1 rizwank 1.1 MSCFas,

d~ 
}3K2 amontillado.txtç,}3K2º midsummer\act1-scene1.txtUd`K2Ã midsummer\act1-scene2.txt§&ø¹r¹rTHE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. AT LENGTH I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled -- but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. 
  2             
  3             It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile NOW was at the thought of his immolation. 
  4             
  5             He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian MILLIONAIRES. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen , was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could. 
  6             
  7             It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand. 
  8             
  9             I said to him -- "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts." 
 10             
 11             "How?" said he, "Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible ? And in the middle of the carnival?" 
 12             
 13             "I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain." 
 14             
 15             "Amontillado!" 
 16             
 17             "I have my doubts." 
 18             
 19             "Amontillado!" 
 20             
 21             "And I must satisfy them." 
 22 rizwank 1.1 
 23             "Amontillado!" 
 24             
 25             "As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If any one has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me" -- 
 26             
 27             "Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry." 
 28             
 29             "And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own." 
 30             
 31             "Come let us go." 
 32             
 33             "Whither?" 
 34             
 35             "To your vaults." 
 36             
 37             "My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement Luchesi" -- 
 38             
 39             "I have no engagement; come." 
 40             
 41             "My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted . The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre." 
 42             
 43 rizwank 1.1 "Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon; and as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado." 
 44             
 45             Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. Putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo. 
 46             
 47             There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance , one and all, as soon as my back was turned. 
 48             
 49             I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors. 
 50             
 51             The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode. 
 52             
 53             "The pipe," said he. 
 54             
 55             "It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white webwork which gleams from these cavern walls." 
 56             
 57             He turned towards me and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication . 
 58             
 59             "Nitre?" he asked, at length 
 60             
 61             "Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough!" 
 62             
 63             "Ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! -- ugh! ugh! ugh! 
 64 rizwank 1.1 
 65             My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. 
 66             
 67             "It is nothing," he said, at last. 
 68             
 69             "Come," I said, with decision, we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi" -- 
 70             
 71             "Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." 
 72             
 73             "True -- true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily -- but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps." 
 74             
 75             Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould. 
 76             
 77             "Drink," I said, presenting him the wine. 
 78             
 79             He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled. 
 80             
 81             "I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us." 
 82             
 83             "And I to your long life." 
 84             
 85 rizwank 1.1 He again took my arm and we proceeded. 
 86             
 87             "These vaults," he said, are extensive." 
 88             
 89             "The Montresors," I replied, "were a great numerous family." 
 90             
 91             "I forget your arms." 
 92             
 93             "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." 
 94             
 95             "And the motto?" 
 96             
 97             "Nemo me impune lacessit." 
 98             
 99             "Good!" he said. 
100             
101             The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow. 
102             
103             "The nitre!" I said: see it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough" -- 
104             
105             "It is nothing" he said; "let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc." 
106 rizwank 1.1 
107             I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand. 
108             
109             I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement -- a grotesque one. 
110             
111             "You do not comprehend?" he said. 
112             
113             "Not I," I replied. 
114             
115             "Then you are not of the brotherhood." 
116             
117             "How?" 
118             
119             "You are not of the masons." 
120             
121             "Yes, yes," I said "yes! yes." 
122             
123             "You? Impossible! A mason?" 
124             
125             "A mason," I replied. 
126             
127 rizwank 1.1 "A sign," he said. 
128             
129             "It is this," I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaire. 
130             
131             "You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. "But let us proceed to the Amontillado." 
132             
133             "Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame. 
134             
135             At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vault overhead , in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use in itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite. 
136             
137             It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavoured to pry into the depths of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see. 
138             
139             "Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchesi" -- 
140             
141             "He is an ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered . A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain. from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist . Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess. 
142             
143             "Pass your hand," I said, "over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed it is VERY damp. Once more let me IMPLORE you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power." 
144             
145             "The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment. 
146             
147             "True," I replied; "the Amontillado." 
148 rizwank 1.1 
149             As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche. 
150             
151             I had scarcely laid the first tier of my masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was NOT the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided , I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within. 
152             
153             A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated -- I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs , and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall. I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I reechoed -- I aided -- I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still. 
