Shakspere: Personal Recollections

<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></SPAN>CHAPTER XIV.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></SPAN></span></h2> <h4>WINDSOR PARK. "MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM."</h4> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"This is the fairy land; O spite of spites<br/></span> <span class="i0">We talk with goblins, owls, and elfish sprites.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"><span class="i0"><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">'Tis still a dream, or else such stuff as<br/></span> <span class="i0">Madmen tongue and brain!"<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"><span class="i0"><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"If music be the food of love, play on;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Give me excess of it."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Shakspere had blocked out the play of "Midsummer Night's Dream" in the year 1593, and completed it in the summer of 1599.</p> <p>The story of Palamon and Arcite by Chaucer, and the love of Athenian Theseus for the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta, as told by Plutarch, gave William his first idea of composing a play where the acts of fairies and human beings would assimilate in their loves and jealousies.</p> <p>One evening while seated at the Falcon Tavern, in company with the Earl of Southampton, Essex, Florio, Bacon, Cecil, Warwick, Burbage, Drayton and Jonson, William read the main points of the play, which was lauded to the skies by all present.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></SPAN></span></p> <p>Burbage, the manager of the Globe, suggested to Essex and Southampton that it would be a grand idea to have the "Dream" enacted in the park and woods of Windsor!</p> <p>It was a novel idea, and one sure to catch the romantic sentiments of Queen Elizabeth, as old Duke Theseus, the cross-purposed lovers, Bottom and his rude theatrical troop, and the fairies, led by Oberon, Titania and Puck could have full swing in the forest, sporting in their natural elements.</p> <p>In reading or viewing the play, the mind wanders in a mystic grove by moonlight and breathes at every step odors of sweet flowers, while listening to the musical murmurings of fantastic fairies and echoing hounds in forest glens.</p> <p>Theseus was the first and greatest Grecian in strength of body, second only to his cousin Hercules, each reveling in the god-like antics of seduction, incest, rape, robbery and murder!</p> <p>The Persian, Egyptian, Grecian and Roman gods commingled with the heroes and heroines of mankind and committed unheard of crimes with impunity, the most outrageous villain seeming to be honored as the greatest god!</p> <p>The amphitheater grove in front of Windsor Castle, overlooking the Thames, was the place selected for the exhibition of the "Dream." Natural circular terraces for the spectators.</p> <p>The Virgin Queen had sent out five thousand invitations to her wealthy and intellectual subjects to attend the new and romantic play of Shakspere, "Midsummer Night's Dream," on the 4th of July, 1599.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></SPAN></span></p> <p>Everything had been prepared in the way of natural and artificial scenery by the direction of William, while the Queen sat on a sylvan throne, embowered in vines and roses, surrounded by all her courtiers, ladies and lords, in grand, golden array.</p> <p>The night was calm, bright and warm, while the young moon and twinkling stars, shining over Windsor, lent a celestial radiance to the scene, where lovers and fairies mingled in the meshes of affection. Candles, torches, chimes, lanterns and stationary fire balloons were interspersed through the royal domain in brilliant profusion.</p> <p>Essex and Southampton were, unfortunately, absent in Ireland putting down a rebellion.</p> <p>William took the part of Theseus, Field played Hippolyta, Burbage played Puck, Heminge represented Lysander, and Condell Demetrius, while Phillips and Cooke played respectively Hermia and Helen, Jo Taylor played Oberon and Robert Benfield acted Titania, the fairy queen.</p> <p>The characters Pyramus and Thisbe were played by Peele and Crosse.</p> <p>The play opens with a grand scene in the palace of Theseus, who thus addresses the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Now, fair Hippolyta, our mutual hour<br/></span> <span class="i0">Draws on apace, four happy days bring in,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Another moon; but, O, methinks, how slow<br/></span> <span class="i0">This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like to a step-dame, or a dowager,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Long withering out a young man's revenue!"<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <p>Hippolyta:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Four days will quickly steep themselves in nights;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And then, the moon shall behold the night<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of our solemnities."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Egeus, a wealthy Athenian complains to Duke Theseus that his daughter Hermia will not consent to marry Demetrius, but disobedient, insists on wedding with Lysander.</p> <p>Theseus decides that she must obey her father or suffer death, or enter a convent, excluded from the world forever.</p> <p>Theseus reasons with Hermia thus:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"If you yield not to your father's choice,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Whether you can endure the livery of a nun;<br/></span> <span class="i0">For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To live a barren sister all your life;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Chanting fair hymns to the cold, fruitless moon.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thrice blessed they that master so their blood,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But earthlier happy is the rose distilled,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Than that, which withering on the virgin thorn<br/></span> <span class="i0">Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>This sentiment was cheered heartily by the great forest audience, and "Queen Bess" led the applause!</p> <p>Lysander pleaded his own case for the heart of Hermia, and sighing, says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Ah, me! for aught that I could ever read,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Could ever hear by tale or history,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The course of true love never did run smooth!"<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <p>Hermia and Helena compare notes and wonder at the perversity of their respective lovers.</p> <p>Hermia says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"The more I hate Demetrius, the more he follows<br/></span> <span class="i0">me;"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>And Helena says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"The more I love him, the more he <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'hatheth'">hateth</ins> me!