Reading Help A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Make periods in the midst of sentences, `
` Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears, `
` And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off, `
` Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet, `
` Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome; `
` And in the modesty of fearful duty `
` I read as much as from the rattling tongue `
` Of saucy and audacious eloquence. `
` Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity `
` In least speak most to my capacity. `
` `
` Re-enter PHILOSTRATE `
` `
` PHILOSTRATE. SO please your Grace, the Prologue is address'd. `
` THESEUS. Let him approach. [Flourish of trumpets] `
` `
` Enter QUINCE as the PROLOGUE `
` `
` PROLOGUE. If we offend, it is with our good will. `
` That you should think, we come not to offend, `
` But with good will. To show our simple skill, `
` That is the true beginning of our end. `
` Consider then, we come but in despite. `
` We do not come, as minding to content you, `
` Our true intent is. All for your delight `
` We are not here. That you should here repent you, `
` The actors are at band; and, by their show, `
` You shall know all, that you are like to know, `
` THESEUS. This fellow doth not stand upon points. `
` LYSANDER. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows `
` not `
` the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, `
` but `
` to speak true. `
` HIPPOLYTA. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologue like a child `
` on a `
` recorder- a sound, but not in government. `
` THESEUS. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing im `
` paired, `
` but all disordered. Who is next? `
` `
` Enter, with a trumpet before them, as in dumb show, `
` PYRAMUS and THISBY, WALL, MOONSHINE, and LION `
` `
` PROLOGUE. 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 Thisby is certain. `
` This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present `
` Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder; `
` And through Walls 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, PYRAMUS, THISBY, `
` LION, and MOONSHINE `
` THESEUS. I wonder if the lion be to speak. `
` DEMETRIUS. 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 crannied hole or chink, `
` Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, `
` Did whisper often very secretly. `
` This loam, 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. `
` THESEUS. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? `
` DEMETRIUS. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard `
` discourse, my lord. `
` `
` Enter PYRAMUS `
` `
` THESEUS. Pyramus draws near the wall; silence. `
` PYRAMUS. 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, O sweet, O lovely wall, `
` 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 what see I? No Thisby do I see. `
` O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss, `
` Curs'd he thy stones for thus deceiving me! `
` THESEUS. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse `
` again. `
` PYRAMUS. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving 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 THISBY `
` `
` THISBY. O wall, full often hast thou beard 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. `
` PYRAMUS. I see a voice; now will I to the chink, `
` To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. `
` Thisby! `
` THISBY. My love! thou art my love, I think. `
` PYRAMUS. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; `
` And like Limander am I trusty still. `
` THISBY. And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill. `
` PYRAMUS. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true. `
` THISBY. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. `
` PYRAMUS. O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall. `
` THISBY. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all. `
` PYRAMUS. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway? `
` THISBY. Tide life, tide death, I come without delay. `
` Exeunt PYRAMUS and THISBY `
` WALL. Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so; `
` And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. Exit WALL `
` THESEUS. Now is the moon used between the two neighbours. `
` DEMETRIUS. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear `
` without warning. `
` HIPPOLYTA. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. `
` THESEUS. The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst `
` are `
` no worse, if imagination amend them. `
` HIPPOLYTA. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. `
` THESEUS. If we imagine no worse of them than they of `
` themselves, `
` they may pass for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts `
` in, a `
` man and a lion. `
` `
` Enter LION and MOONSHINE `
` `
` LION. You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear `
` The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, `
` May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, `
` When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. `
` Then know that I as Snug the joiner am `
` A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam; `
` For, if I should as lion come in strife `
` Into this place, 'twere pity on my life. `
` THESEUS. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience. `
` DEMETRIUS. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw. `
` LYSANDER. This lion is a very fox for his valour. `
` THESEUS. True; and a goose for his discretion. `
` DEMETRIUS. Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his `
` discretion, and the fox carries the goose. `
` THESEUS. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; `
` for `
` the goose carries not the fox. It is well. Leave it to his `
` discretion, and let us listen to the Moon. `
` MOONSHINE. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present- `
` DEMETRIUS. He should have worn the horns on his head. `
` THESEUS. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within `
` the `
` circumference. `
` MOONSHINE. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present; `
` Myself the Man i' th' Moon do seem to be. `
` THESEUS. This is the greatest error of all the rest; the man `
` should `
` be put into the lantern. How is it else the man i' th' moon? `
` DEMETRIUS. He dares not come there for the candle; for, you `
` see, it `
` is already in snuff. `
` HIPPOLYTA. I am aweary of this moon. Would he would change! `
` THESEUS. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he `
` is `
` in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must `
` stay `
` the time. `
` LYSANDER. Proceed, Moon. `
` MOON. All that I have to say is to tell you that the lanthorn `
` is `
` the moon; I, the Man i' th' Moon; this thorn-bush, my `
` thorn-bush; `
` and this dog, my dog. `
` DEMETRIUS. Why, all these should be in the lantern; for all `
` these `
` are in the moon. But silence; here comes Thisby. `
` `
` Re-enter THISBY `
` `
