POINTS. 1. Explanation of all mythical allusions. 2. Account of theories as to meaning of 'The thrice three muses,' etc., V. i. 59. 3. What is a 'Bergomask dance'? 4. The date and occasion of the play: This play appears in Meres's list of 1598 and in the Quartos of 1600. Titania's description of the unseasonable weather (II. i. 92, foll.) may refer to the year 1594. Note that Chaucer in the 'Knight's Tale' speaks of the tempest at Hippolyta's home-coming. Many critics have believed that the play was written on the occasion of some marriage in high life, but they do not agree as to whose it was. QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION Upon what does the interest of the last Act centre? How does the ending suit the various threads of the Play? Is Theseus or Hippolyta the wiser critic of 'the story of the night'; and which of them is the wiser critic of the play of Pyramus and Thisbe? SOURCES OF THE PLAY 1. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS MORTALS In Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' will be found passages which furnished Shakespeare with some points for his drama. Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale' is also said to have given him material. The editor of the "First Folio Edition" suggests in the introduction that a reading by Shakespeare of a poem in his day supposed to be Chaucer's, 'The Flower and the Leaf,' gave him an important hint for his plot. Examine for yourself, and state what indebtedness you find in any of these sources. In I. i. 20, Theseus says to Hippolyta, 'I woo'd thee with my sword.' Compare this with the account given in Chaucer. According to another version of the story Hercules gave Hippolyta to his kinsman Theseus in marriage. Compare 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and the 'Knight's Tale' with Shakespeare's 'Dreame.' 2. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS FAIRIES