This palpable grofs Play hath well beguil'd SCENE III. Enter Puck. Puck. Now the hungry lion roars, And the wolf behowls the moon: Whilst the heavy ploughman fnores, All with weary tafk fore-done. Now the wafted brands do glow, Whilft the fcritch-owl, schrieking loud, Puts the wretch, that lies in woe, In remembrance of a fhroud. That the graves, all gaping wide, 2 In the old copies: And the Wolf beholds the moon :] As 'tis the Defign of thefe Lines so characterize the Animals, as they prefent themselves at the Hour of Midnight; and as the Wolf is not justly characteriz'd by faying he beholds the Moon; which all other Beatts of Prey, then awake, do and as the Sounds thefe Animals make at [Exeunt. that Seafon, feem also intended to be reprefented; I make no Quellion but the Poet wrote; And the Wolf behowls the Moon. For fo the Wolf is exactly characteriz'd, it being his peculiar Property to. bowl at the Moon. (Beborul, as bemoan, bejeem, and an hundred others.) WARBURTON. Enter King and Queen of Fairies, with their train: Ob. Through this house give glimmering light, Every elf, and every spright, Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty after me Sing, and dance it trippingly. Queen. First rehearse this song by rote, 4 To . idle Of little frifling Elves and To earth do make their wanton Scapes, As hope of paftime baftes I think it should be read, Through this House in glimmering 5 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 bestow on the bed, but his declaration that he will blefs it, and his or ders To the best bride-bed will we, Which by us fhall bleffed be: And the blots of nature's hand Shall upon their children be. And the owner of it bleft. Trip away, Make no stay; Meet me all by break of day. Puck. If we fhadows have offended, ders to the Fairies now 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, Obe. ron 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, though the Editors have endeavoured to find it. Then Oberon difmiffes his Fairies to the difpatch of the ceremonies. The fongs, I fuppofe, were loft, becaufe they were not inferted in the players parts, from which the drama was printed. And And as I am honeft Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the ferpent's tongue, So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends; ▾ And Robin fhall restore amends. 6 Now to 'Scape the ferpent's tongue.] That is, If we be dismiss'd with out hiffes. 7 Give me your hands.] That is, Clap your hands. Give us your applause. Of this play there are two editions in quarto, one printed for Thomas Fifer, the other for James Roberts, both in 1600. [Exeunt omnes. I have used the copy of Roberts, very carefully collated, as it feems, with that of Fisher. Neither of the editions approach to exactnefs. Fiber 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. THE |