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Hermia still sighing for Lysander says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Before the time I did Lysander see,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Seemed Athens as a paradise to me;<br/></span> <span class="i0">O then, what graces in my love do dwell<br/></span> <span class="i0">That he hath turned a heaven unto hell."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Helena soliloquizes regarding the inconsistency of Demetrius since he saw Hermia:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And, therefore, is winged cupid painted blind;<br/></span> <span class="i0">I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Then to the wood, will he, to-morrow night,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pursue her; and for this intelligence<br/></span> <span class="i0">If I have thanks, it is a dear expense;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But herein mean I to enrich my pain<br/></span> <span class="i0">To have his sight thither and back again."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>A number of rude workingmen of Athens propose to give an impromptu play in the Duke's palace in honor of his wedding.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></SPAN></span></p> <p>It is a burlesque on all plays, and being so very crude and bad, is good by contrast!</p> <p>Pyramus and Thisby are the prince and princess, who die for love.</p> <p>Bottom is to play the big blower in the improvised drama and the Jackass among the fairies. He says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"I could play a part to tear a cat in, to make all<br/></span> <span class="i0">split"&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i3">"Tho raging rocks,<br/></span> <span class="i3">With shivering shocks,<br/></span> <span class="i3">Shall break the locks<br/></span> <span class="i3">Of prison gates;<br/></span> <span class="i3">And Ph&oelig;bus' car<br/></span> <span class="i3">Shall shine from far<br/></span> <span class="i3">And make and mar<br/></span> <span class="i3">The foolish fates!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Puck, the mischievous Robin Goodfellow, who is ever playing pranks among his fairy tribe and human lovers, enters the forest scene and addresses one of the fairies thus:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"How now, spirit, whither wander you?"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Fairy says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Over hill, over dale,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through bush, through brier,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over park, over pale,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through flood, through fire,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Farewell, thou wit of spirits, I'll be gone;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Our queen and all her elves come here anon."<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <p>Puck, the funny tattler, tells of the jealousy of King Oberon, because Titania has adopted a lovely boy:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Because that she as her attendant hath<br/></span> <span class="i2">A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king,<br/></span> <span class="i0">She never had so sweet a changeling!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>This sly cut at Queen Elizabeth, who had recently adopted a young American Indian as her parlor page, elicited applause among the courtiers, yet "Lizzie" did not seem to join in the cheers!</p> <p>Oberon and Titania meet and quarrel, just as natural as if they belonged to earthly passion people.</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania!<br/></span> <span class="i0">What, jealous Oberon? Fairy, skip hence;<br/></span> <span class="i0">I have forsworn his bed and company."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Oberon:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Tarry, rash woman; am I not thy lord?"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Titania:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Then I must be thy lady?"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Oberon accuses Titania with being in love with Theseus and assisting him in the ravishment of antique beauties.</p> <p>She replies:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></SPAN></span></p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"These are the forgeries of jealousy;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Never met we on hill, dale, forest or mead;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or on the beached margent of the sea<br/></span> <span class="i0">To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>After the departure of Queen Titania and her fairy train, King Oberon calls in Puck to aid in punishing her imagined infidelity.</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"My gentle Puck, come hither; thou remember'st<br/></span> <span class="i0">Since once I sat upon a promontory,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back<br/></span> <span class="i0">Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The rude sea grew civil at her song;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And certain stars shot madly from their spheres<br/></span> <span class="i0">To hear the sea maid's <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: inserted a missing closing quote after 'music'">music?"</ins><br/></span></div> </div> <p>Puck replies:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"I remember."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Oberon continues:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"That very time I saw, but thou could'st not,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Flying between the cold moon and the earth<br/></span> <span class="i0">Cupid all armed; a certain aim he took<br/></span> <span class="i0">At a fair Vestal, throned by the West;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And loosed his shaft smartly from his bow,<br/></span> <span class="i0">As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft<br/></span> <span class="i0">Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the Imperial Voteress passed on<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></SPAN></span><br/></span> <span class="i0">In maiden meditation, fancy free!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell;<br/></span> <span class="i0">It fell upon a little Western flower&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Before milk white; now purple with love's wound&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And maidens call it 'love in idleness.'<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Will make, or man or woman madly dote<br/></span> <span class="i0">Upon the next live creature that it sees.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again<br/></span> <span class="i0">Ere the Leviathan can swim a league."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Puck replies:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"I'll put a girdle round about the earth in forty<br/></span> <span class="i0">minutes!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>The audience saw by this time that the "Vestal" and "Imperial Voteress" in "maiden meditation, fancy free" was none other than Queen Elizabeth, and therefore three cheers and a roaring lion were given for the delicate and eloquent compliment of Shakspere to her Virgin Majesty!