lains to Duke Theseus that his daughter
Hermia will not consent to marry Demetrius, but disobedient, insists on
wedding with Lysander.

Theseus decides that she must obey her father or suffer death, or enter a
convent, excluded from the world forever.

Theseus reasons with Hermia thus:

_"If you yield not to your father's choice,
Whether you can endure the livery of a nun;
For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life;
Chanting fair hymns to the cold, fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled,
Than that, which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness!"_

This sentiment was cheered heartily by the great forest audience, and
"Queen Bess" led the applause!

Lysander pleaded his own case for the heart of Hermia, and sighing, says:

_"Ah, me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth!"_

Hermia and Helena compare notes and wonder at the perversity of their
respective lovers.

Hermia says:

_"The more I hate Demetrius, the more he follows
me;"_

And Helena says:

_"The more I love him, the more he hateth me!"_

Hermia still sighing for Lysander says:

_"Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seemed Athens as a paradise to me;
O then, what graces in my love do dwell
That he hath turned a heaven unto hell."_

Helena soliloquizes regarding the inconsistency of Demetrius since he saw
Hermia:

_"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And, therefore, is winged cupid painted blind;
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight;
Then to the wood, will he, to-morrow night,
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense;
But herein mean I to enrich my pain
To have his sight thither and back again."_

A number of rude workingmen of Athens propose to give an impromptu play in
the Duke's palace in honor of his wedding.

It is a burlesque on all plays, and being so very crude and bad, is good by
contrast!

Pyramus and Thisby are the prince and princess, who die for love.

Bottom is to play the big blower in the improvised drama and the Jackass
among the fairies. He says:

_"I could play a part to tear a cat in, to make all