uncovered slander, unmitigated rancour.-O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place.

Benedick. Hear me, Beatrice ;

Beatrice. Talk with a man out of a window !-a proper saying!

Benedick. Nay, but Beatrice,

Beatrice. Sweet Hero!—sheis wronged, she is slandered, she is undone.

Benedick. Beat

Beatrice. Princes and counties ! Surely, a princely testimony, a goodly count-confect; a sweet gallant, surely ! O that I were a man for his sake! or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules, that only tells a lie, and swears it. I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving. Benedick. Tarry, good Beatrice. By this hand, I love

thee. Beatrice. Use it for my love some other way than swearing by it.

Benedick. Think you in your soul the Count Claudio hath wronged Hero ?

Beatrice. Yea, as sure as I have a thought or a soul.

Benedick. Enough! I am engaged; I will challenge him. I will kiss your hand, and so leave you. By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear account. As

you

hear of me, so think of me. Go, comfort your cousin. I must say she is dead : and so, farewell.

ACT V. SCENE II.

LEONATO's Garden.

Enter URSULA.

Ursula. Madam, you must come to your uncle ; yonder 's old coil at home; it is proved, my lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the Prince and Claudio mightily abus'd; and Don John is the author of all, who is filed and gone. Will you come presently?

Beatrice. Will you go hear this news, signior ?

Benedick. I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes; and, moreover, I will go with thee to thy uncle's.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

ACT II.

.

SCENE II.

Oberon.
HAT very time I saw, (but thou couldst not,)

Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm’d: a certain aim he took

At a fair vestal throned by the west ;
And loos’d his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ;
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watry moon;
And the imperial vot'ress passed on
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell :
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it, love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I show'd thee once;
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next wild creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again

Ere the Leviathan can swim a league.

Puck. I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
Oberon.

Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
The next thing then she waking looks upon,
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape)
She shall pursue it with the soul of love :
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
(As I can take it, with another herb,)
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible;
And I will overhear their conference.

Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA following him. Demetrius. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander, and fair Hermia ? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Thou told’st me they were stolen into this wood, And here am I, and wood within this wood, Because I cannot meet with Hermia. Hence! get thee gone, and follow me no more.

Helena. You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant ; But yet you draw not iron, for my heart Is true as steel : leave you your power to draw, And I shall have no power to follow you.

Demetrius. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair ? Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth Tell you—I do not nor cannot love you ?

Helena. And even for that do I love you the more. I am your spaniel ; and, Demetrius,

The more you beat me, I will fawn on you :
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love,
(And yet a place of high respect with me,)
Than to be used as you use your dog ?

Demetrius. Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on thee.

Helena. And I am sick when I look not on you.

Demetrius. You do impeach your modesty too much
To leave the city, and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not ;
To trust the opportunity of night,
And the ill counsel of a desert place,
With the rich worth of your virginity.

Helena. Your virtue is my privilege for that.
It is not night, when I do see your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night ;
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For
you,

in

my respect, are all the world : Then how can it be said I am alone, When all the world is here to look on me?

Demetrius. I'll run from thee, and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Helena. The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd, -
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase ;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger bootless speed !
When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.

Demetrius. I will not stay thy questions ; let me go : Or, if thou follow me, do not believe