies.

[Exit. Phil. Hip. I love not to fee wretchednefs o'ercharg'd, And duty in his fervice perifhing.

Merry and tragical? tedious and brief?

That is hot Ice, and wondrous flrange Snow.] The nonsense of the

laft Line fhould be corrected thus,

That is, hot Ice, a wondrous ftrange fhew!

Thef.

Thef. Why, gentle fweet, you fhall see no fuch thing.

Hip. He fays, they can do nothing in this kind. Thef. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.

Our sport fhall be, to take what they mistake;
And what poor (willing) duty cannot do,
Noble refpect takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them fhiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of fentences,

Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears,
And, in conclufion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
Out of this filence yet I pick'd a welcome :
And in the modesty of fearful duty

I read as much, as from the rattling tongue
Of faucy and audacious eloquence.
Love therefore, and tongue-ty'd fimplicity,
In least speak moft, to my capacity.

Enter Philoftrate.

Phil. So please your Grace, the prologue is addreft. Thef. Let him approach.

Pro.

SCENE II.

Enter Quince, for the prologue.

[Flor. Trum.

F we offend, it is with our good will.

IF

That you fhould think, we come not to offend, ut with good will. To fhew our fimple fkill, That is the true beginning of our end. Confider then, we come but in despight.

We do not come, as minding to content you, Our true intent is.—all for your delight, We are not here.—that fhould here repent

you

[you,

The

The actors are at hand;-and by their flow, You shall know all, that you are like to know. Thef. This fellow doth not ftand upon points. Ly. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt; he knows not the ftop. A good moral, my lord. It is not enough to speak, but to speak true.

Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on his prologue, like a child on the recorder; a found, but not in go

vernment.

Thef. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all disorder'd. Who is the next?

Enter Pyramus, and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb fhew.

Pro. Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show, But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. This man is Pyramus, if you would know;

This beauteous lady Thibe is, certain.

This man, with lime and rough-caft, doth present Wall, the vile wall, which did thefe lovers funder: And through wall's chink, pour fouls, they are con

tent

To whisper, at the which let no man wonder. This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn, Prefenteth moon-fhine: For, if you will know, By moon-shine did these lovers think no scorn To meet at Ninus' Tomb, there, there to woo. This grifly beaft, which by name Lion hight, The trufty Thibe, coming firft by night, Did fcare away, or rather did affright: And as fhe fled, her mantle fhe let fall;

Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain. Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall, And finds his trufty Thibe's mantle flain; Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast. And Thibe, tarrying in the mulberry fhade, His dagger drew, and died. For all the reft,

}

Let

Let Lion, Moon-fhine, Wall, and lovers twain,
At large difcourfe, while here they do remain.

[Exeunt all but Wall. Thef. I wonder, if the Lion be to speak.

Dem. No wonder, my lord; one Lion may, when many affes do.

Wall. In this fame Interlude, it doth befall,

That I, one Snowt by name, prefent a wall:
And fuch a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink;
Through which the lovers, Pyr'mus and Thisbe,
Did whisper often very fecretly.

This loam, this rough-caft, and this ftone doth fhew,
That I am that fame wall; the truth is fo.
And this the cranny is, right and finifter,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whifper.
Thef. Would you defire lime and hair to fpeak

better?

Dem. It is the wittieft partition, that ever I heard difcourfe, my lord.

Thef. Pyramus draws near the wall: filence!

Enter Pyramus.

Pyr. O grim-look'd night! O night with hue fo black!

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

I fear my Thibe's promife is forgot,

And thou, O wall, Ō sweet and lovely wall,

That ftands between her father's ground and mine; Thou wall, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall, [eyne. Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine Thanks, courteous wall; Jove fhield thee well for

this!

But what fee I? no Thibe do I see.

O wicked wall, through whom I fee no bliss;
Gurft be thy ftones for thus deceiving me!
Thef. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, fhould
curfe again.

Pyr,

Pyr. No, in truth, Sir, he should not. Deceiving me, is Thifty's cue; fhe is to enter, and I am to spy her through the wall. You fhall fee, it will fall pat as I told you. Yonder fhe comes.

Enter Thisbe.

Thif. O wall, full often haft thou heard my moans, For parting my fair Pyramus and me.

My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy ftones:
Thy ftones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
Pyr. I fee a voice; now will I to the chink;
To fpy, an I can hear my Thibe's face.
Thibe!

Thif. My love! thou art, my love, I think.

Pyr. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace. And like Limander am I trufty ftill.

This. And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.
Pyr. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
Thif. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Pyr. O kifs me through the hole of this vile wall.
Thif. I kifs the wall's hole, not your lips at all.
Pyr. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me ftraight-
way?

Thif. Tide life, tide death, I come without delay. Wall. Thus have I Wall my part difcharged fo: And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

[Exit. Thef. Now is the Mural down between the two neighbours.

Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to rear without warning.

Hip. This is the fillieft ftuff that e'er I heard.

Thef. The belt in this kind are but shadows; and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. Hip. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.

Thef. If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, they may pafs for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts in a man and a lion.

Enter

« السابقةمتابعة »