Make choice of which your highness will see first. [Giving a paper. The. reads.] The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung, By an Athenian eunuch to the harp. We'll none of that: that have I told my love, The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. That is an old device, and it was play'd When I from Thebes came last a conqueror. The thrice three Muses mourning for the death Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary. That is some satire, keen, and critical, Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony. A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus, Which is as brief as I have known a play; Philost. Hard-handed men, that work in Athens here, Which never labour'd in their minds till now; 6 unbreath'd-] Unexercised, unpractised. With this same play, against your nuptial. The. And we will hear it. Philost. No, my noble lord, It is not for you: I have heard it over, And it is nothing, nothing in the world; The. I will hear that play; For never any thing can be amiss, When simpleness and duty tender it. Go, bring them in; and take your places, ladies. Hip. He says, they can do nothing in this kind. The. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing. Our sport shall be, to take what they mistake: Noble respect takes it in might, not merit. I read as much, as from the rattling tongue Enter PHILOStrate. Philost. So please your grace, the prologue is addrest." The. Let him approach. [Flourish of trumpets. Enter Prologue. Prol. If we offend, it is with our good will. We are not here. The actors are at You shall know all, That you should here repent you, hand; and, by their show, that you are like to know. The. This fellow doth not stand upon points. Lys. He hath rid his prologue, like a rough colt; he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: It is not enough to speak, but to speak true. Hip. Indeed he hath played on this prologue, like a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.1 The. His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered. Who is next? 7 addrest.] That is, ready. 8 Flourish of trumpets.] It appears that the prologue was anciently ushered in by trumpets. 9 on a recorder;] It should seem that the flute and the recorder were different instruments, and that the latter in propriety of speech was no other than the flagelet. but not in government.] That is, not tunefully. Enter PYRAMUS and THISBE, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion, as in dumb show. Prol. "Gentles, perchance, you wonder at this show; "But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. "This man is Pyramus, if you would know; "This beauteous lady Thisby is, certáin. "This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth pre sent "Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder: "And through wall's chink, poor souls, they are content "To whisper, at the which let no man wonder. "This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn, "Presenteth moon-shine: for, if you will know, By moon-shine did these lovers think no scorn "To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo. "This grisly beast, which by name lion hight,2 "The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, "Did scare away, or rather did affright: "And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall; "Which lion vile with bloody mouth did stain: "Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth, and tall, "And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain: "Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, "He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast; And, Thisby tarrying in mulberry shade, "His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest, "Let lion, moon-shine, wall, and lovers twain, "At large discourse, while here they do remain." Exeunt Prol. THISBE, Lion, and Moonshine. The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak. 2 by name lion hight,] Hight, in old English, signifiesis called. Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do. Wall. “In this same interlude, it doth befall, "That I, one Snout by name, present a wall: "And such a wall as I would have you think, "That had in it a cranny'd hole, or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, "Did whisper often very secretly. "This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth show "That I am that same wall; the truth is so: "And this the cranny is, right and sinister, "Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper." The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord. The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence! Enter PYRAMUS. Pyr. "O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black! "O night, which ever art, when day is not! "O night, O night, alack, alack, alack, "I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!"And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall, "That stand'st between her father's ground and mine; "Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall, "Shew me thy chink, to blink through with mine [Wall holds up his fingers. "Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for eyne. this! "But what see I? No Thisby do I see. |