Page:Midsummer Night's Dream (1918) Yale.djvu/97

Night's Dream  reading of the First Quarto : No, no; heele Seeme. As the speech stands Demetrius must be supposed to address Hermia, and then, breaking off, to taunt Lysander. There is almost certainly some corruption of the text, and it might be better to read with the First Folio: No, no, Sir, seeme to breake loose. Then the No, no, Sir ! would have the force of the modern colloquialism, 'No you don't!'

 hindering knot-grass. The knotgrass, a low, tough weed, hinders growth in gardens, and was popularly supposed to be a means of stunting a child's growth.

 the morning's love. It is not certain whether this phrase refers to Cephalus, according to classical mythology a mighty hunter and the lover of Aurora, the dawn, or whether it is a figurative description of Aurora herself, or whether it means simply the sun. It is clear, however, that Oberon is contrasting his freedom to sport by day with the fate of those spirits which are exiled from the sunshine.

 Music, still. This stage direction of the Folio is puzzling. Since Oberon later directs the music to sound, this may be a direction to the musicians to be ready, but not to play. Another possibility is that the meaning is simply 'soft music.'

 Saint Valentine. An allusion to the old belief that the birds began to mate on St. Valentine's day. Cf. Chaucer, The Parlement of Foules:

 'Helena, I think, means to say that having found Demetrius unexpectedly, she considered her property in him as insecure as that which a person has in a jewel that he has found by accident; which he knows not whether he shall retain, and