</p> <p>Tributes to the powerful, though undeserved, are received with spontaneous applause, while just praise for the poor receive no echo from the jealous throng. Poor, toadying humanity!</p> <p>The infatuated Helena follows Demetrius into the dark forest, and though he tells her that he does not and cannot love her, she says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"And even for that, do I love you the more;<br/></span> <span class="i0">I am your spaniel; and Demetrius<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></SPAN></span><br/></span> <span class="i0">The more you beat me, I will fawn on you,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And to be used, as you use your dog!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>I have seen fool women and fool men act just that way, and the more they were spurned, the more they clung to their infatuation.</p> <p>Puck returns with the flower containing the juice that will make wanton women and licentious men return to their just lovers.</p> <p>Oberon grasping the herb says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows<br/></span> <span class="i0">Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Quite over-canopied with blooming woodbine,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine;<br/></span> <span class="i0">There sleeps Titania, sometime of the night<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And with this juice I'll streak her eyes<br/></span> <span class="i0">To make her full of hateful fantasies.<br/></span> <span class="i0">And take thou some of it, and seek through this grove;<br/></span> <span class="i0">A sweet Athenian lady is in love<br/></span> <span class="i0">With a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But do it, when the next thing he espies<br/></span> <span class="i0">May be the lady."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Titania enters with her fairy train and orders them to sing her to sleep, and be gone.</p> <p>Oberon finds his queen sleeping and squeezes some of the love juice on her eyelids, saying:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"What thou see'st when thou dost awake<br/></span> <span class="i0">Do it for thy true love take;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Love and languish for his sake;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></SPAN></span><br/></span> <span class="i0">When thou makest, it is thy dear,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Wake when some vile thing is near."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Lysander and Hermia wander in the woods, lost and tired, and sink down to rest. He says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"One turf shall serve as pillow for us both,<br/></span> <span class="i0">One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Puck finds the lovers asleep, and says to Lysander:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Churl, upon thy eyes I throw,<br/></span> <span class="i0">All the power that this charm doth owe,<br/></span> <span class="i0">When thou wakest, let love forbid<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sleep his seat on thy eyelid."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Puck finds Bottom in the woods, rehearsing the play for the marriage of Theseus, and translates the weaver into an ass, with a desire for love. He wanders near the flowery bed where Queen Titania sleeps.</p> <p>She hears him sing, and opening her eyes, says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,<br/></span> <span class="i0">On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Bottom says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Reason and love keep little company now-a-days!"<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <p>Oberon relents and releases his Fairy Queen from her dream of infatuation with Bottom disguised as an ass, and says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"But first, I will release the fairy queen,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Be as thou wast wont to be;<br/></span> <span class="i2" style="font-style: normal">(Touching her eyes with the herb.)<br/></span> <span class="i0">See as thou wast wont to see;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hath such force and blessed power,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Titania awakes and exclaims:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"My Oberon, what visions have I seen!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Methought I was enamored of an ass!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Titania is not the only woman who is enamored by an Ass; in fact the mismatched, cross-purposed, twisted, infatuated affections of the sordid, deceitful earth are as thick as blackberries in July, while pretense and pampered power greatly prevail around the globe.</p> <p>Theseus and his train wander through the woods in preparation for the grand hunt and find Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena still asleep under the magic influence of Puck.</p> <p>Theseus wonders how the lovers came to the wood, and says to the father of Hermia:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"But speak, Egeus; is not this the day<br/></span> <span class="i0">That Helena should give answer of her choice?"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Egeus:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"It is, my lord."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></SPAN></span><br/></span></div> </div> <p>Theseus:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Go bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.<br/></span> <span class="i2" style="font-style: normal">(Expresses surprise at their situation.)<br/></span> <span class="i0">How comes this gentle concord in the world,<br/></span> <span class="i0">That hatred is so far from jealousy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>The lovers are reconciled to their natural choice, and Theseus decides against the father:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Egeus, I will overbear your will,<br/></span> <span class="i0">For in the temple by and by, with us<br/></span> <span class="i0">These couples shall eternally be knit."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Bottom wakes and tells his theatrical partners:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say<br/></span> <span class="i2">what dream it was.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Man is but an ass, a patched fool.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath<br/></span> <span class="i2">not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his<br/></span> <span class="i2">tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report,<br/></span> <span class="i2">what my dream was!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>The vast audience laughed heartily at the befuddled language of Bottom, the weaver, and imagined themselves under the like spell of fantastic fairies.</p> <p>The fifth and last act opens up with Theseus and his Amazonian Queen in the palace, prepared for the nuptial rites, and also the marriage of Lysander and Demetrius to their choice.