So the boy Love is perjur'd everywhere;
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolv'd, and show'rs of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense.
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again. Exit
SCENE II.
Athens. QUINCE'S house
Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING
QUINCE. Is all our company here?
BOTTOM. You were best to call them generally, man by man,
according
to the scrip.
QUINCE. Here is the scroll of every man's name which is thought
fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the
Duke
and the Duchess on his wedding-day at night.
BOTTOM. First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on;
then
read the names of the actors; and so grow to a point.
QUINCE. Marry, our play is 'The most Lamentable Comedy and most
Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby.'
BOTTOM. A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry.
Now,
good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll.
Masters,
spread yourselves.
QUINCE. Answer, as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver.
BOTTOM. Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.
QUINCE. You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
BOTTOM. What is Pyramus? A lover, or a tyrant?
QUINCE. A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love.
BOTTOM. That will ask some tears in the true performing of it.
If I
do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move
storms; I
will condole in some measure. To the rest- yet my chief
humour is
for a tyrant. I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a
cat
in, to make all split.
'The raging rocks
And shivering shocks
Shall break the locks
Of prison gates;
And Phibbus' car
Shall shine from far,
And make and mar
The foolish Fates.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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