154             
155             It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said -- 
156             
157             "Ha! ha! ha! -- he! he! -- a very good joke indeed -- an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo -- he! he! he! -- over our wine -- he! he! he!" 
158             
159             "The Amontillado!" I said. 
160             
161             "He! he! he! -- he! he! he! -- yes, the Amontillado . But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone." 
162             
163             "Yes," I said "let us be gone." 
164             
165             "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MONTRESOR!" 
166             
167             "Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" 
168             
169 rizwank 1.1 But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud -- 
170             
171             "Fortunato!" 
172             
173             No answer. I called again -- 
174             
175             "Fortunato!" 
176             
177             No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick -- on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I reerected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. 
178             
179             In pace requiescat!SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
180             
181             Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants 
182             THESEUS 
183             Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
184             Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
185             Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
186             This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
187             Like to a step-dame or a dowager
188             Long withering out a young man revenue.
189             
190 rizwank 1.1 HIPPOLYTA 
191             Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
192             Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
193             And then the moon, like to a silver bow
194             New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
195             Of our solemnities.
196             
197             THESEUS 
198             Go, Philostrate,
199             Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
200             Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
201             Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
202             The pale companion is not for our pomp.
203             
204             Exit PHILOSTRATE
205             
206             Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
207             And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
208             But I will wed thee in another key,
209             With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.
210             
211 rizwank 1.1 Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS
212             
213             EGEUS 
214             Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
215             
216             THESEUS 
217             Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
218             
219             EGEUS 
220             Full of vexation come I, with complaint
221             Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
222             Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
223             This man hath my consent to marry her.
224             Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
225             This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;
226             Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
227             And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
228             Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,
229             With feigning voice verses of feigning love,
230             And stolen the impression of her fantasy
231             With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
232 rizwank 1.1 Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers
233             Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:
234             With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,
235             Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
236             To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
237             Be it so she; will not here before your grace
238             Consent to marry with Demetrius,
239             I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
240             As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
241             Which shall be either to this gentleman
242             Or to her death, according to our law
243             Immediately provided in that case.
244             
245             THESEUS 
246             What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:
247             To you your father should be as a god;
248             One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
249             To whom you are but as a form in wax
250             By him imprinted and within his power
251             To leave the figure or disfigure it.
252             Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
253 rizwank 1.1 
254             HERMIA 
255             So is Lysander.
256             
257             THESEUS 
258             In himself he is;
259             But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
260             The other must be held the worthier.
261             
262             HERMIA 
263             I would my father look'd but with my eyes.
264             
265             THESEUS 
266             Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
267             
268             HERMIA 
269             I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
270             I know not by what power I am made bold,
271             Nor how it may concern my modesty,
272             In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
273             But I beseech your grace that I may know
274 rizwank 1.1 The worst that may befall me in this case,
275             If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
276             
277             THESEUS 
278             Either to die the death or to abjure
279             For ever the society of men.
280             Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
281             Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
282             Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
283             You can endure the livery of a nun,
284             For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,
285             To live a barren sister all your life,
286             Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
287             Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
288             To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
289             But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
290             Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
291             Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.
292             
293             HERMIA 
294             So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
295 rizwank 1.1 Ere I will my virgin patent up
296             Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
297             My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
298             
299             THESEUS 
300             Take time to pause; and, by the nest new moon--
301             The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,
302             For everlasting bond of fellowship--
303             Upon that day either prepare to die
304             For disobedience to your father's will,
305             Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
306             Or on Diana's altar to protest
307             For aye austerity and single life.
308             
309             DEMETRIUS 
310             Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield
311             Thy crazed title to my certain right.
312             
313             LYSANDER 
314             You have her father's love, Demetrius;
315             Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.
316 rizwank 1.1 
317             EGEUS 
318             Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
319             And what is mine my love shall render him.
320             And she is mine, and all my right of her
321             I do estate unto Demetrius.
322             
323             LYSANDER 
324             I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
325             As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
326             My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
327             If not with vantage, as Demetrius';
328             And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
329             I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
330             Why should not I then prosecute my right?
331             Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
332             Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
333             And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
334             Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
335             Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
336             
337 rizwank 1.1 THESEUS 
338             I must confess that I have heard so much,
339             And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
340             But, being over-full of self-affairs,
341             My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
342             And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
343             I have some private schooling for you both.
344             For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
345             To fit your fancies to your father's will;
346             Or else the law of Athens yields you up--
347             Which by no means we may extenuate--
348             To death, or to a vow of single life.
349             Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?
