Frank Sidgwick

“ Now worse than e'er he was before, Poor Puck doth yell, poor Puck doth roar, That waked Queen Mab, who doubted sore Some treason had been wrought her: Until Nymphidia told the Queen, What she had done, what she had seen, Who then had well-near cracked her spleen With very extreme laughter. But leave we Hob to clamber out, Queen Mab and all her Fairy rout, And come again to have a bout With Oberon yet madding: And with Pigwiggen now distraught, Who much was troubled in his thought, That he so long the Queen had sought, And through the fields was gadding. ”

“ When mortals are at rest, And snorting in their nest, Unheard and unespied Through keyholes we do glide: Over tables, stools, and shelves. We trip it with our fairy elves. And if the house be foul, Or platter, dish, or bowl, Upstairs we nimbly creep And find the sluts asleep; There we pinch their arms and thighs; None escapes nor none espies. ”

“ In all your train there's not a fay That ever went to gather may But she hath made it, in her way; The tallest there that groweth." When by Tom Thumb, a Fairy Page, He sent it, and doth him engage By promise of a mighty wage It secretly to carry; Which done, the Queen her maids doth call, And bids them to be ready all: She would go see her summer hall, She could no longer tarry. Her chariot ready straight is made, Each thing therein is fitting laid, That she by nothing might be stayed, For naught must be her letting ”

“ So like in arms these champions were, As they had been a very pair, So that a man would almost swear That either had been either; Their furious steeds began to neigh, That they were heard a mighty way; Their staves upon their rests they lay ”

“ The brains of nightingales With unctuous dew of snails Between two nutshells stewed Is meat that's easily chewed; And the beards of little mice Do make a feast of wondrous price. On tops of dewy grass So nimbly do we pass, The young and tender stalk Ne'er bends when we do walk ”

“ And leading us makes us to stray, Long winter's nights, out of the way; And when we stick in mire and clay, Hob doth with laughter leave us. "Dear Puck," quoth he, "my wife is gone: As e'er thou lov'st King Oberon, Let everything but this alone, With vengeance and pursue her; Bring her to me alive or dead, Or that vild [8] thief Pigwiggen's head; That villain hath defiled my bed, He to this folly drew her." Quoth Puck, "My liege, I'll never lin [9] , But I will thorough thick and thin, Until at length I bring her in ”

“ For we do use, before we go, To drop a tester in her shoe. Upon a mushroom's head Our table we do spread; A corn of rye or wheat Is manchet which we eat, Pearly drops of dew we drink In acorn cups filled to the brink. ”

“ A Register they have Who looketh to their charters, A man both wise and grave. An hundred of their merry pranks By one that I could name Are kept in store; con twenty thanks To William for the same. ........................ To William Churne of Staffordshire Give laud and praises due, Who every meal can mend your cheer With tales both old and true: To William all give audience, And pray ye for his noddle: For all the fairies evidence Were lost, if it were addle. ”