Abby Sage Richardson

“ So she upbraids her fiercely; and Helena, seeing her jealousy, can no longer doubt the sincerity of her two lovers.
Fortunately, Oberon, invisible, heard this dispute, and angrily summoning Puck, he accused him of making all this mischief. He bade him lead the two knights, who have already drawn their swords to combat for the possession of Helena, through bogs and tangled pathways, by his magic arts, till, wearied by such tiresome travel, they should sink to sleep again. Then, by putting a new love-charm on Lysander’s eyes, he should be made to return to his loyalty and Hermia’s love. ”

“ Obeying Oberon’s commands, the nimble Puck flitted through bush and brake, now calling Demetrius in one direction with the voice of Lysander, and anon summoning Lysander an opposite way with the tongue of Demetrius, so that the two gentlemen, pursuing the sounds, foundered in bogs, and tore through briers, till it was near morning. Then, one after the other, Puck led all the four lovers through the thick darkness of the wood, to the group of gnarled trees, where Lysander and Hermia first reclined to rest. There each lay down to sleep, unconscious that the others were so near. ”

“ Titania had a changeling,—one of those charming earth children whom the elves sometimes steal from their cradles, leaving in their stead some sprite from fairy-land, to tease the human parents with its goblin ways. ”

“ When Hermia awoke from her deep slumber, and missed Lysander, she was seized with the greatest affright. Starting up, she ran wildly through the forest, till she encountered Demetrius, and accused him of slaying her lost lover, that he might have no rival to her love. When Demetrius denied this, she ran on, calling, in agonizing tones, upon her lost Lysander. Oberon saw their meeting, heard his tender words to Hermia, and remembering how Demetrius had scorned sweet Helena, he saw that Puck had not yet anointed his eyes with the flower. ”

“ That self-same evening, in another part of this same wood, a party of mechanics, some of the hard-handed men of Athens, had met to rehearse a play which they hoped to perform at the Duke’s nuptial festivities.
There was Flute, the bellows-mender; Starveling, the tailor; Snout, the tinker; Quince, the carpenter; and among the rest, stout old Bottom, the weaver,—Bully Bottom, as his comrades called him. He was, in his own conceit, the best actor of them all; the best for tragedy, comedy, or tragical comical. ”

“ In her desperation, Hermia appealed to Theseus, who could do nothing but quote the law, and Egeus bore her home in triumph, swearing she should wed Demetrius;—not till she had spoken a few secret words to Lysander, though, and in these brief words, Hermia agreed to run away that night to a wood near Athens, and there, meeting with Lysander, they were to fly to some happier clime for lovers. ”

“ In these happy days of fairies and Amazons, it faired ill with lovers whose fathers were not of their minds, for the maiden who loved so unwisely, had but three alternatives,—either to wed a man of her father’s choice, or to be put to death, or to retire into the order of Diana’s priestesses, and forever adjure marriage. ”

“ They were so great that the people of that age hardly understood their value, and it was only after a century had passed that they began to be appreciated. Out of some of the old tales and legends which he had heard, the lowly bred country youth wove the most exquisite tissues of poetry and romance that the world has ever read. ”

“ It is not very likely that John Shakespeare, Will's father, thought very much of learning, since he had got along so well himself with so little, and it does not seem that Will had much encouragement to study. ”

“ IN the year 1564, a little more than three hundred years ago, an infant was born in the town of Stratford, in England, who grew to be one of the most wonderful men who has ever lived. Stratford was a quiet little town on the banks of the river Avon, and none of the people there were very rich or grand. ”