_Mer._ Tut, dun's the mouse, the constable's own word:[264] 40 If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire[264][266] Of this sir-reverence love, wherein thou stick'st[264][267] Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho.[264][268] _Rom._ Nay, that's not so.[264] _Mer._ I mean, sir, in delay[264][269] We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day.[264][270] 45 Take our good meaning, for our judgement sits[264][271] Five times in that ere once in our five wits.[264][272] _Rom._ And we mean well, in going to this mask;[264] But 'tis no wit to go.[264] _Mer._ Why, may one ask? _Rom._ I dreamt a dream to-night. _Mer._ And so did I. 50 _Rom._ Well, what was yours? _Mer._ That dreamers often lie. _Rom._ In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.[273] _Mer._ O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.[274] She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes[275] In shape no bigger than an agate-stone[274][276] 55 On the fore-finger of an alderman,[274] Drawn with a team of little atomies[274][277] Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep:[274][278] Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners' legs;[274][279] The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;[274] 60 Her traces, of the smallest spider's web;[274][280] Her collars, of the moonshine's watery beams;[274][281] Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film;[274][282] Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat,[274][283] Not half so big as a round little worm[274] 65 Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid:[274][284] Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,[274][285] Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,[274][285] Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.[274][285][286] And in this state she gallops night by night[274] 70 Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;[274] O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight;[274][287] O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees;[274][288] O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream,[274][289] Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,[274] 75 Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are:[274][290] Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose,[274][291] And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;[274][292] And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail[274][293][294] Tickling a parson's nose as a' lies asleep,[274][295] 80 Then he dreams of another benefice:[274][296] Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,[274][293] And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,[274] Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,[274] Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon[274][297] 85