350             Demetrius and Egeus, go along:
351             I must employ you in some business
352             Against our nuptial and confer with you
353             Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
354             
355             EGEUS 
356             With duty and desire we follow you.
357             
358 rizwank 1.1 Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA
359             
360             LYSANDER 
361             How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
362             How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
363             
364             HERMIA 
365             Belike for want of rain, which I could well
366             Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
367             
368             LYSANDER 
369             Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,
370             Could ever hear by tale or history,
371             The course of true love never did run smooth;
372             But, either it was different in blood,--
373             
374             HERMIA 
375             O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.
376             
377             LYSANDER 
378             Or else misgraffed in respect of years,--
379 rizwank 1.1 
380             HERMIA 
381             O spite! too old to be engaged to young.
382             
383             LYSANDER 
384             Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,--
385             
386             HERMIA 
387             O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.
388             
389             LYSANDER 
390             Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
391             War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
392             Making it momentany as a sound,
393             Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
394             Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
395             That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
396             And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
397             The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
398             So quick bright things come to confusion.
399             
400 rizwank 1.1 HERMIA 
401             If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
402             It stands as an edict in destiny:
403             Then let us teach our trial patience,
404             Because it is a customary cross,
405             As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,
406             Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.
407             
408             LYSANDER 
409             A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
410             I have a widow aunt, a dowager
411             Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
412             From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
413             And she respects me as her only son.
414             There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
415             And to that place the sharp Athenian law
416             Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
417             Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
418             And in the wood, a league without the town,
419             Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
420             To do observance to a morn of May,
421 rizwank 1.1 There will I stay for thee.
422             
423             HERMIA 
424             My good Lysander!
425             I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
426             By his best arrow with the golden head,
427             By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
428             By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
429             And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
430             When the false Troyan under sail was seen,
431             By all the vows that ever men have broke,
432             In number more than ever women spoke,
433             In that same place thou hast appointed me,
434             To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
435             
436             LYSANDER 
437             Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
438             
439             Enter HELENA
440             
441             HERMIA 
442 rizwank 1.1 God speed fair Helena! whither away?
443             
444             HELENA 
445             Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
446             Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
447             Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
448             More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
449             When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
450             Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
451             Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
452             My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
453             My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
454             Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
455             The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
456             O, teach me how you look, and with what art
457             You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
458             
459             HERMIA 
460             I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
461             
462             HELENA 
463 rizwank 1.1 O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
464             
465             HERMIA 
466             I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
467             
468             HELENA 
469             O that my prayers could such affection move!
470             
471             HERMIA 
472             The more I hate, the more he follows me.
473             
474             HELENA 
475             The more I love, the more he hateth me.
476             
477             HERMIA 
478             His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
479             
480             HELENA 
481             None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
482             
483             HERMIA 
484 rizwank 1.1 Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
485             Lysander and myself will fly this place.
486             Before the time I did Lysander see,
487             Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
488             O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,
489             That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!
490             
491             LYSANDER 
492             Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
493             To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
494             Her silver visage in the watery glass,
495             Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
496             A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,
497             Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.
498             
499             HERMIA 
500             And in the wood, where often you and I
501             Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
502             Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
503             There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
504             And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
505 rizwank 1.1 To seek new friends and stranger companies.
506             Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
507             And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
508             Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
509             From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight.
510             
511             LYSANDER 
512             I will, my Hermia.
513             
514             Exit HERMIA
515             
516             Helena, adieu:
517             As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!
518             
519             Exit
520             
521             HELENA 
522             How happy some o'er other some can be!
523             Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
524             But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
525             He will not know what all but he do know:
526 rizwank 1.1 And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
527             So I, admiring of his qualities:
528             Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
529             Love can transpose to form and dignity:
530             Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
531             And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
532             Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;
533             Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
534             And therefore is Love said to be a child,
535             Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
536             As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
537             So the boy Love is perjured every where:
538             For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
539             He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
540             And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
541             So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
542             I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
543             Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
544             Pursue her; and for this intelligence
545             If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
546             But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
547 rizwank 1.1 To have his sight thither and back again.
