Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar, 5 Nor mark prodigious, such as are Despised in nativity, Shall upon their children be.- And each several chamber bless, And the owner of it blest. Trip away; Make no stay; Meet me all by break of day. [Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train. Puck. If we shadows have offended, 6 Think but this, (and all is mended,) So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, Nor mark prodigious,] Prodigious for portentous. [Exit.' take his gait;] i. e. take his way, or direct his steps. unearned luck-] i. e. if we have better fortune than we have deserved. 7 8 Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,] That is, if we be dismissed without hisses. 9 Give me your hands,] That is, Clap your hands. Give us your applause. JOHNSON. 1 Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their various modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author designed, Fairies in his time were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and Spenser's poem had made them great. JOHNSON. Johnson's concluding observation on this play, is not conceived with his usual judgment. There is no analogy or resemblance whatever between the Fairies of Spenser, and those of Shakspeare. The Fairies of Spenser, as appcars from his description of them in the second book of the Fairy Queen, canto x. were a race of mortals created by Prometheus, of the human size, shape, and affections, and subject to death. But those of Shakspeare, and of common tradition, as Johnson calls them, were a diminutive race of sportful beings, endowed with immortality and supernatural power, totally different from those of Spenser. M. MASON. |