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When fimpleness and duty tender it.

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

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

The. Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no fuch thing. Hip. He fays, they can do nothing in this kind.

The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing. Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake:

And what poor duty cannot do,

X

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 shiver, and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of fentences,

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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 fawcy and audacious eloquence.

Love, therefore, and tongue-ty'd fimplicity,

In least, speak moft, to my capacity.

Enter Philoftrate.

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Philoft. So please your grace, the prologue is addreft. The. Let him approach.

Enter the prologue.

Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,

[Flour. Trum.

* it in might, not merit.]—the best in its might to do, for the best that

might be done the will for the deed.

Y periods]-full ftops.

2 addreft.]-prepared to enter.

But

But with good-will. To fhew our fimple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Confider then, we come but in defpite.

We do not come,

Our true intent is.

We are not bere.

as minding to content you,
All for your delight,

That you should here repent you,

The actors are at hand; and, by their show,
You shall know all, that you are like to know.

The. This fellow doth not stand upon points.

Lyf. 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.

Hip. Indeed he hath play'd on this prologue, like a child on a recorder; a found, but not in government. The. His fpeech was like a tangled chain; nothing impair'd, but all difordered. Who is next?

Enter Pyramus and Thibe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb fhow.

Prol. "Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this fhow; "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-caft, doth prefent "Wall, that vile wall which did thefe lovers funder: "And through wall's chink, poor fouls, they are content "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-fhine did thefe lovers think no fcorn "To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. "This grifly beaft, which by name lion hight, The trufty Thisby, coming firft by night,

recorder;]-a flute.

F 3

b

government.]-tune.

Did

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"Did fcare away, or rather did affright:
"And, as fhe fled, her mantle fhe did fall;
"Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain :
"Anon comes Pyramus, fweet youth, and tall,

d

"And finds his trufty Thifby's mantle flain: "Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; "And (Thisby tarrying in mulberry fhade,)

"His dagger drew, and died. For all the reft, "Let lion, moon-fhine, wall, and lovers twain, "At large difcourfe, while here they do remain."

[Exeunt all but Wall.,

The. 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 Snout by name, prefent a wall:

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

"This lome, this rough-caft, and this stone, doth fhew
"That I am that fame wall; the truth is fo:
"And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

[Holding up one hand, with a finger separated. "Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper." The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? Dem. It is the wittieft partition that ever I heard difcourse, my lord.

The. 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!

let fall.

d flain:]-torn.

"O

"O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,

"I fear my Thisby's promife is forgot!"And thou, O wall, thou fweet, and lovely wall, "That stand'ft between her father's ground and mine "Thou wall, O wall, O fweet and lovely wall,

"Shew me thy chink to blink through with mine eyne. “Thanks, courteous wall: Jove fhield thee well for this! "But what fee I? No Thisby do I fee.

;

“O wicked wall, through whom I fee no bliss "Curft be thy ftones for thus deceiving me!"

The. The wall, methinks, being fenfible, fhould curfe again.

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

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Enter Thisby.

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

My cherry lips have often kifs'd thy ftones;

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Pyr. "I fee a voice: now will I to the chink, "To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby!"

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

Pyr. "Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;

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"And like Limander am I trufty ftill."

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Thif. "And I like Helen, till the fates me kill."

Pyr.

"Not Shafalus to Procrus was fo true."

Thif. "As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you."

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Pyr. O, kifs me through the hole of this vile wall."

* Limander]—a corruption of Alexander, another name for Paris :or of Leander, as Helen may be of Hero.

F 4

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Cephalus and Procris.

Thif.

Thif. "I kifs the wall's hole, not your lips at all.” Pyr. "Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway ?” This. "Tide life, tide death, I come without delay.' Wall. "Thus have I, wall, my part discharged fo; "And, being done, thus wall away doth go."

[Exeunt Wall, Pyramus, and Thibe. The. Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

Dem. No remedy, my lord, when walls are fo wilful to hear without warning.

Hip. This is the filliest stuff that ever I heard.

The. The best 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. The. If we imagine no worse of them, than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts in, a moon, and a lion.

Enter Lion and Moonshine.

Lion. "You, ladies, you, whofe gentle hearts do fear "The smalleft monftrous mouse that creeps on floor, "May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here, "When lion rough in wildeft rage doth roar. "Then know that I, one Snug the joiner am; "A lion fell, nor elfe no lion's dam: "For if I fhould as lion come in ftrife

"Into this place, 'twere pity on my life."

The. A very gentle beaft, and of a good confcience. Dem. The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I faw.

& hear without warning.]-to listen to clandeftinely, or over-hear the conversation of the next door neighbour-" Walls have ears." PROV. rear-no wonder if they be down as foon as up, when rear'd without due warning. Ꮒ in this kind-of actors.

i a man-a moon-calf.

* "A lion fell, nor elfe no lion's dam :]-Neither a lion, nor lioness.

Lyf.

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