Page:Midsummer Night's Dream (1918) Yale.djvu/20

8  You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.

Her. I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.

Hel. O! that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill.

Her. I give him curses, yet he gives me love.

Hel. O! that my prayers could such affection move.

Her. The more I hate, the more he follows me.

Hel. The more I love, the more he hateth me.

Her. His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.

Hel. None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!

Her. Take comfort: he no more shall see my face; Lysander and myself will fly this place. Before the time I did Lysander see, Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me: O! then, what graces in my love do dwell, That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell.

Lys. Helen, to you our minds we will unfold. To-morrow night, when Phœbe doth behold Her silver visage in the wat'ry glass, Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,— A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,— Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal.

Her. And in the wood, where often you and I Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie, Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet, There my Lysander and myself shall meet; And thence from Athens turn away our eyes, To seek new friends and stranger companies. Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us; And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!  206, 207 Cf. n. 209 Phœbe: the moon 212 still: always 215 faint: pale (?), faintly perfumed (?) 216 counsel: inmost thought 