The collars, of the moonshine's watry beams;
Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film;
Her waggoner a small grey coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm,
Prickt from the lazy finger of a maid.
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made by the joyner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out of mind the fairies coach-makers:
And in this state she gallops night by night,
Through lovers brains, and then they dream of love :
On courtiers knees, that dream on curtsies strait :
O'er lawyers fingers, who strait dream on fees :
O'er ladies lips, who strait on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweet-meats tainted are.
Sometimes the gallops o'er a (2) courtier's nose,

And

(2) O'er a courtier's nose.] Tho' lawyer's is here used in almost all the modern editions, it is very observable, that in the old ones the word used is, Courtier's; but the modern editors, having no idea what the poet could mean by a courtier's smelling out a fuit, notwithstanding he had introduced the lawyers before, gave them another place, in this fine speech. Mr. Warburton has very well explain'd it, by observing that " in our author's time, a courtfollicitation was call'd fimply a fuit; and a process, a fuit at lazo to diftinguish it from the other. The king (fays an anony mous cotemporary writer of the life of Sir William Cecil) called him [Sir William Cecil] and after long talk with him, being much delighted with his answers, willed his father to find (i. e. fmell out] a Juit for bim. Whereupon be became fuitor for the reverfion of the Cuftos Brevium office in the Common-Pleas. Which the king willingly granted it, being the first fuit be bad in bis life." Nor can it be objected, as Mr. Warburton also observes, that there will be a repetition in this fine fpeech if we read courtiers, as there is, if we read lawyers, it having been said before,

On courtiers knees that dream on curtfies straight.

Because they are shewn in two places under different views ; in the first their foppery, in the second their rapacity is ridiculed." Befides, we may add, that in the first line he seems to allude to the court ladies, in these under confideration to the gentlemen, The custom being so much out of use, it is not amifs that

K4

in

And then dreams he of smelling out a fuit:
And fometimes comes she with a tithe-pig's tail,

Tickling

in the modern readings of this speech, and also on the flage, we find the doctors introduced,

O'er Doctors fingers, who straight dream on fees.

T

But there seems no doubt of the genuineness of the word in the

text.

Tho' the following passages have something fimilar in general to this celebrated speech, yet they serve only to shew the fuperiority of Shakespear's fancy, and the vast range of his boundless imagination. If the reader will confult the 4th book and 959th Jine of Lucretius, he will find more on the subject than I have quoted: Shakespear has an expreffion in Othello, concerning dreams, which is conformable to what Lucretius and Petronius obferve, and which is an instance of his great knowledge of nature; here he pronounces, dreams are nothing, there, when Othello's paffions are to be raised, 'tis remark'd that they

Denote a foregone conclufion. See Othello, A. 3. S. 8.

Lucretius, Book IV.

Et quoi quisque fere ftudio, &c.

Whatever studies please, whatever things
The mind pursues, or dwells on with delight,
The fame in dreams, engage our chief concern:
The lawyers plead, and argue what is law :
The folders fight, and thro' the battle rage:
The failors work and strive against the wind:
Me an enquiry into natures laws,

And writing down my thoughts constant employs.

Tetronius.

Somnia quæ mentes, &c.

ANONY

When in our dreams the forms of things arife,
In mamic order plac'd before our eyes,
Nor heav'n, nor hell the airy vision sends,
But every breaft its own delufion lends.
For when foft fleep the body lays at ease,
And from the heavy mass the fancy frees:
Whate'er it is, in which we take delight,
And think of most by day, we dream at night:
Thus he who shakes proud states, and cities burns,
Sees showers of darts, forc'd lines, disorder'd wings,
Fields drown'd in blood, and obsequies of kings:
The lawyer dreams of terms and double fees,
And trembles when he long vacations fees:

The

Tickling the parson as he lies afleep;
Then dreams he of another benefice.
Sometimes she driveth o'er a foldier's neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ears, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two,
And fleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night,
And cakes the elf-locks in foul fluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes.
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs;
That presses them, and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage :
This is the

Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace:
Thou talk'ist of nothing.

Mer. True, I talk of dreams;
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing, but vain phantafy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air,
And more unconstant than the wind; who wooes
Ev'n now the frozen bosom of the north,
And being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping fouth,

The mifer hides his wealth, new treasure finds;
In ecchoing woods his horn the huntsman winds:
The failors dream a fh pwreck'd chance describes "
The whore writes billet-doux; th' adultress bribes:
The op'ning dog the tim'rous hare purfues,

And mifery in fleep its pains renews.

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2

ADDISON, Junior.

SCENE

SCENE VI. A Beauty defcribd.

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1

O she doth teach the torches to burn bright; т Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Æthiop's ear: Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shews a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows,

ACT II. SCENE II.

(3) The Courtship between Romeo and Juliet, in

the Garden.

Enter Romeo.

1

Rom. He jests at scars that never felt a wound

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the fun!

[Juliet appears above at a window.

Arife, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already fick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than the,

-Be not her maid, fince the is envious:

Her vestal livery is but fick and green,
And none but fools do wear it, caft it off

She speak, yet she says nothing; what of that?
Her eye difcourfes, I will answer it
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars of all the heav'n,
Having fome business, do entreat her eyes

(3) The, &c.] The elegance and natural fimplicity of this scene is enough to recommend it, and must render it agreeable to every reader who hath any taste for tenderness, delicacy, and fincere affection: but when we have seen it so juftly performed, and so beautifully graced by some of the best and most judicious actors that ever appear'd on any stage, we shall want no comment to enter into its particular excellencies, no chart to guide us to those beauties, which all must have sensibly felt, on hearing them fo feelingly and pathetically exprest, in their own bosoms. The reader will find fome remarks in the After on this celebrated scene.

To

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As day-light doth a lamp; her eyes in heav'n,
Would through the airy region stream so bright,
That birds would fing, and think it were not night,
See how the leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek! ИТОА
Jul. Ah me!

Rom. She speaks.

Oh speak again, bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this * fight, being o'er my head,

As is a winged messenger from heav'n,

Unto the white up-turned wandring eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,

21.1

When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,

And fails upon the bosom of the air.

Jul. ORomeo, Romeo-wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father, and refuse thy name:
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

*

Rom. Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at

Jul. "Tis but thy name that is my enemy:

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this?

[afide.

What's in a name? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as fweet. doorl
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title; Romeo, quit thy name,
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all my felf.

* Sight, Mr. Theobald. vulg. Night.

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t

1.

:

Rom.