548             
549             Exit
550             SCENE II. Athens. QUINCE'S house.
551             
552             Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING 
553             QUINCE 
554             Is all our company here?
555             
556             BOTTOM 
557             You were best to call them generally, man by man,
558             according to the scrip.
559             
560             QUINCE 
561             Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is
562             thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our
563             interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his
564             wedding-day at night.
565             
566             BOTTOM 
567             First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats
568 rizwank 1.1 on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow
569             to a point.
570             
571             QUINCE 
572             Marry, our play is, The most lamentable comedy, and
573             most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.
574             
575             BOTTOM 
576             A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a
577             merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your
578             actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves.
579             
580             QUINCE 
581             Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver.
582             
583             BOTTOM 
584             Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.
585             
586             QUINCE 
587             You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
588             
589 rizwank 1.1 BOTTOM 
590             What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?
591             
592             QUINCE 
593             A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love.
594             
595             BOTTOM 
596             That will ask some tears in the true performing of
597             it: if I do it, let the audience look to their
598             eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some
599             measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a
600             tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to
601             tear a cat in, to make all split.
602             The raging rocks
603             And shivering shocks
604             Shall break the locks
605             Of prison gates;
606             And Phibbus' car
607             Shall shine from far
608             And make and mar
609             The foolish Fates.
610 rizwank 1.1 This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players.
611             This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is
612             more condoling.
613             
614             QUINCE 
615             Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
616             
617             FLUTE 
618             Here, Peter Quince.
619             
620             QUINCE 
621             Flute, you must take Thisby on you.
622             
623             FLUTE 
624             What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
625             
626             QUINCE 
627             It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
628             
629             FLUTE 
630             Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.
631 rizwank 1.1 
632             QUINCE 
633             That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and
634             you may speak as small as you will.
635             
636             BOTTOM 
637             An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll
638             speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne,
639             Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear,
640             and lady dear!'
641             
642             QUINCE 
643             No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.
644             
645             BOTTOM 
646             Well, proceed.
647             
648             QUINCE 
649             Robin Starveling, the tailor.
650             
651             STARVELING 
652 rizwank 1.1 Here, Peter Quince.
653             
654             QUINCE 
655             Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.
656             Tom Snout, the tinker.
657             
658             SNOUT 
659             Here, Peter Quince.
660             
661             QUINCE 
662             You, Pyramus' father: myself, Thisby's father:
663             Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I
664             hope, here is a play fitted.
665             
666             SNUG 
667             Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it
668             be, give it me, for I am slow of study.
669             
670             QUINCE 
671             You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
672             
673 rizwank 1.1 BOTTOM 
674             Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will
675             do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar,
676             that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again,
677             let him roar again.'
678             
679             QUINCE 
680             An you should do it too terribly, you would fright
681             the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek;
682             and that were enough to hang us all.
683             
684             ALL 
685             That would hang us, every mother's son.
686             
687             BOTTOM 
688             I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the
689             ladies out of their wits, they would have no more
690             discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my
691             voice so that I will roar you as gently as any
692             sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any
693             nightingale.
694 rizwank 1.1 
695             QUINCE 
696             You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a
697             sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a
698             summer's day; a most lovely gentleman-like man:
699             therefore you must needs play Pyramus.
700             
701             BOTTOM 
702             Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best
703             to play it in?
704             
705             QUINCE 
706             Why, what you will.
707             
708             BOTTOM 
709             I will discharge it in either your straw-colour
710             beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain
711             beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your
712             perfect yellow.
713             
714             QUINCE 
715 rizwank 1.1 Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and
716             then you will play bare-faced. But, masters, here
717             are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request
718             you and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night;
719             and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the
720             town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse, for if
721             we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with
722             company, and our devices known. In the meantime I
723             will draw a bill of properties, such as our play
724             wants. I pray you, fail me not.
725             
726             BOTTOM 
727             We will meet; and there we may rehearse most
728             obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu.
729             
730             QUINCE 
731             At the duke's oak we meet.
732             
733             BOTTOM 
734             Enough; hold or cut bow-strings.
735             
736 rizwank 1.1 Exeunt