` THISBY. This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love? `
`
` Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears, `
` And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off, `
` Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet, `
` Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome; `
` And in the modesty of fearful duty `
` I read as much as from the rattling tongue `
` Of saucy and audacious eloquence. `
` Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity `
` In least speak most to my capacity. `
` `
` Re-enter PHILOSTRATE `
` `
` PHILOSTRATE. SO please your Grace, the Prologue is address'd. `
` THESEUS. Let him approach. [Flourish of trumpets] `
` `
` Enter QUINCE as the PROLOGUE `
` `
` PROLOGUE. If we offend, it is with our good will. `
` That you should think, we come not to offend, `
` But with good will. To show our simple skill, `
` That is the true beginning of our end. `
` Consider then, we come but in despite. `
` We do not come, as minding to content you, `
` Our true intent is. All for your delight `
` We are not here. That you should here repent you, `
` The actors are at band; and, by their show, `
` You shall know all, that you are like to know, `
` THESEUS. This fellow doth not stand upon points. `
` LYSANDER. He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows `
` not `
` the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, `
` but `
` to speak true. `
` HIPPOLYTA. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologue like a child `
` on a `
` recorder- a sound, but not in government. `
` THESEUS. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing im `
` paired, `
` but all disordered. Who is next? `
` `
` Enter, with a trumpet before them, as in dumb show, `
` PYRAMUS and THISBY, WALL, MOONSHINE, and LION `
` `
` PROLOGUE. 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 Thisby is certain. `
` This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present `
` Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder; `
` And through Walls 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, PYRAMUS, THISBY, `
` LION, and MOONSHINE `
` THESEUS. I wonder if the lion be to speak. `
` DEMETRIUS. 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 crannied hole or chink, `
` Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, `
` Did whisper often very secretly. `
` This loam, 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. `
` THESEUS. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? `
` DEMETRIUS. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard `
` discourse, my lord. `
` `
` Enter PYRAMUS `
` `
` THESEUS. Pyramus draws near the wall; silence. `
` PYRAMUS. 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, O sweet, O lovely wall, `
` 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 what see I? No Thisby do I see. `
` O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss, `
` Curs'd he thy stones for thus deceiving me! `
` THESEUS. The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse `
` again. `
` PYRAMUS. No, in truth, sir, he should not. Deceiving 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 THISBY `
` `
` THISBY. O wall, full often hast thou beard 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. `
` PYRAMUS. I see a voice; now will I to the chink, `
` To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. `
` Thisby! `
` THISBY. My love! thou art my love, I think. `
` PYRAMUS. Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace; `
` And like Limander am I trusty still. `
` THISBY. And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill. `
` PYRAMUS. Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true. `
` THISBY. As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. `
` PYRAMUS. O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall. `
` THISBY. I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all. `
` PYRAMUS. Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway? `
` THISBY. Tide life, tide death, I come without delay. `
` Exeunt PYRAMUS and THISBY `
` WALL. Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so; `
` And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. Exit WALL `
` THESEUS. Now is the moon used between the two neighbours. `
` DEMETRIUS. No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear `
` without warning. `
` HIPPOLYTA. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. `
` THESEUS. The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst `
` are `
` no worse, if imagination amend them. `
` HIPPOLYTA. It must be your imagination then, and not theirs. `
` THESEUS. If we imagine no worse of them than they of `
` themselves, `
` they may pass for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts `
` in, a `
` man and a lion. `
` `
` Enter LION and MOONSHINE `
` `
` LION. You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear `
` The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, `
` May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, `
` When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar. `
` Then know that I as Snug the joiner am `
` A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam; `
` For, if I should as lion come in strife `
` Into this place, 'twere pity on my life. `
` THESEUS. A very gentle beast, and of a good conscience. `
` DEMETRIUS. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw. `
` LYSANDER. This lion is a very fox for his valour. `
` THESEUS. True; and a goose for his discretion. `
` DEMETRIUS. Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his `
` discretion, and the fox carries the goose. `
` THESEUS. His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; `
` for `
` the goose carries not the fox. It is well. Leave it to his `
` discretion, and let us listen to the Moon. `
` MOONSHINE. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present- `
` DEMETRIUS. He should have worn the horns on his head. `
` THESEUS. He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within `
` the `
` circumference. `
` MOONSHINE. This lanthorn doth the horned moon present; `
` Myself the Man i' th' Moon do seem to be. `
` THESEUS. This is the greatest error of all the rest; the man `
` should `
` be put into the lantern. How is it else the man i' th' moon? `
` DEMETRIUS. He dares not come there for the candle; for, you `
` see, it `
` is already in snuff. `
` HIPPOLYTA. I am aweary of this moon. Would he would change! `
` THESEUS. It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he `
` is `
` in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must `
` stay `
` the time. `
` LYSANDER. Proceed, Moon. `
` MOON. All that I have to say is to tell you that the lanthorn `
` is `
` the moon; I, the Man i' th' Moon; this thorn-bush, my `
` thorn-bush; `
` and this dog, my dog. `
` DEMETRIUS. Why, all these should be in the lantern; for all `
` these `
` are in the moon. But silence; here comes Thisby. `
` `
` Re-enter THISBY `
` `
` THISBY. This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love? `
`