</p> <p class="figcenter"><SPAN href="images/facs170.png"><ANTIMG src="images/facs170_th.png" alt="Facsimile page 170" title="Facsimile page 170" /></SPAN><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></SPAN></span></p> <p>Theseus speaking of the strange conduct of lovers, delivers this great<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></SPAN></span> bit of philosophy:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"More strange than true, I never may believe<br/></span> <span class="i0">These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lovers and madmen have such seething brains&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend<br/></span> <span class="i0">More than cool reason ever comprehends.<br/></span> <span class="i0">The lunatic, the lover and the poet,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Are of imagination all compact;<br/></span> <span class="i0">One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;<br/></span> <span class="i0">That is the madman; the lover all as frantic,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And as imagination bodies forth<br/></span> <span class="i0">The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen<br/></span> <span class="i0">Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing<br/></span> <span class="i0">A local habitation and a name!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>The play of Pyramus and Thisby is then introduced to the palace audience, when Bottom and his Athenian mechanics amuse Theseus and Hippolyta with their crude, rustic conception of love-making.</p> <p>As the play proceeds Hippolyta remarks:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"This is the silliest stuff that I ever heard."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>And Theseus says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"The best in this kind are but shadows;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them!"<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <p>Pyramus appeals to the moon thus:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I thank thee, moon, for shining now so bright,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Pyramus and Thisby commit suicide, for disappointment in love, in the climax scene, and waking again Bottom wishes to know if the Duke wants any more of the burlesque play.</p> <p>Theseus replies:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Your play needs no excuse; for when the players are all dead,<br/></span> <span class="i0">There need none to be blamed!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"><span class="i0"><br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lovers to bed; 'tis almost fairy time,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">As much as we this night have overwatched.<br/></span> <span class="i0">This palpable, gross play hath well beguiled<br/></span> <span class="i0">The heavy gait of night&mdash;sweet friends, to bed;<br/></span> <span class="i0">A fortnight hold we this solemnity<br/></span> <span class="i0">In nightly revels and new jollity!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>The forest scene is filled with fairies, led by Puck, Oberon and Titania, all fantastically dressed, rehearsing and singing in their mystic revels.</p> <p>Puck leading, says:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Now the hungry lion roars,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the wolf beholds the moon.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></SPAN></span><br/></span> <span class="i0">Whilst the heavy ploughman snores<br/></span> <span class="i0">All with weary task foredone;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And we fairies, that do run<br/></span> <span class="i0">By the triple of Hecate's team,<br/></span> <span class="i0">From the presence of the sun<br/></span> <span class="i0">Following darkness like a dream."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Oberon orders:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Through this house give glimmering light,<br/></span> <span class="i0">By the dead and drowsy fire;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Every elf and fairy sprite<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hop as light as bird from brier;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And his ditty, after me,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sing and dance it trippingly."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Titania speaks:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"First rehearse this song by rote;<br/></span> <span class="i0">To each word a warbling note,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hand in hand with fairy grace<br/></span> <span class="i0">Will we sing and bless this place."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Then all the fairies, joining hands at the command of Oberon, dance and sing:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Every fairy take his gait,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And each several chamber bless;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through this palace with sweet peace,<br/></span> <span class="i0">All shall here in safety rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the owner of it blest,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Trip away, make no stay;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Meet me all by break of day!"<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <p>Then mischievous little Puck flies to the front, makes his final bow and speech, concluding the play of "Midsummer Night's Dream":</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"If we shadows have offended,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Think but this, and all is mended&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">That you have but slumbered here,<br/></span> <span class="i0">While these visions did appear;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And this weak and idle theme<br/></span> <span class="i0">No more yielding but a dream;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Gentles, do not reprehend;<br/></span> <span class="i0">If you pardon we will mend.<br/></span> <span class="i0">And, as I am honest Puck,<br/></span> <span class="i0">If we have unearned luck,<br/></span> <span class="i0">How to escape the serpent's tongue,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We will make amends ere long;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Else the Puck a liar call,<br/></span> <span class="i0">So good night unto you all,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Give me your hands if we be friends,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And Robin shall restore amends!"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Unanimous cheers rang through Windsor forest at the conclusion of this mystic play, and Queen Elizabeth called up Theseus (William), Hippolyta, Oberon, Titania and Puck, presenting to each a five-carat solitaire diamond&mdash;a slight token of Her Majesty's appreciation of dramatic genius.</p> <p>It was after two o'clock in the morning when a thousand sky rockets filled the heavens with variegated colors, indicating for fifty miles around, that "Midsummer Night's Dream" had been successfully launched on the ocean of dramatic imagination!</p> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />