The elongated S's have been changed to small s's and the
conjoined ae have been changed to ae. I have left the spelling,
punctuation, capitalization as close as possible to the printed
text. I have corrected some spelling mistakes (I have put
together a spelling dictionary devised from the spellings of
the Geneva Bible and Shakespeare's First Folio and have unified
spellings according to this template), typo's and expanded
abbreviations as I have come across them. Everything within
brackets [] is what I have added. So if you don't like that you
can delete everything within the brackets if you want a purer
Shakespeare.
Another thing that you should be aware of is that there are
textual differences between various copies of the first folio. So
there may be differences (other than what I have mentioned above)
between this and other first folio editions. This is due to the
printer's habit of setting the type and running off a number of
copies and then proofing the printed copy and correcting the type
and then continuing the printing run. The proof run wasn't thrown
away but incorporated into the printed copies. This is just the
way it is. The text I have used was a composite of more than 30
different First Folio editions' best pages.
David Reed
=====================================================================
A Midsommer Nights Dreame
Actus primus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolita, with others.
Theseus. Now faire Hippolita, our nuptiall houre
Drawes on apace: foure happy daies bring in
Another Moon: but oh, me thinkes, how slow
This old Moon wanes; She lingers my desires
Like to a Step-dame, or a Dowager,
Long withering out a yong mans reuennew
Hip. Foure daies wil quickly steep the[m]selues in nights
Foure nights wil quickly dreame away the time:
And then the Moone, like to a siluer bow,
Now bent in heauen, shal behold the night
Of our solemnities
The. Go Philostrate,
Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments,
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth,
Turne melancholy forth to Funerals:
The pale companion is not for our pompe,
Hippolita, I woo'd thee with my sword,
And wonne thy loue, doing thee iniuries:
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pompe, with triumph, and with reuelling.
Enter Egeus and his daughter Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius.
Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned Duke
The. Thanks good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
Ege. Full of vexation, come I, with complaint
Against my childe, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth Demetrius.
My Noble Lord,
This man hath my consent to marrie her.
Stand forth Lysander.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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